The Boxer: Back Stage

Posted on by Thor

I have sketched Brain Feldnan’s, The Boxer twice in Orlando Florida. The first time was on a sidewalk outside the Orlando Weekly Best of Awards Ceremony. At that performance I was asked to move along by police. I persisted and still got the sketch. I sketched The Boxer 15 years later at the Plaza Theater where once again it was part of the Orlando Weekly Best of festivities.

Brian then brought The Boxer to Saint Petersburg Florida where it would be part of the Creative Loafing Newspaper’s  Best of the Bay 2026 Party. Brian offered me a rare opportunity to sketch his performance piece from backstage. The premise of The Boxer is that Brian is inside a tiny street newspaper distribution box and he hands out copies of the newspaper. It is a rare case of adding a human touch to keeping newsprint alive.

Since Saint Petersburg is such a long drive, Brian offered me a hotel room as well. I decided to ask his former wife, Hannah Miller to join me on the trip to Saint Petersburg. In 2010, Brian had a performance where he would marry anybody. He spun a bottle in the Orlando City Hall to pick his bride. The point was that a heterosexual could marry a stranger while a gay couple who had been in love for years were not allowed to marry. The spin of the bottle pointed at Hannah, and they were married soon after in a strange informal ceremony where one person was wearing a wrestling mask. Hannah was a consummate spokesperson to explain to the media why she had married a longtime friend but romantic stranger. Brian was so happy to see Hannah in the Saint Petersburg Coliseum (535 4th Ave N, St Petersburg, FL) and her gave her a warm hug before he got in the box.

Brian’s staging area was filled with piles of Creative Loafing newspapers. There were about two skids of papers that he would be distributing. The larger skid I left out of my sketch since including it would have made Brian way too small in my sketch. Production manager Lee Soule rifled through papers on Brian’s behalf.

Brain lay prone on the floor with his face in the newspaper box window. He extended his hand out so people could see that he had newspapers to give away. I thought Brain had his hips on a foam pad, but Hannah informed me that he just had a cardboard box under his butt. He would have to back out occasionally to grab more papers. He let out a groan multiple times making it clear his positioning wasn’t comfortable. Twinkling lights viewable above the black curtains hinted at a magical event happening just beyond the staging area. Red lights were shining on the red box and light streamed through a narrow gap in the curtain to illuminate a short pile of newspapers.

People were so gracious and grateful each time they got a paper from Brian. I am certain there were plenty of selfies taken although I couldn’t see them being taken from where I sat. One lady said Brian had the best seat in the house as she took her paper. When my sketch was complete, I went out front and picked up a paper for myself from Brian. I leafed through it briefly, looking for the Saint Petersburg events calendar, and tried to give it back, but Brian refused to take it. I walked around to various food vendors with Hannah with the paper under my arm. There were some delicious vegetarian options. I had trouble handling all the tiny paper plates and utensils that came with the food. I “misplaced” the paper when Hannah and I ate at one of the standing tables.

Pulse Torn Down

Posted on by Thor

On June 12, 2016, a gunman shot and killed 49 people and injured 58 others who were enjoying a night out dancing on Latin Night at Pulse Nightclub. Pulse was a cherished LGBTQIA+ nightclub which was safe and inclusive. It symbolized the power of community and of a chosen family.  At the time the shooting was the largest mass murder in America. Americans have a love affair with guns and mass murdering one another.

The onePulse Foundation put out a call for architect firms to create a memorial at the site. There were 68 international submissions. The Orange County History Center showed models of the submissions and a winner was picked. The winning submission was beautiful. Unfortunately, the onePulse Foundation did not have the funds needed to create the memorial and a planned museum. The foundation folded and the City of Orlando stepped in, purchased the property and spearheaded a new plan for the memorial.

All the early plans for memorials had preserved the Pulse building and incorporated it into the memorial plans. The City of Orlando decided instead to tear down the building. The budget for the planned Pulse memorial is 12.6 million dollars. The Orlando City Council is scheduled to vote on October 12, 2026 to approve construction with Gomez Construction Company.

The plans approved by the One Pulse Foundation were abandoned. The new plans were designed by Borrelli and Parteners and Gomez Construction. The design milestones were set with an advisory committee and community feedback. The new memorial seems to mimic many aspects of the features of the winning design. The memorial is slated to open in the second half of 2027.

The memorial will feature a water wall featuring the names of the 49 victims. There will be a reflections pool positioned over a portion of the original nightclub dance floor. There will be an Obelisk using a salvaged breach wall of the club and recycled concrete from the original building. There will be a walkway with canopy columns honoring each of the 49 victims.

