James Chonody Street Artist Little Econ Trail

Posted on by Thor

I have been biking the Little Econ Greenway Trail each morning since I have been in an Airbnb in Azalea Park. I set up this short-term rental for two weeks. Stella Arbeláez pointed out that the place was very close to the Little Econ trail. I am glad I made it a limited stay in Azalea Park, because the house is directly under the flight path of planes landing at the Executive Airport. I thought only little Cessna’s landed at that airport, but I was wrong. The planes also fly over the Little Econ Trail but the noise isn’t as bad since the planes have more elevation when flying over the trail.

I tend to bike the trail as soon as I wake up in the morning. I know that the heat builds and I would rather not be sweating when the Florida heat reaches it’s peak in the afternoon. Riding my bike each morning gives me time to think, and it allows my body to heal faster after my hernia repair operation. The time spent biking also allows me to reflect on what I want to accomplish for the day.

One morning I noticed an artist set up in one of the picnic canopies working on a painting. I had wanted to bring along my art bag so I could do a sketch on the trail, but I managed to forget it back at the Airbnb. I cursed my thoughtlessness and rode by, hoping I might catch him the next day. Thankfully he was indeed there the next day. I rode past again because I wanted to be sure to do a full circuit of the trail. On the ride back, I stopped to introduce myself.

James Chonody was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt that looked like Van Gogh’s Starry Night painting. My awkward introduction was warmly received by James, and he started to tell me all about his career as a location artist. James gave up drinking about 7 years ago and at the same time he took up painting. He thought he might reward himself with a drink after finishing his first painting, but he became completely obsessed with that first painting and forgot all about drink. Painting had kept him sober for 7 years. I feel the need to get lost in the creative process once every day to keep my life on point, and I suspect James feels that same need. He said that children who like to spin obsessively are prone to want to drink later in life. They like the feeling of being a bit off balance. Art does the opposite.  It offers a chance to be completely balanced and very much aware of the surroundings.

As James related his life story I felt like our paths were very much alike. He worked for Disney helping engineer the parade floats, and I put in 10 years at Disney Feature Animation. He feels more satisfaction now that he is producing art that satisfies his tastes. We had some fun bashing Disney executives.

James blocks in his paintings quickly and can do several paintings a day. He doesn’t like to over polish a painting, he likes the look of definite bold brushwork. I was a little worried because he felt the mason jar painting he was working on looked complete. I just hoped he would work on it long enough for me to finish my sketch from across the bike path. He did continue painting by adding lights to the background of the piece. He started packing up at about noon. I think like me he likes to get back to the studio before the worst of the Florida heat hits.

His painting often starts with a black ground. He explained that this allowed the darkest darks to already be in place, he just needed to add lights. We joked about watercolor artists who refuse to use black. They spend so much time mixing black with burnt Umber and ultramarine, blue. Like James I am happy to just use black if it suits the needs of the sketch.

He is a member of the Sanford Seminole Art Association and he artists to paint on location. I hope to stop out and join them at some point. I am always excited to learn about a new arts organization.

The story James related of resilience and using art to rebuild oneself really resonated with me. James is 75 years old and he has his art for sale as he works on a painting. As we were speaking someone walked up to his artist’s area and they were in the market to buy the painting James had of a golden retriever dog swimming. The person didn’t have enough cash, and he offered James a down payment. James suggested he look for an ATM cash machine nearby. He joked with me that the park should really set up an ATM near the picnic canopy where he sells his art since the art sells so well. As I was finishing my sketch, the guy returned with the rest of the cash to buy the painting.

James explained that it was a good day since he had sold several paintings and he had replenished his artistic stock by completing a painting of the mason jar full of lemonade. He also had a painting of a mason jar full of fruit loops cereal. He said people love nostalgia and nostalgia sells. That Fruit Loops painting would end up in someone’s breakfast nook, of that he was certain.

