The Critique

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On May 2, I walked over to FAVO for Parker Sketch’s monthly Art Critique. Artists crowd into his FAVO art studio and show their work. FAVO is a former motel where artist convert individual units into artist’s studios. I sketched the first presenter Colette (444cole444 on Instagram). She produces abstract colorful paintings. She brought three of her primitive face paintings. The sort of reminds me of Picasso paintings crossed with tribal face masks.

When the inspiration hits, it hits hard. She explained that she produces these very quickly. They hearken back to her families’ past and she works at a feverish pace when hit by the inspiration. Comments from fellow artist were mostly about the way they were framed. Lattice edges the painting and there are gaps between the edge of the painting and the lattice which often had wads of what appeared like bubble gum. The commentary was that collectors and curators would not like the wads since they would not seem archival. The bright pink color is what resonated with me since it jumps out from across the room.

After Cole presented, Louise Bova presented one of her many sketchbooks that had painterly abstractions on every page. Sketchbooks are my favorite medium, so I was infatuated.  You can learn more about an artist by looking through one sketchbook than you can by talking to them for many hours. Louise flipped through the sketchbook quickly, which was my only regret. I would have liked to study each page at a more leisurely pace. Louise has an exhibition coming up in September, so I will get to see the work on the walls and take more time to look. The abstract work had an amazing energy to it. There is violence to the way masses of color and lines are thrown down. I could learn something about letting go from studying the work. She then showed a more representational piece painted entirely in blue of an urban street scene. It reminded me of paintings I used to do in NYC of the Fish market at 4AM.  I have a Louise Bova painting in my collection that is from her NYC years. This blue painting reminded me of that black and white painting done in an artist’s studio. I identify more with representational work since that is what I do each day, but the energy of her abstracts are attractive. There might be a sweet spot between those two worlds.

Louise made the mistake of saying the works in the sketchbooks were JUST studies. I often say the work in my sketchbooks are JUST sketches. Anyway, a conversation was sparked about how artists undersell their work in the words they use. That conversation went on way too long. I could see from her work that she is a confident and accomplished artist. I can take only so much art speak sometimes.

I presented my short, animated film, COVID Dystopia at this Critique. It was the FAVO premiere for the film. I have taken the film around the world to cities like Berlin, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Reno and Wild Rivers, and the Orlando Film Festival to name a few. The film won the Best Animated Film Award multiple times.  I often would give a talk in front of audiences after those screenings and take questions, but there was never any criticism of the film. The FAVO screening is the only time a group of artists could offer suggestions and insight. Parker Sketch said the film needed more moments where the pace might slow down and I agree. I recognize that the film happens so fast the no one can possibly fully absorb all the imagery. Though I have hand drawn animation in each scene there isn’t a simple fluid story line to follow. The entire 5 minute film is a fast-paced fever dream. I now have the film on YouTube to be seen for free, yet very few people have looked at it. The time to study the insanity of letting the virus rip has passed. Despite this, I still have the COVID Dystopia book to get to press. 100 years from now there will be interest in seeing this view of man’s inhumanity and inability to adapt to a virus.

Fringe: The One Who Calls

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Midnight Stories from Orlando Florida presented The One Who Calls at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. On a public access broadcast called Sightings, Shawn (Bre Wells), a ufologist fielded calls late into the night from believers. She was jaded having heard everything before but firmly believed that UFOs do exist. For her the evidence was overwhelming.

She was used to getting calls from quacks who claimed to see something, but it was easily explained away. Many members of the audience were actually callers. When they called into the show, they would stand up. This was a fun way to make the audience feel like they were also part of the rural community of callers.

One frantic call stood out from the others and that sighting lead to a series of sightings that grew closer to the broadcasting site. A hysteria set in. It of course reminded me of the hysteria that resulted when Orson Wells broadcast The War of the Worlds on the eve of Halloween just before WWII in 1938.