I sketched at Pulse shortly after it was torn down. The cranes were still working moving the rubble. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis insisted that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) had to paint over a rainbow crosswalk that was established at the nightclub site.  When that happened Orlando citizens decided to chalk the rainbow back in place. It is not illegal to place chalk on pavement since it is not permanent. Each time the crosswalk was chalked, FDOT would wash or paint away the chalk. On the day I sketched it was day 223 of the battle to keep the rainbow on the crosswalk. Since the Nightclub was being demolished and the memorial has yet to be built, this is the only memorial that remains for the 49 lives lost. Petty politics continued to railroad the Orlando communities grief.

Bear Box, Shenandoah National Park

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Stella P. Alberaéz Tascón was hiking northbound over 107 miles along the Appalachian Trail going through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I joined her for the final 13 miles after I returned from the 75th Infantry Division Reunion in Texas. I was hiking with her when she reached the northern terminus of the park.

Stella and I stopped at Bear Fence Hut to camp for the night. This camping site had a stone and wood hut with a wooden floor and roof. This is luxury living on the Appalachian Trail. The other luxury that the site has is a steel bear box and a pole with hooks to store food and toiletry supplies. Bears have a keen sense of smell and they know that humans carry delicious food staples. The last thing you want is a bear rummaging through your backpack at 2am.

The bear pole had a long steel pole which allows a camper to place their food back suspended about 18 feet in the air. I tried it out. I have a bear proof bag with smell proof bags inside but I still wanted to take every precaution. Hooking the bag way up high takes practice but it is doable. Ultimately, I decided to keep the bag in the steel box since it was easier to access and I had to get into my supplies multiple times while making dinner. I had Mountain House prepackaged meals. They are not set to expire until 2056. These remind me of WWII K-Rations which had all processed and dried foods which in theory could be eaten to this day over 80 years later. I wouldn’t put that stuff in my mouth however.

Stella and I had a restful night’s sleep in the shelter. Early in the night, I thought I heard a bear rummaging around, but I think that was all in my head. The woods are full of noises throughout the night. In the morning, Stella and I set about doing a painting. We sat at the picnic table and painted the view of the woods. As we were painting, clouds rolled in and the woods disappeared into a cloudy mist. It is amazing to be inside a cloud. Stella got a really good painting, while I consider this one only marginally successful. I find painting the deep woods a real challenge. I am so used to sketching and painting man made objects. The woods offer nothing but chaos and organic shapes. Trees and branches flow in all angles. The bear box in my painting stands out as being entirely separate from the organic chaos all around it.

I am so happy Stella invited me on this hiking adventure. This is something I hope to do more often in the future. Perhaps I will branch off and do a long solo hike someday with the plan of documenting every step with sketches and paintings.

Big Meadows, Shenandoah National Park

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Stella Arbelaéz Tascón was hiking northbound over 107 miles along the Appalachian Trail going through Shenandoah State Park in Virginia. I joined her for the final 13 miles after I returned from the 75th Infantry Reunion in Texas. I was hiking with her when she reached the northern terminus of the park.

At the end of a log day of painting, Stella and I stopped at Big Meadows, which is a lodge which has a cafeteria. In turns we each ordered some dinner and ate outside at the picnic tables. While Stella was inside ordering, I noticed a big crow in a gnarly tree and I started sketching. There was a couple seated at one of the tables.

Once Stella got back, I went inside and ordered a sandwich as well. By the time I got back the couple had left. They were replaced by an Indian family. Two of the boys started playing Frisbee. The Frisbee was illuminated. That would have been fun to sketch but I would have needed my iPad to catch the glowing light. The mom was taking care of the needs of the other two children at the table and preparing the food, while dad sat and looked at his phone.

I quickly lost light and gave up on the sketch when it got too dark out. Cars drove by on the road behind the dying tree with their headlight blazing. At the time, I wasn’t eating a vegetarian diet, so I probably had a processed meat sandwich. Stella’s healthy diet while hiking lead to her loosing weight and felling more energized. She shared research which showed that eating healthy could control high blood pressure and after this trip, I switched to an all plant-based diet. In my sketch the dying tree to the right is me eating meat and the lush tree to the left is me eating a plant-based diet.

In my Eola Heights Art Studio, I am building my pantry and cooking plant based recipes every day, and I am loving it. It turns out that giving up salt, sweets and processed food is not a sacrifice but a chance to live more creatively in the kitchen.

Compton Gap, Shenandoah National Park

Posted on by Thor

Stella Arbelaéz Tascón was hiking northbound over 107 miles along the Appalachian Trail going through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I joined her for the final 13 miles after I returned from the 75th Infantry Division Reunion in Texas. I was hiking with her when she reached the northern terminus of the park.