Other painting on display were of Italianate architecture.  James said that some people could spot his engineering background in his artwork. I sometimes get similar comments about my location sketches. James paints live at events, so we certainly have much in common. It was such a pleasure to meet a fellow artist on a beautiful Sunday morning. Showcasing his work outside allows him to meet people and sell art.  He wondered why more artists don’t do it. I want to live more like James when I grow up.

2022 Christmas Carol

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The 2022 version of A Christmas Carol poster for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater (812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL) was built around the vision of Christmas past with the whole cast having a grand time dancing at the Fezziwig Christmas party. Fezziwig was Ebenezer Scrooge‘s jovial, generous first employer. He was a “foppish” and jolly, stout man, and he hosted a lavish Christmas Eve party every year for his employee. He stands as a stark contrast to Scrooge’s stinginess.

Scrooge and Christmas past are far back in the crowded room near the torch at the windows. I put the focus on Fezziwig and his wife dancing.

My decision to leave Scrooge in the background would have to be changed, so this was not the final version of the poster. A number of faces of members of the cast were changes and Scrooge an Christmas past took center stage to replace Fezziwig and his wife.

I painted Scrooge and Christmas past with blue tones to separate them from the crowd. In the play no one ever sees scrooge of Christmas past, so if they danced then perhaps others at the party would have danced right through their holographic visages.

With so much intricate detail this poster was a joy to work on while the changes kept me adjusting the composition throughout the process. Tiny Tim had to be added and brought to the foreground. The woman that Scrooge loved and lost is dressed in blue and dancing in the mid ground. She has her back to the audience and is facing scrooge but does not see him. That is how many relationships erode. Someone you once trusted becomes a passing acquaintance.

I like the chaotic flavor of this poster. The Shakes had sent me photos of the cast dancing from past productions, so I had plenty of reference to add people dancing, drinking and having a great time.

Lake Eola Nutcrackers

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After the start of the new year I drove down to Lake Eola to see what remained of the Christmas decorations. Orlando goes hog wild with Christmas light displays around the lake. The lights offer plenty of selfie photo opportunities. It seem that the lighting displays get more complex each year. Sketching Christmas lights is a challenge so I decided to see what was in the park in the daylight.

I made my way to Lake Eola from the Orange County Regional History Center. When I got to the lake, the Nutcrackers were the very first thing I saw, and I simply got my art stool out, sat down and got to work. The large artificial Christmas tree was also still up.

Several people met in the courtyard area amidst the nutcrackers. I soon found out that they were a religious group. A woman started shouting out that we were all destined for hell unless we embraced Jesus. An AI meme was posted by the President of the United States where he depicted himself as Jesus healing a sick man that looked like Jeffery Epstein. I wonder if the woman shouting in the streets wanted me to embrace that vision of Jesus? Was she promoting a MAGA fever dream?

I had enough things to think about while I was sketching, so what she was shouting got filtered out as I relaxed into the sketch process. I had to find vanishing points, I had to consider size relationships, and I needed to figure out how much of the scene I could squeeze on the page.

The Nutcrackers must be 12 feet high. It would be quite fun if they were articulated being able to move their arms and open their wide crushing mouths. It would be nice if every Nutcracker in the nation were to animate and march down the streets to find despots, fascists and and drive them from the nation. Unfortunately, they can only stand at attention.

Romeo and Juliet

Posted on by Thor

Because I have been working on my website, I noticed that I did not share the poster design for Romeo and Juliet here. The Site went down for a day and I spent 8 hours with techs at Bluehost trying to find out why the servers was scrambling all the elements of the site. Some tech scan had to be done over another 6 hours and I was so glad the when I woke up this morning everything had fallen back into place. Anything digital is mysterious and delicate. Anything not printed on paper will someday be lost.

The poster I designed for Romeo and Juliet pretty much hit the mark with the first pass. I had to work on refining the faces but otherwise my concept of an embrace that vaguely resembles a heart was accepted as is. As I painted Juliet grew younger and Romeo receded into the dark.