One very creepy call had static and heavy breathing. Could this be ET himself? Shawns research into UFOs was highly researched but the scientific community ignored her findings. This evening might finally offer validation. Lights flickered and for a moment the hairs stood up on the back of my neck.

After a rural hick confessed that he made the sighting up, a female caller who had never called in before offered reassurances. She then drove to the station to speak with Shawn in person. Believing in UFOs has a lot to do with wanting to believe we are not alone in the universe. The female visitor strongly believed in Shawn’s talent and findings. In the end what we all need is human connection and a feeling of being part of a community. Weather that community is interstellar or a tiny rural town, we all want to feel connected.

Fringe: The S#it

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Can’t Stand Sitting from Toronto Canada presented The S#it at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. The show opened with writer-star Matti McLean seated on a stool half naked. The stool was meant to stand in for a toilet. This hard edged solo show was a perfect fit for the venue of Ten10Brewing. It was a small venue for a cramped bathroom setting.

A passionate romance had turned sour leading not only to  loss of passion but a deep resentment. The toilet was in a apartment with little to no privacy. This historic bowel movement was happening just feet from where his partner was seated.

Part comedy and part gut wrenching confession the audience was taken along for the ride as the honeymoon period flickered out between the seated protagonist and his partner in the next room. Although they were pulling apart there was still comfort in being close to someone who knew every quirk of personality. How can you let go of someone when you are both so close? Were they better off apart or could the rift be healed? All of this existential though occurred while seated on the royal porcelain throne.

I always root for the underdog and hope that love with find a way. But sometimes even when the love is still there, the passion flickers out as people move apart. Just like a long exhausting s#it there can be some relief and even bliss when it is all over and the bowl is flushed.

The explicit nudity in the show reinforced that we are all exposed when we are deep in a relationship. Sensuality isn’t always pretty but being truly understood and accepted is so rare that it is hard to let go once it is found.

Travel Light & Sketch Often

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Travel Light and Sketch Often was a gouache painting demo by Michael Held. The Albin Polasek Museum holds an annual Winter Park Paint Out, and Michael was one of the rock star artists who helped raise money for the museum. Each year over twenty professionally acclaimed plein air artists paint at the Polasek Museum and at other locations throughout Winter Park and Orlando. Art lovers are invited to watch the artists at work and attend free painting demonstrations like the workshop I attended. The Paint Out happens in April before the worst of the Florida heat kicks in.

Artwork created during the Winter Park Paint Out is on display as soon as they are completed and dropped off at the museum’s wet room. These paintings are available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds going to support the Museum.

The description for Michael Held’s workshop lured me in, since it sounded very much like the light kit I carry when I travel. Michael uses gouache which is a medium I want to start working into my kit. I put down very light washes of watercolor on my sketches but at times, it would be nice to go back in and paint opaque paint on top to bring out highlights.

Michael is different than other painters at the Paint Out. Rather than depicting local landscapes, in all their detail, she prefers to paint close ups of birds in a loose and very vibrant style. She doesn’t try to catch wide vistas; she prefers close ups on avian subjects.The camera is not her enemy. She described some of the other artists at the paint out as illustrators and she considers herself more of a visual poet.

She showed her travel kit and I really liked the compact container she had to hold her gouache colors. She said that they never dry out when sealed. She also used a spritz bottle often to moisten the colors. I had a tiny spritz bottle but it didn’t seem to make it to the studio in the last move.

Michael painted one of Albin Polasek’s statues with all of the foliage behind it. It was a challenging subject made more challenging since she needed to keep talking about what she was thinking at each step of the process. I know that talking while at work cuts me off from the more spontaneous and creative side of my brain. Michael described that stages of a painting to great comic effect. Every painting had its ugly phase and every time the artist had to push past that phase.

I learned a whole lot from watching Michael paint, I also loved her story of going through a very difficult time in her life and then pushing ahead to quickly become a renowned painter. She travels often with her small gouache painting set up and she has inspired me to start painting in the medium myself.