After passing out of the Shenandoah park we decided to return to spots along the trail that she had felt would make good paintings. She had taken mental notes but didn’t take the time to paint. We would drive to a parking spot near each location and then hike in. When the paintings were done, we would drive to a nice campground or cabins. We were glamping and I had no complaints.

We decided to paint this trail almost immediately after walking a short way from the parking spot. We both liked the way the light played on the warm trail. It is rare to see a wide trail like this on the Appalachian Trail. Most of the trails are narrow and can be lost if you stop looking for the trail blazes painted on the trees. There is one white trail blaze in this picture on a tree on the left.

Quite a few people walked past us as we painted at this location since they were just starting out on their walks. One guy joked that we should add him to our paintings, but he was I a rush to get wherever he was going. We were not in a rush; we lingered and watched the light change as we painted. My little palette that I had set up was running out of paint, but I still managed to cover the page. If I ran out of a color, I would compensate by using more of another color.

My favorite aspect of this painting is the red dirt trail. I used transparent washed to start and then painted the shadows with more opaque paint. Previous paintings had all used thick impasto. This thin and thick application came about since I was running out of paint, but I think it is a more natural way for me to work. I look forward to experimenting more with gouache.

Mount Marshall, Shenandoah Park

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Stella Arbelaéz Tascón was hiking northbound over 107 miles along the Appalachian Trail going through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I joined her for the final 13 miles after I returned from the 75th Infantry Division Reunion in Texas. I was hiking with her when she reached the northern terminus of the park. After passing out of the Shenandoah Park she wanted to keep hiking to give me a felling for what it is like to be a through hiker on the trail. She had me bring her some hiking boots to replace the trail runners she was wearing because the tread had worn off. We trans versed some very boulder strewn areas and the extra tread would be lifesaving. The problem was that the old hiking shoes that I had brought along started to break down. The glue holding the soul of the shoe in place gave way turning the hiking boots into flip flops. I had tape wrapped around the handle of the hiking poles I was using so we were able to tape the soul in place for the day. This wasn’t a workable long term hiking solution. We decided to cut the hike short as her toes were starting to get bruised from the boots that were now too small. When you hike a lot, your feet expand. I had boots that were a size 12 but when I got a new pair to wear to the Appalachian trail I ended up getting a size 13. My feet are expanding as I slowly shrink. We started doing day hikes from the car. Mount Marshall was a day hike for us rather than part of a through hike. We made our way to the summit over several hours then took our time painting for a couple of hours and It was a pleasant way to spend the day without the stress of hiking far enough to find water and a camping spot. Stella kept apologizing but I was having a blast. It was so fun to explore the beauty of nature with a talented artist friend. I haven’t painted with gouache for years. I had a tiny travel sized palette and the main problem came from trying to mix the paint without getting it too dirty on the palette. Part of me wanted to treat the paint like watercolor while the other part of wanted to treat the paint like oils. In general, the paintings turned out darker than the usual watercolors I do. Bees kept buzzing around me to the point of distraction. I wanted to swipe at them but didn’t want to make them angry. Stella found a nice shady spot near the rocks to paint from while my spot back near the trees soon was blasted with sunlight. I got a sunburn on my left arm and on my neck. I resisted my love affair with line, but in the end I started redrawing back into the painting. Stella had a nice set up where her palette was attached to her painting. I want to replicate that some day for my set up. I made a mess and I hope I learned from my mistakes. I intent to paint more often on location using gouache.

AADW Art used to Promote Concert by Mistake

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I was surprised to find Timucua Arts Foundation of Orlando Florida used art from the Analog Artist Digital World website to promote a concert where tickets were sold for $30 each without my permission. There were about 60 people in attendance. That is $1,800 raised before expenses. Granted that isn’t like the earnings of a Taylor Swift Concert, but it was using the art for profit.

The art was cropped and then semi transparent shapes were thrown on top of the the sketch. Unfortunately that is the world we live in where everyone thinks they are a designer since they have Photoshop. and or In Design.

Leah Nash from Timucua reached out several times to apologize and Benoit Glaser the Timucua founder apologized from the stage when I attended the concert. Twice I was told that no one had any idea why the image was lifted. I reached out to Benoit via e-mail but he wasn’t sure why the art was used without my consent. Erik Branch at the venue was also unaware what happened. All I needed was some explanation, so I could avoid this happening again. My work has been lifted many times in the past by local organizations, and each time this happens the copyright symbol gets bigger and darker on what I post online. I heard that AI makes it easy to remove any watermarks so my attempts to control usage are becoming mute.