In part I was thinking of the scene from Titanic in which the young artist Jack held Rose from behind on the bow of the ship.

The challenge as always was that I did not know who would be cast in the parts. I covered most of Juliet’s face with the hilt of the sword. A previous version showed the sword stabbing flesh and I completely understand that needed to be implied not stated visually.

I had romeo reseed into the darkness and his face is partly hidden by the letter J.

Red shattered glass hints at the tragedy to come. Much of my time was spent making Juliet’s hand feminine and Romeo’s hands more masculine. The abstract nature of the hug makes understanding whose hands are whose a challenge. Had I depicted their bodies the arms might have made more sense but that would have detracted from the heart shape that their embrace creates at least in my mind.

The multi racial casting for the show resulted in some racist remarks on social media and I love that the Shakes stands up for absolute inclusivity. Whoever had the best audition was best for the part. That is the way any show should be cast.

Since I was working on the next season’s posters I didn’t get a chance to sketch the show. I need to get better about getting out of the studio when such an amazing sketch opportunity presents itself.

Urologist Waiting Room

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At the end of my trip through Europe, following in the footsteps of my father, 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken, I discovered that a double hernia had developed at the base of my pelvis. All the hiking I had been doing should have been good for my health, and it was. I lost plenty of weight but perhaps the weight loss revealed the hernia which may have already been developing. In my mind the hernia happened overnight. The Airbnb I was staying in had free coffee. I never drink coffee, but I decided to try a cup that night. It tasted good, so I had another cup.

In the morning, as I was getting dressed, I noticed the two rather large bulges at my pelvis. I panicked. My health insurance had been canceled because of my travels. I scoured the interned to self diagnose the situation. It was not life threatening as I at first thought. I was fine with it unless I had to lift something heavy.  My heaviest object was my backpack full of sketchbooks. I decided I could live with it and then I would get it fixed once I got back to the United States.

This trip to the Urologist was a check up on a previous operation I had which was to remove my prostate. For that operation a laser had been shoved up my flag pole and the prostate was burned away with the laser beam. It was a high tech solution. I wondered if a laser bean blast had ricocheted and caused the hernias. One internet article confirmed that was a possibility.

At this visit with the doctor’s assistant, she denied that the previous operation could be the cause. She gave me a referral to a doctor who handled hernia repairs. I had the prostate removed so that I would not need to urinate as often as I did. Traveling in Europe I found that I still had to urinate far too often. I took a pee in just about every German landmark that I sketched. A sketch takes about two hours to complete and by that time I would have to pee like a race horse. A side effect to the double hernia is a constant need to pee. The doctor’s assistant prescribed a pill that helps reduce the urgency, but my Ambetter Insurance refused to fill the prescription.

My sister in Punta Gorda Florida had the double hernia repair surgery. Her case was much worse than mine. She had to have the surgery done multiple times because the doctors botched the repair. One doctor finally fixed all the botched operations and she has been fine ever since. I started looking for information about that doctor online.

My primary goal, and the reason I was staying in Florida was to get this operation done. I would have to face sketching a series of doctor’s office waiting rooms. This wait wasn’t very long. I only had enough time to put some lines on the page and add three washes to cover the page.

Charlotte’s Web

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I have been updating my website and getting more work loaded into the galleries. When I load an image I need to search for it based on it being shared here on AADW first. I was surprised that I had not shared the Orlando Shakespeare Theater poster for Charlotte’s Web. At the time the show was being performed, I had my back against the wall with lots of illustration work. I did not take the time to see and sketch the show. I am certain that it was an adorable children’s show. I have read the book and know it is a heart wrenching and beautiful story. I did do another version of the poster which was more of a cartoon rather than an illustration. I will share that tomorrow.