Fringe: Karma is a Bitch

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Citizens of the Universe from Winter Park Florida presented Karma is a Bitch at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. A recently deceased teen found herself in an interview with Karma in a sterile workplace setting. In discussing the young girls fate it is decided that she should step in and take over the office work of deciding peoples fate. This was the only way for Karma to move on.

The girl thought eh job would be easy but her flippant choices had unexpected consequences. The play was a bit like Waiting for Godot with a dash of Marley’s Ghost from A Christmas Carol. Large shackles bound the workers behind the desk. The desk workers job was to check the never ending list.

Life and death decisions are usually left to soldiers and doctors, not boring 9 to 5 office workers. A decision made flippantly can affect many other people. The butterfly effect claims that the path of a tornado is being influenced by minor events such as a distant butterfly flapping its wings several weeks earlier. So the life and death decisions made in this office would have sweeping consequences.

Part Comedy and part existential mind f#ck, I was intrigued but not overly concerned at the outcome.

Bad Santa and the Angry Elves at Maxine’s

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At Maxine’s on Shine the doorman was checking his list twice and the venue started to fill. This show was a precursor to Bad Santa and the Angry Elves going to Edinburgh in a month. Jameson’s whisky was a sponsor, and all drink proceeds would help get the group over to Scotland. Knowing that the drink sales were helping the group, I had to order several Santa themed drinks with chocolate and green whipped cream. The drinks had a kick and probably influenced the sketch. Christmas is here!

My seat was as close to the stage as you can get without being on stage. I had to climb over some speakers and tons of chords to squeeze into my seat wedged against the wall. Diane was seated across from me and we had some wonderful war stories to exchange before the band got on stage. I had searched for a Christmas themed shirt but don’t have any. Diane also wanted to be Christmas fashionable but could only find a blouse covered in hearts. That was close enough. The director got up to the microphone and let us know that the band was having a bite in the back room before the show. We joked that they probably were having a few swigs of spiked eggnog.

This Santa has daddy issues. Being the son of THE Santa, Kris Kringle IV has big shoes to fill. The other sons of Santa Kris II, and Kris III, had no desire to work in the family business. Kris IV brought a radical idea to his dad by suggesting that maybe Christmas should be on every day of the year instead of just December 25. Dad wasn’t having it. Riffs from familiar Pink Floyd songs echoed through Maxine’s. Santa and the Elves were singing, “All in all its just another gift from The MALL.”

Rather than the Elves being Angry, it was Santa who seemed angry as he shouted into the void that every day deserved the Christmas spirit of Kindness, Joy and Gratitude. In a world gone mad, that message is needed now more than ever. The elves were not particularly petite except for the one tied up to a microphone stand.

Kris climbed on the bar to be sure everyone could see him as he sang the punk, hard edged rock and roll Christmas tunes. Besides building Christmas carols from Pink Floyd songs, they also had Prince inspired holiday music. Everyone in the room was beaming. If there was room to dance in the aisles I am sure people would have done that. Kris was certainly dancing up a storm with the elf with the orange washboard abs.

I was flying high by the end of the three hour set and the lines were swarming all over the page. Stop doom scrolling for a moment and pretend Americans are not being put in concentration camps, and pretend a narcissistic geriatric patient who fancies himself a dictator isn’t in charge of this country and live each day with Kindness, Joy and Gratitude, mother F#cker.

Ultimate Floyd Tribute

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I am a huge Pink Floyd fan. Their music sculpted my teen angst leading into the years as I ventured into NYC to study art. I financed my college years at first as a mechanic who fixed and ran junk mailing machines. I became quite good at keeping the machines running with rubber bands sweat and delicate finesse along with zen wishful thinking. In the process I became a machine myself while wearing headphones from a Walkman that blasted Pink Floyd.