Charles Griffin the organizer of the Composer’s Forum reached out to me and he showed me digital paperwork from many years ago where permission was requested to run the image on their composer’s online Forum. I donated a one time usage and paperwork was filled out to that effect. I am guessing that organizers had forgotten that only the one time usage was granted. Charlie said that he and all the composers donate their time to make the concert happen. An olive branch was offered and accepted. I turned the flame down on the burner and the steam stopped hissing. The story had a resolution.

T

Electric Delaney

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While walking around downtown Orlando around the start of the 5pm rush hour, I passes Art2 where Electric Delaney performed on her electric guitar. She was just setting up her music stand and little speaker when I arrived.

Art2 is billed as Downtown Orlando’s New Hub for Creativity and Connection. The space features food vendors, craft beverages, murals, and digital art experiences, the park reimagines outdoor community space. What I saw were digital ads for the Enzian Film Festival and some benches and tables on concrete. I don’t see how that reimagines outdoor community space. The space was funded by the City of Orlando’s Community Redevelopment Agency,

Electric Delaney performed for well over an hour giving me plenty of time to sketch. I couldn’t fit the entire facade on my sketch page but I tried to fish eye it into place. DTO Live performances happen all over downtown Orlando around lunch time and when the work day ends. It it a good way to introduce 9 to 5ers to the diversity of arts available in the City Beautiful.

I got a tin of colored pencils out to scribble on the sketch as the sun set. The wind started picking up and a gust sent by tin of pencils flying onto the cement with a metallic crash. Delaney stopped her set and helped me pick up the pencils. I was honestly the only person specifically watching her perform. Others were inside having drinks or at tables having animated conversations. As a visual artist I don’t really see the indifference of the people who might see my work, As a performer on stage you look out and can witness the indifference first hand. It takes a special kind of bravery to create under those circumstances.

Falcon

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The first Air B&B I stayed in while I was trying to figure out where to settle in Orlando was in Thornton Park. The place I stayed in was o the third floor and looked down Washington Street towards Lake Eola. When I looked the opposite way I could see Falcon bar and Gallery a block away. While walking around the neighborhood, I decided to stop at Cavo’s Bar and Kitchen across the street so I could get a sketch of the Falcon Bar and Gallery. The mural on the side of the building had been done years a go and the paint was starting to fade. The image of a woman hugging a swan seemed iconic at the time.

Today all the swans in Lake Eola have been corralled and moved out of downtown. The swans had developed bird flu and many died. Were the swans to pass the flue to humans there would be the possibility of another pandemic. The swans had clipped wings and therefor could not fly away. It was easy therefor to corral the swans with dozens of kayaks.

There were instanced where police found that swans had been kidnapped. The captured swans were recovered for a backyard of a local home. The birds also suffered from constant harassment and attacks by dogs which ere walked around Lake Eola. The birds were taken to a facility approved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Central Florida. There, they were welcomed by other swans that were also removed from the park. The era of the Lake Eola swans had passed. The swan paddle boats remain as a reminder of the city’s past.

Shelter

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While hiking with Stella Arbelaéz Tascón, we stopped at the Gravel Springs Hut which is a shelter on the Appalachian Trail in Shanandoah State Park in Virginia. While Stella was hiking the trail alone a week before, events transpired here which resulted in her decision to take time off from the hike and stay in a hostel. The story is hers to tell, so I will not relate it here. She shared her story on an Appalachian Trail Community Forum and the comments from many hikers were both supportive and vicious. That one tread said so much about the human condition.

We returned to the shelter late in the day to do a painting. Stella was taking the opportunity to paint locations on the trail that she had not painted before because she was focused on making sure she met her mileage goals. With me around she could slow her role since I am an inexperienced hiker. The final days of the hike became about finding the perfect painting locations and I was very comfortable with that.

We did stay in a shelter almost identical to this one. We ate our dinner on the picnic table and set up our sleeping bags inside the shelter which had a nice wooden floor. After the sun set, the wilderness came alive with a cacophony of sounds. A young married couple was also at this site but they were camping at a site a short distance away. They had both been married previously and had children. Their Brady Bunch family had a baby sitter so that the couple could spend quality time alone.

During the night I became convinced that I heard a bear wandering behind the shelter. I wanted to wake Stella up, but thought better of it. The sound soon shuffled off into the woods. I had a bear bag to store my food and toiletries. Scent proof bags were used to store food and the bear bag was in a steal locker which no bear would be able to open. Bears have to know that only inexperienced hikers would leave food unattended. I think this was my third day of hiking, so I was now an expert thru hiker.