My website was in limbo for quite some time because all the page links started to fail. I spent an entire day last weekend calling Bluehost to try and figure out what needed to be done. Something had happened on their end and an 8 hour scan had to be done which ultimately fixed the issue. The problem was with the server. At first an agent thought it might be a malware attack and he scanned for that. Thankfully it was not a virus. The fear with that is that everything could just evaporate and disappear. I am very aware now that n=anything digital is temporary. At some point the internet will cease to exist and any information stored there will disappear.

Most of the silent era films no longer exist. That is because film is a delicate medium and prone to first degrade and then ignite on fire. An estimated 75% to 90% of all American silent films are permanently lost, largely because they were burned, allowed to decompose, or destroyed. Major causes included the high volatility of silver nitrate film stock, which caused massive, spontaneous studio vault fires.

Thomas Edison made the earliest silent films. His films still exist because he printed every frame on paper as well as film and thus his early films can be recreated whereas other films went up in smoke. I suspect that digital will have a similar issue. That which is not put on paper will in the end be lost.

Henry VI Part 3: The Rise of Richard

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I was excited to sketch a performance of Henry VI: The Rise of Richard at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater (812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL). I sat in row  Z. Ushers were confused, they didn’t realize there was a row Z.  I found a spot in the back and scooted to a ¾ view of the stage just before the show opened when I was sure that there was an open spot for me. Where I was seated was perfect because there was no one behind me who might be distracted as I threw lines o the page.

The sketch is a composite rather than a specific moment in the play. I sketched Richard Duke of York (Timothy Williams) when he claimed his seat at the throne. Beside him is The Earl of Warwick Richard Nevelle “the King Maker”, (Benjamin Reigel). Standing in front of them both is the twisted and hunched  Richard III, Duke of Gloucester (Mark McClain Wilson).

The drama unfolded between the House of York (White Rose) and the House of Lancaster (Red Rose). The crown changed hands multiple times. Ascending to claim the crown was often a murderous affair. King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster (Trevor Spence) was a rather weak and pious ruler. He rose to power as a child. He was ultimately captured imprisoned and then murdered. Murder seems to be a sure way to rise to the claim the crown and sit on the throne.

The hunchback Richard III played supporting roles when his brothers rose in power to claim the crown. However he despised the happiness of his brother Edward (Walter Kmiec) who married  the beautiful Lady Grey (Rachel Comeau). The couple had a child and that child would have a claim to the throne someday. If Richard could not experience happiness and romance, then he would instead scheme and find a murderous way to rise to claim the throne. When Edward died, Richard realized the infant would have to be murdered. That would open his path to claiming the crown. As a king in 1450s England you would always have to watch your back.

There are only 2 more performances of Henry VI The Rise of Richard! Be sure to get your tickets to see who claims the throne.

Gouache Video Workshop

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Stella Arbelàez and I painted along with a gouache and color theory workshop video. It is fun learning new painting skills with another artist. Only 3 tubes of gouache along with white were needed for the workshop. Since I was borrowing the dabs of gouache from Stella, I was very conservative about how much paint I used. On a few occasions I used some of my watercolors when the gouache ran low. The colors used were Red, Yellow and Blue which are the primary colors. Any other color can be mixed from those three colors. There was no use of black on the palette. Instead, the instructor focused on how to best mix warm blacks and cool blacks. All the variations were so subtle.

The gouache colors used are very pure and thus very dark and full of pigment. Very often white would need to be mixed into the color to differentiate one color from another. Being able to paint a light color on top of a dark color was a thrilling change for me, since I have only worked with thin washes of watercolor for years.

The instructor had us mix a gradation between two complimentary colors. He picked yellow and purple. In the middle of the mixture the colors neutralize or become muddy. This is important since most colors seen in nature are not pure and vibrant, they have to be muddied up a bit. My everyday palette is organized so that complimentary colors are opposite one another. I often will find myself mixing complimentary colors to make them less vibrant.