This was my first job that I got while still in high school. A team of high school girls were hired to sort the mail according to zip codes. The boys would then tie up the piles with machines and throw them in mail bags. A swing arm would rotate around the package and then tie a knot. I got to the point where I could keep my foot pressed down on the mechanical pedal and bundle packages so fast that the piles would instantly disappear.  The sorters would try and keep up. One of the sorters would joke with me and we started to race one another in the quest to see who could produce the largest pile of junk mail faster. She was my first crush. We only dated a few times before we both went off to different states for our college educations.

The Pink Floyd song, Wish You Were Here becoming my anthem as I went to the School of Visual Arts in NYC. The music kept me company on the many long bus and subway rides to and from classes. I kept the flame alive for this former co-worker for years, but eventually I attended her wedding, and she attended my wedding a few years later in NYC. The song still resonates with me. I no longer long for her but I still feel a longing for something I may never find.

My friend saved me a seat at house right. The concert started an hour before the time listed on the tickets. We were seated behind an empty chair which gave us a fabulous view of the stage. We joked that a super tall guy would likely sit there, and that he would probably be wearing a large cowboy hat or have a huge Bob Ross Afro. Just as we stopped laughing a very tall man sat in the seat. We just looked at each other and smiled.

A tribute band can be a risky proposition. This group however was amazing. They brought back all my teen angst along with the harsh reality of failed relationships. What made the concert particularly fun was that I went with a friend who it turns out is also a huge Pink Floyd fan. We both knew all the lyrics and sang along with absolute abandon. Behind us was a guy who knew when to chime in at all the right moments. In one song that mentions lunatics, he started laughing as loud as he could. I was in heaven, in the company of complete lunatics.

For the Dark Side of the Moon, the movie The Wizard of Oz was projected on the screen. I have read that the Pink Floyd album works in perfect sync as a soundtrack for that movie. I am not sure if the music worked in perfect sync but it was effective. The most heart wrenching scene in the movie was when Dorothy had to give up her little dog Toto. For that level of loss. Pink Floyd music rings true.

The darkest music of The Wall was reserved for the end of the concert. Whenever I looked at my friend I saw a smile from ear to ear. We sang Comfortably Numb like our lives depended on it. I felt pure joy but also found myself on the point of tears, it was such a strange flood of emotions.

My friend first discovered Pink Floyd at the tender age of 12. I probably discovered the band at the age of 17 or so in NYC. Both are impressionable ages and the music has stuck with us for all these years.

Simply put this was an amazing concert and I am so grateful to have shared it with a friend.

Stella’s OMA Commission

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I helped Stella Arbeláez Tascón, a fellow artist and friend, when she got a commission from the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) to create tablecloths for a fundraiser event. Her idea was to eco-print leaves on the tablecloths along with woodblock prints. The fundraiser concept was built around the 1979 art installation by Judy Chicago called The Dinner Party. With that installation there were 39 elaborate place settings on a triangular table arrangement for 39 mythical and historical famous women. Including Kali, Sacajawea, Virginia Wolf, Susan B. Anthony and Georgia O’Keefe to name a few. The messaging goal of the Dinner Party was to end the ongoing cycle of omission in which women were written out of the historical record.

Stella had never eco-printed before, but she researched the process voraciously. After the fabric bolts were cut and hemmed, they were soaked in fresh water, dried, folded and stacked on a table set up outside. The next step was to boil water and soak the fabrics in chemicals that would allow the natural leaves to make impressions on the fabric. Since there were so many table clothes there were many boiling sessions.

I went with Stella when she purchased the old rusty butane stove for a song on Facebook Marketplace. When we picked it up there was a whole corrugated warehouse full of old abandoned equipment. A cow from the nearby field managed to get over the fence and had to be chased down to be put back in her field. That was all a sketch opportunity, but we were in and out rather fast to pick up the stove.

The water and fabrics frothed up in the huge metal pot and bubbled over the edge. When Stella finished stirring the pot, she went off to complete another task, and I sat and watched the pot while I sketched. I lowered the fuel nozzle a few times to keep the mix from boiling over. Once the boil was complete all the fabric was taken out and hung on outdoor clothes lines to dry in the breeze. Having this outdoor space to work on the project was critical since this was a messy process. The whole point of the eco-printing process was to celebrate the natural beauty of the outdoors.

