Calgary artist sketches at supersonic speed

A Calgary artist has reached supersonic speed in his quest to share his unique artwork with Canadians.

For the past 15 years, Michael Markowsky has been sketching landscapes from cars, trains and boats but never from the cockpit of a fighter jet nowthat's changed.

The Canadian Forces Artist Program sponsoredMarkowsky, giving him the chance to sketch from the cockpit of the CF-18.

"I'd be looking down doing drawings and then all of a sudden, we'd go into a turn and my head, it felt like my head was going to tear off my neck because all of a sudden my head weighedsix times its normal weight," said Markowsky.

Each new place from which he sketches comes with its own unique challenges. And while some may not like the sketches he did in the fighter jet, Markowsky says that's fine by him.

"I think a lot of people just looked at them and dismissed them as just childhood scribbles but when I showed them to the pilots who flew the planes afterwards, they were blown away," he said. "They know how difficult it is to do anything on the plane, let alone make drawings."

His sketches eventually get turned into oil paintings.

Markowsky's next goal is to create an exhibit and short-film documenting his adventure, and to tour across the country so that Canadians can enjoy his view from the cockpit.