We all worked from the same reference which was a scene of a market in Flushing or Queens New York under the elevated subway tracks. Having lived in NYC for 10 years I was very familiar with the scene. It reminded me of the early morning fish market I used to sketch at the southern tip of New York City. It would be great to return to the fish market again since I know I could capture the scene so much better than I did way back in the late 1980s.

I love finding colors while mixing. That is why I used to love to paint in oils. I stopped using oils simply because I never want to leave any trace of paint behind when working on location. I work fast and sloppy so the change of oils getting on my hands and then on a carpet of cushion are pretty high. Working gouache into my everyday kit seems like a good compromise. I can keep part of the sketch fluid with thin washes and them add opaque paint in areas where it is most needed.

If I were to use thick paint as I did in this workshop then it would become necessary to start working smaller. For me the biggest challenge is to always try to keep the brush clean. I might be painting in the darks and then decide to try and paint a bright and light color. The darker color always seems to find a way to hide deep inside the bristles and then muddy up the light color I was hoping to paint. Plenty of experimentation is going to be needed.

I purchased a small landscape hardbound sketchbook that I will try and use at the Orlando International Fringe Festival in May. That is where I will experiment with using gouache for the first time extensively. There are so many other supplies I would like to get, but I am living out of a backpack right now and don’t want to carry too much weight.

The Inspection

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A home for sale in Azalea Park caught my eye and I was considering buying it. I liked that the front and back yard were full of native plants rather than grass. The front yard had a huge Live Oak which was hundreds of years old. The home was almost invisible from the street due to all the dense growth. I liked that. The home was built in 1947 and I have been researching events of 1945 at the end of WWII extensively.

When I first saw the place with my broker Rebekah Carr we did a quick walk through, and I noticed cosmetic issues but figured I could fix the place up in time. I was enamored with the yard which felt like an oasis. There were bamboo, firecracker bush, orchids and ferns amongst plenty of native Florida plants. Even more than the house, I was excited to maintain and expand on this plush landscape.

The air conditioner filter had not been changed for years, that is one thing I noticed and there were structural cracks in the walks and ceilings. I figured those could just be patched.  The shower didn’t work and a makeshift shower had been set up outside. That was odd, but I figured I could fix that in time. I noticed a hole in an overhead beam in the carport. I poked my finger inside and found the wood hollow. A chunk of the wood fell off when I pulled my finger out. Embarrassed, I delicately wedged it back into place hoping no one noticed.

I went to see the place for a second time with my sister and her husband. He has been a contractor his whole life so I wanted to get his thoughts on how much it might cost to fix the place up. He found a number of issues and in the end gave me an estimate of about 70,000 dollars for the repairs. He was talking about removing some walls and putting up new sheet rock and the carport had major issues. I wanted to use that estimate to bring into the negotiations. He said that if there were termites, he would be able to see little piles of sawdust and he didn’t notice any. I thought I saw termite damage in the carport but he said it was mostly water damage.

I went ahead and made an offer which was reduced by 25 thousand dollars. Before the sale could be finalized I had to have an official inspection. I went out to the home the day the inspector went there. He took drone footage of the roof and inspected every detail inside. I followed him around for a bit. While he was working the owner came home. The owner was slurring his words. That is when I decided to go outside to sketch and let the inspector do his work.

After the sketch was done, the inspector came outside and was packing his supplies in his SUV. He said to me, “I have some very bad news, there are rat droppings in the attic and more important termite damage in the roof rafters.” The home sale documents I had read showed that the owner did not believe there was any termite damage. I now knew that there was extensive termite damage. The roof would have to come off and be rebuilt from scratch. I considered getting a camper and parking it in the driveway while the work was done but the carport wasn’t tall enough for most campers. The place was far from move in ready. I don’t mind the idea of making repairs, but this was going to be a major rebuild. If termites were in the roof rafters, they very well could have also found their way into the wall joists. The place was going to be a money pit.