In the background of this sketch is a hydroponics tower that was absolutely thriving. The edible lettuce was growing so fast that the tower was getting top heavy. The lettuce at the top was getting the most sunlight and it grew to the point that it broke the plastic tower in which the plant pots had been positioned. I patched the broken tower with plastic wrap because the water was leaking out of the tower and onto the ground. My fast, sloppy engineering fix seemed to work at least for the short term. I harvested the plants which were then drooping down unsupported and put them in bags in the refrigerator. The root system inside the tower was so huge that it would have to be cut out when all the plants were harvested. The greens lasted a long time in the refrigerator. I do believe some of them were eco-printed.

Fringe: The Breakfast Reunion

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Grinning Cat Theater Company from Orlando Florida presented The Breakfast Reunion at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. The show revisits the cast of The Breakfast Club movie only now it is 25 years later and they meet the night before their High School reunion. One of the kids hit it big in the tech boom becoming a tech billionaire while others found local hometown jobs including becoming a teacher in the school where they were once held in detention.

Each character in turn unveiled their middle-aged angst. A marriage was on the rocks and jobs were not exactly gratifying. I kept trying to figure out who was Molly Ringwald all grown up. In general, I never married the older characters to who they were in high school. The show did keep me engaged. Like the movie, the characters were locked in the library for the duration. It is possible that the lock failing might have been intentional to force the former high school deviants to spend the time needed to rehash old times and show their new lives of normalcy.

Vulnerabilities from high school remained with each adult. The same fears and concerns just resurfaced in each new decade. Were friendships forged leading into the future? It seemed rather that these former students who exposed their weaknesses in detention 25 years prior were just ships passing in the night. When the doors locks were opened they each rushed out to the routines they had forged as adults.

I watched this show on my birthday which was a special treat. 1980s nostalgia drew me in. The years are passing for me so I felt it would be good to see how the high school princess, bad boy and weirdo had grown.

World Cup Final

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While teaching my Crealde School of Art, Travel Sketching Course on Sunday morning, one of my students mentioned that she would be going to the World Cup Final at Point Orlando on International Drive. This was clearly an awesome sketch opportunity so I suggested that any students that were up to the challenge should sketch the World Cup. No one including myself, was really looking forward to going to International Drive but I suggested they document the game wherever they were.

I looked online and found that there were several bars in downtown Orlando that were showing the game. I walked downtown from my art studio and decided to walk to City Arts Factory. I knew they had a very large screen TV in the outdoor area. The TV was impressive when I got there but the crowd was small and forced to sit with their backs against a wall. The energy wasn’t right.

Up the road a Wall street there were more big screens set up outside. This is where I decided to settle. There were big screen TVs at either end of the street, but I opted to sketch inside a bar where three TVs were showing the game above the bar. There was something tribal and communal about everyone crowded around the bar and looking up at the big screens. I was offered a beer from one of the folks who looked at my sketch but my hands were full of pencils and pens and I had no place to put the drink down, so I declined.

I dragged a bar stool into the corner of the room near the entrance. I probably looked like a security guard taking notes. Actually, one of the security guards checked in with me several times to see the progress and he gave me a fist bump when the sketch was nearing completion.

I haven’t followed the world cup games at all. I didn’t even know which team was which until the bitter end of the game when Spain scored a point. The crowd went wild. I finished the sketch before the game was over and decided to walk back to my art studio. I stopped off at a pizza shop to grab a bite on the way. The place was crowded and the game was on two large TVs on either end of the restaurant. I got a booth right in front of one of the big screens. Since I was so close I could now see the players as they got tripped and injured. I couldn’t figure out when the game might end. Rather than a clock counting down the clock was counting upwards. I figured out that the game was about to end by the excitement in the announcers voices. Everyone in the pizza joint cheered when the final buzzer sounded. Spain was victorious. They were the team in the red jerseys.