I didn’t realize how much Walt Disney World had settled into my heart until I started painting it. Epcot’s captured me—those chaotic arrivals and lingering goodbyes under Spaceship Earth—and my art’s how I keep it alive.

When I set out to paint Spaceship Earth, I’d perch near the Legacy stones by the entrance, iPad propped on my bag, the sphere gleaming ahead. Mornings there are a whirlwind—strollers clattering, voices overlapping in a dozen languages, everyone rushing toward the turnstiles. You know that energy, right? That buzz when you first step into Epcot, tickets in hand, ready to dive in. I’d sip a frozen mocha from the Starbucks at Fountain View to steady me through the chaos while I started with quick sketches—loose, messy lines to catch the sphere’s shape. That dome’s been my obsession since I was a kid, its tiled triangles like a puzzle I could never solve. Back home, I’d refine those into a detailed small-scale test, painting in the gray shadows to test the balance of those facets.

I’ve wandered Epcot more times than I can tally—solo, with friends, soaking up the Festival of the Arts atmosphere. That’s my favorite—the colors, the chalk dust in the air, the way it turns the park into a living canvas. Last trip, I stayed late, sketching after the fireworks as the park emptied out. The bustle was gone—just a handful of stragglers and cast members nudging me toward the exit. Where I’d once heard only shouts and laughter, now the entrance loop music floated clear and crisp, those soft synths wrapping around Spaceship Earth’s glow. If you’ve ever lingered past closing, you get it—that shift when the park feels like it’s just yours, the music carrying you out. I sketched its silhouette by the flicker of the LED panels, the air tinged with caramel from the Germany pavilion, sliding brushes across my screen until my battery quit. That hollow ache settled in as I boarded the monorail, watching it slip behind the palms.

That’s what I poured into my monochromatic Spaceship Earth painting—grays, blacks, and whites blending the clamor of beginnings and the quiet of endings, like a memory frozen in shadow. At home, I took those park sketches and built the high-resolution final digital painting—broad sweeps of gray for its hulking base, sharp flicks of black and white for the facets, every triangle crisp and deliberate. Dame Judi Dench’s voice still echoes in my head from the ride, tying it all together. I finished it at my desk, surrounded by park maps and grainy photos from the ride exit. It’s for us Epcot lifers—the ones who’d frame that sphere and hang it where it whispers memories. It’s here for you—canvas or print. Check it out; I hope it pulls you from the crowds to the calm too.

Digital painting of the famous icon of Disney’s EPCOT Park at Walt Disney World, Florida USA. Created in the park in Orlando, Florida.

A piece in the Magical Icons series of paintings.