I had drawn up a floor plan from measurements I took on my first tour through the house. My studio fit, but with little room to spare. Now thinking back there really wasn’t enough light in the place. I dropped out of the sale and got my escrow back. The owner wanted to get rid of the property “as is.” He purchased the place years ago for 40 thousand dollars and ultimately sold the place to someone for a little over 300 thousand dollars.

I am glad I got out of the deal but I am still looking for a place that can work as a good studio. I want to be close to a downtown area where I can sketch arts and culture. I’ve been staying in Airbnb’s in Orlando and I like just walking to theaters and restaurants. Downtown places often feel cramped like the money pit I just avoided. After the sale collapsed, I lost interest in finding a home in Orlando.  New York State has been on my mind and my decision to stay or drive north is being reserved until the end of May when I finish my series of sketches documenting the Orlando International Fringe Festival.  Last night I started thinking about getting a rental place with a friend that could work as a studio for both of us. That prospect is exciting. I’m torn between New York and Florida but in general living in America has become less enticing.

Crealde Christmas Party

Posted on by Thor

Returning from Europe, I was hoping to re-establish my courses at Crealde School of Art in Winter Park. The problem is that Crealde published a printed course brochure and submissions for the courses happened while I was away. My Urban Sketching Course was not in the printed brochure, so I would need to wait until the next brochure was printed. I filled out a revised course description last week to try and generate interest in the art of sketching on location. Instead of focusing on Urban Sketching, I decided to re frame the course focus more about Travel Sketching. My course will be offered again in the summer and fall.

At the Crealde Christmas Party, I got to meet the new Crealde Executive Director & CEO Emily Bourmas-Fry. She was wearing an adorable set of deer antlers. She was warm and inviting and made me feel right at home again. Jim Hobart the Crealde Photography Program Manager has been talking to me about mounting an exhibit of my series of WWII sketches that follow my father 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken through Europe in 1945. It has been 80 years since Germany surrendered to end WWII and I sketched every city where my father’s C-Company was encamped and fought in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany.

Towards the end of the series I started adding black and white paintings based on historic photos on top of my location sketches which show what the area looked like in 1945. I now have to go back over all the sketches I posted while I was traveling in Europe to add these black and white historical visual notes. Since history is repeating, I sometimes let modern history morph into the history of the 1945 atrocities. I plan to show the paintings by framing them in white shadow box frames and then having the black and white historical paintings elevated on the glass to show some parallax and separation of past and present.

In sketching the artists mingling, I noticed David Cumbie, the Sculpture Garden Curator & Sculpture Program Manager. I sketched at one of his welding workshops once and when I think of an artist who is completely committed to forwarding the Crealde art cause, I think of him. My course is offered on Sunday mornings and when I used to walk to my classroom, I always noticed David hard at work in the sculpture studio.

For over 3 months I have not interacted with people since I could not understand what they were saying. In some ways that is liberating. I would just assume they were complimenting my sketch, and I would say, Merci, Bedankt, Dank Je or Danke, My American roommate had suggested that I would meet the love of my life in Europe (Eat, Pray, Love style) but that was impossible since I could not understand any thread of conversation. I did not know any French, Flemish or Dutch. I was happy that my limited German was partly understood for the final months of the trip. One German female artist did invite me to her studio, but when we discussed meeting again, I had misunderstood what she said, and I went to the wrong place.

American party small talk therefore was not something I was prepared for at this Christmas party. I talked to a few people about the project I am working on, but when I discussed the German Stalag Forced labor camp that my father’s C-Company helped liberate, I could see people’s eyes glaze over. It seems discussing war atrocities tends to be a party conversation killer. I listened to one conversation, but it was all about commuting times and I lost interest and walked away. I wasn’t interested in loosening my inhibitions with drink, so after I sampled the food and desserts. I drifted off and made my way back to the home studio where I could settle in for a quiet night to write and sketch.