This month’s concert held at the Timucua White House (2001 Hamilton Lane, Orlando) featured singer-songwriter Wendy Feaver. This was to be Wendy’s last performance in Orlando before leaving to get her masters degree up in New Jersey. The artist who painted the entire length of the concert is Maggie Sharar. She was pregnant with her first child and while most of the paintings on the walls were for sale, one was not because she is saving it for her doula. Benoit Glazer introduced the concert and his two children each performed a piece at the piano.
When Wendy took to the stage she explained that she would be playing some cover songs and plenty of original material. She felt that it was fortuitous that it had just been raining and as she stood outside prior to the concert she saw a huge rainbow that went from horizon to horizon. She began the concert with “Everyone knows it’s Wendy.” I enjoyed the original songs, some of which had to do with insecurity and of course, love. Wendy has a lighthearted way of delivering the songs, sometimes tapping on the piano lid for some percussion.
Sheila Marie Ernst sang and played guitar for the second set. Her gentle voice had a way of reaching in and pulling just the right heartstrings. All told it was an uplifting concert.
Guests to the Glazer home bought bottles of wine and there was a fine spread of deserts in the entry room. After the concert, people greeted one another and it became an informal party.
If you haven’t been to the Timucua White House yet, you are missing out on one of the best venues in town. Grab a bottle of wine and come out on August 29th when there will be a trombone recital.
9000 Backpacks
When I arrived at the Amway Arena at 10AM on Saturday, I was immediately greeted with a line of people that stretched as far as the eye could see. Inside the Arena, 9000 backpacks were being given away packed with pencils, rulers and hand sanitizer. Hope Now International organized this event, which featured free immunizations, hair cuts, Community resources, prizes, entertainment and music.
It was insanely hot outside with temperatures well above 95 degrees and the humidity making the air thick and wet. Green hand fans were given to people waiting in line and large pallets of bottled water were on hand, but parents and children still had to wait in line for hours on end just to finally get into the arena. I had wanted to sketch inside the arena but in the parking lot I read a sign that read: “No backpacks are allowed in the Arena.” I thought that was rather ironic, but I decided my task was to document the mass of humanity who were made to wait in the sun.
I sat under the only large tree and leaned back to do this first sketch. Occasionally children would wander over to see what I was up to. One small boy stood right in front of me watching each line as it was put down. His mother yelled at him when the line inched forward and he ran back. Another boy stirred up an ants nest at the trees roots behind me. He and several other children played in the grass in front of me. The line of people waiting for backpacks stretched from the Arena all the way past the Bob Carr theater, probably a quarter of a mile, and more people kept arriving so the line never got shorter.
Three police horses clomped out on the parking lot pavement. One of the volunteers was Karen Cali, a fellow artist. Her horse walked up to a small tree in the parking lot and started to eat the Spanish moss that was hanging from it. Later these three horses walked up to the shady spot on the grass right in front of me. Rather than worrying about the obstructed view, I took the opportunity to sketch the horses and the crowd of children who gathered to pet them. The volunteers had to keep shouting, “Don’t walk behind, get in front.” They were concerned that if a horse got spooked he might kick back.
It wasn’t until 1PM that the line finally got shorter. At this point I had finished both sketches. I was hot and sweaty and smelled like mold. Watching this huge agonizing line reminded me of news reel footage I had seen of bread lines during the Great Depression. More and more people are finding themselves without a job and struggling to scrape by. An estimated 25,000 people waited to get into the arena that day. The evidence of hard times is obvious. Do the math.
Karen Russell
Karen Russell will be the featured artist at the TheDailyCity.com Mobile Art Show # 12 on Thursday, August 19th from 7 to 9pm outside the CityArtsFactory in a U-Haul truck. I first met Karen at a Kerouac House event. She had a dark brooding air about her that lead me to think she must be an artist of some kind. I have since seen her several times around town with her edgy, twisted, expressionistic, figurative work. I am always reminded of one of my favorite artists, Egon Schiele, when I see her work.
I have always loved sketching artists at work in their studios and I decided to make it a personal mission to sketch each artist that exhibits in the Mobile Art Show as a way to promote their work. Karen’s studio is located in a small ramshackle home set back far away from the road. There was a canoe in the driveway and I noticed that all the windows were painted over. When she greeted me and showed me the living room, the windows glowed with vibrant color like stained glass – only messier. There was an empty pizza box on the sofa and I heard a roommate laughing to himself in a back room.
Her studio had two mattresses on the floor, one with red sheet and one with blue sheets. She was working on a huge canvas which was leaning up against the wall. The only way I could get a sketch of her in the tight space was to crawl across the blue mattress and lean against the wall in the corner. On her laptop computer Karen played an online educational program called TED, about the flight of dragonflies across the ocean. Another program about robotics had me so fascinated that I stopped to watch for a bit.
She is working on a huge painting of Sirens. The stark, almost Egyptian poses express to me a constant mortal angst. While sketching, I liked integrating Karen’s arms as she painted, into the fray of gestures. The door and several of the walls had been punched or kicked, leaving large holes. In the hall, her work was hung at an odd angle. I felt like I was in a true artist’s garret. It wasn’t until I got to the bottom of the sketch that I noticed that the sirens were standing on a pile of human skulls, and that their feet were birds talons.
From the Heart
Terry told me about this free fundraising concert to help raise funds to help fight cancer. The concert took place at Trinity Prep Academy (5700 Trinity Prep Lane, Winter Park). We walked in without any high expectations. I picked out a front row seat with a clear view of the piano. As we sat and waited, I penciled in the details of the stage. I figured when the performers arrived I would ink them in. Norah Jones was singing soulfully over the speakers to the audience as they arrived. We had just seen her in concert the previous night and I was smitten. She is following me and haunting my thoughts.
Nassi Brandes sat at the piano and opened the event with a quick piece. Then a series of speakers explained the importance of the evening to the audience. 14 Arab and 14 Jewish children with life threatening cancer had traveled to Orlando from their everyday lives isolated in hospital beds and treatment rooms to get a chance to just be kids and play in the Orlando theme parks. Politics of a war-torn Middle East mean little to these children. I glanced over and saw for the first time that an entire section of the audience was filled with children wearing white shirts. One girl had a gauze eye patch on and and I suddenly realized these were the children. Their travel had been organized by Travel Holdings. Give Kids The World organized a morning at their World Village and the children would also gain access to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios and all of the Disney theme parks.
The concert was fabulous. As Aviva Avidan sang an Israeli song some of the children started to dance. I noticed Terry looking over and when she turned to me there were tears in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away. The final act was a folk-pop-rock band called “The Wellspring.” One of their songs called “Put up a Fight” reminded me that Terry and I need to continue to fight to regain common ground from which we can once again grow together. We haven’t yet lost the war. Their final song had a beat that you simply have to dance to. Suddenly all the children got up on stage and started to dance. They all moved with pure joy and abandon. Celebrate life! Live, Laugh, Love, Sing! Life is too short, so make this and every moment count!
Norah Jones
Terry joined me when I went to sketch the Norah Jones concert at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre. We met near the courthouse where we found free parking and then walked over to Orange Avenue to get some dinner before the concert. We settled on New York Pizzeria Delicatessen (373 North Orange Avenue). I got a 10 inch cheese pizza and she got a decent looking pasta dish. My pie had a nice light crust just like pizzas I had enjoyed in NYC.
When we got to the Bob Carr there were just a few people waiting outside and it was easy to pick up the tickets from the Will Call window.
My ticket stub read: Beaver presents Norah Jones (No cameras/no recorders). I knew it was safe to draw. We sat up in the nosebleed section. I like the God’s eye view and the sound was fine. When the house lights went out I pulled out a book light which I had dimmed by wrapping the bulb with paper and tape. I really didn’t need to be so concerned. People all around me had their cell phones out all during the concert and at one point they waved them like lighters. I did ask the guy sitting right next to me if he minded my drawing and he rather liked what I was doing and asked me all about my work. A woman behind me did lean forward once not to complain but to compliment. All my concerns were in my nervous head.
The leading act was Elvis Perkins. He got a few boos from the anxious crowd, but he bravely went on singing his mix of American Folk rock songs. He sat alone with his guitar. One of his songs, “Doomsday Love Song,” had the audience singing along with the chorus and at that point he had the audience in the palm of his hand. When he sang his last song, “123Goodbye” the audience clapped loudly perhaps in part because they enjoyed his songs and in part they were about to see Norah!
When Norah Jones and her brigade got on stage the crowd was wild and ready. Most of the early songs I did not recognize, but from the first song I was entranced. Norah joked between songs about being in Orlando where it is always hot, then cold, hot, cold. In NYC, she said it is hot all summer because if you visit a friend, chances are their air conditioner would be broken. One song about “Back to Manhattan” had me yearning to return to the place where I first discovered my art. My heart ached. I yearned to return.
She sang a silly song about her dog and all the lyrics point out how much better the dog is to any of her boyfriends. I thought back to friends who could only find unconditional love from a dog as boyfriends became fickle and impossible to communicate with. Terry told me that if she had bought our pet Cockatoo before she had met me, then we probably wouldn’t be married.
When she finally sang her signature song “Don’t Know Why“, the rest of the brigade left the stage leaving Norah alone at the piano with a lone spotlight illuminating her. This song filled me with regrets. It is beautiful and full of longing and haunts me still.
Leaving the concert after a thunderous encore, I felt elated. Then on the dive home alone in my truck I found myself humming “Come Away with Me.” When I hummed the low notes, my entire chest vibrated deeply leaving me feeling like an empty vessel. Norah’s smooth, silky and sultry voice kept running through my head and it still does. I found myself humming the same song on the way to work yesterday. I melt every time I hear the words, “Come away with me…”.
Vegan Bake Sale at Stardust
On my first day back in Orlando I headed out to Stardust Video and Coffee (1842 East Winter Park Road) for the Audubon Market where I knew there was going to be a vegan bake sale benefiting animal rights. I arrived at about 6:30PM and some of the vendors were still setting out their wares. The sun was getting low on the horizon but it was still baking hot so I was immediately on the look out for a shady spot to sit and start sketching. I looked at the goods in all the booths and then was stopped in my tracks by a tall man with a flowing gray beard who was selling poetry. I was fascinated by his strong features and I know I need to seek him out some day to sketch. He handed me a slip of paper with a poem about Independent American Patriots. I started reading as I walked away. I heard him shouting behind me something about buying American Savings Bonds. I later found out that he kind of expects some payment if you read his work. Whoops, I thought it was a free sample.
It is hard to settle on a definite spot to sit down and start a sketch when you are faced with a space filled with tents. I didn’t want to just sit in the midst of what might later be a high traffic area. I found myself standing near the music staging area and noticed a woman diligently writing texts on her iPhone. She was sitting on a retaining wall which looked like a comfy spot to sit and the spot offered a view of the whole outdoor market. I sat down beside her and started sketching. She seemed very focused so I didn’t want to interrupt her. She looked up while I was sketching and commented on how cute the dogs were. I glanced over at a large poodle that had been recently shorn and put him in my sketch. We introduced ourselves and she was kind enough to compliment me on the early stages of this sketch as I was still blocking things in.
Her name was Allison Stevens and we talked as I continued to sketch. It turns out she was there to sort of survey the event since she would be setting up a booth the following week. She works for Shipyard Brewing Company of Portland, Maine. She informed me that Shipyard is going to set up a brewery right here in Orlando and next week she will be offering free beer samples at the Audubon Market. Her job seems to be to market and help spearhead this new brewery. She said the brewery will offer many local jobs and it is also inviting local brewers a chance to use the facility to craft new tastes. I had tried several glasses of Shipyard beer several weeks ago at a late night comedy club. I had picked the beer for the simple reason that I liked the color of the tap handle. Craig Marris walked up with his hair ablaze. He and Allison spoke for a while while I continued the sketch. When he discovered what she did, he shouted out that he loved Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale which comes out in October. I perked up since I had tasted this beer last year and really liked it. Allison got out her iPhone and pulled up a photo of all the Pumpkinhead Ale that was sitting stacked high on pallets in a warehouse like the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Allison started telling us a story about a student named Taskar Divine, who used to sit outside the girls dorm every day with a sketchbook. He had a mad crush on a girl and he sat there every day hoping she might notice him. All the students thought he must know everything that went on in that dorm and his sketchbook must have been full. It was later discovered that he never once did a sketch nor did he jot down a single note. He had sat idle and never got the girl. The story made me wonder what strange thoughts might be running through people’s heads about me as I sketch them every day.
Then Travis Blaise stopped over. He said he was going to get a beer and Allison waited with baited breath to find out if he was getting a Shipyard beer. He ended up getting an impossible to pronounce German beer that came in a tall beer stein. Alison made a comment about how some people pick a beer based on how tall the beer stein is.
It turns out Travis and Craig are working on character designs for a film they are working on. Travis and Craig both pulled out their sketchbooks and started whipping out amazing sketches of demonic beasts for the film. They would show each other what they had worked on and then they discussed which features worked best for the film.
Robert Johnson took to the stage and warmed the crowd up as the sun set and the night grew a bit cooler. I quickly worked him into my sketch. Craig Marris talked nonstop so this sketch took much longer than expected. It was nice however to find out about how some of my fellow Disney artists had fared over the years. As I was dashing color onto the sketch the second musician took to the stage named Matt Kenyon. His cover songs of Simon and Garfunkel and the Beetles were familiar and comforting. As he sang “I am a Rock” I felt my own sense of isolation. It was a solemn way to end the night, but Terry called and told me I had been sketching for too long, and I should come home. I had spent too much time talking and laughing. She missed me, because we had just been on vacation. To finish my sketch, I put a leash on the dog, packed up my supplies and left.
Grey Towers – Milford PA
James Pinchot bought several thousand acres of land in York County Pennsylvania in the late 1800s. He then proceeded to denude the entire property of all its trees. He later regretted that decision and suggested his son, Gifford, become a forester. Gifford pursued that ambition with a vengeance and over time the property was restored. Pinchot bought ideas from Europe back to America to help restore some of Americas stripped forests.
Grey Towers is styled after a French Chateau. Much of its charm came from the influence of Gifford’s wife Cornelia who he married in 1914. When she first came to the property she found the place rather dreary with the house sitting on top of a barren landscape. She added gardens and a really unique feature called a water table. This large table is located outside and is under a beautiful wisteria which it trellised with an intricate wooden dome. One bright spot of light is left open at the top of the dome much like the Parthenon. The table is built up of stone and cement and it is essentially a large bathtub the height of a table. Chairs are placed around the table and the pool of water is used to float wooden bowls full of fruit and vegetables. When someone wants something a guest simply and delicately pushes the bowl across the watery divide.
This was the last day of my aimless wanderings around the north east. With only an hour to go I had a choice to sketch the Chateau or wander down into town to see a “Wood Festival”. Since I only had an hour I chose to sketch the Chateau. Later Terry informed me that I might have enjoyed sketching “The Chainsaw Chicks.” I was devastated, but I am still happy I took the time to document this bucolic setting.
Final Stop
The final stop in our aimless trip around the Northeast was the Delaware water gap. We were going to visit Raul and Cindy Mello. We first met Raul over 20 years ago in NYC. He is now an internationally acclaimed opera singer and Cindy works for nasdaq-amex.. We arrived in the small town of Milford before the Mello’s since they had gotten caught in some hellish traffic leaving NYC. Terry and I wandered the country roads looking for a scenic spot to stop and have lunch. I saw this VFW and had to stop. I leaned back against a shady tree and started to sketch. Terry took the rental truck and went up the road to shop at an antique shop we had passed. She has gotten good at judging how long it will take me to finish a sketch. when she came back I was just putting down the final washes.
Terry and I ate leftovers from the previous nights dinner at Olive Garden. The pasta tasted even better than it had the night before when I had been too full to enjoy it. While I sketched, I discovered I was sitting right on top of an ant mound. They had started to scramble up my legs. I jumped up and stamped to shake them off. I moved a yard away to do the watercolor washes.
From the brass marker I discovered I was in Pike County New York. This UH-1H Dustoff Helicopter’s tail number is 68-15542 and it flew 16 kn0wn medical evacuation sorties for a total of 1,423 flight hours between May of 1969 and February 1970 in the Republic of Vietnam.
The veteran’s parking lot started to fill up. Two SUV’s emptied its load of teenagers. The boys put on backpacks and then the whole pack marched off into the woods. When I finished this sketch, Terry wanted me to go to go to the antique store which she wanted to continue shopping at. It was a fun shop with tons of fun affordable options, though I didn’t pick anything up. I was tempted by a $3 leather monocle holder. But I realized I didn’t have a monocle.
Magic Forest
Driving into Lake George New York is like driving down International Drive in Orlando with cool crisp weather. Terry and I were visiting my younger sister Carol and her two daughters . We followed the GPS to Chestnut Street, but none of the four homes matched Carols house number. When I called Carol on the cell, she said she lived on Chestnut Road not street. Her directions brought us a few miles south of town. When we drove past the Magic Forest, I knew I would have to go back. This place is pure tourist kitsch, it had to be sketched. Uncle Sam’s face is peeling off and was haphazardly folded back into place. Paul Bunyan was back in the woods and Santa was also keeping vigil in the parking lot. Tourists who entered the lot would pour out of their cars and then snap photos before heading into the park.
The following day was Carol’s birthday. Terry and I treated her and her two daughters, Anna and Kirsten to dinner. Carol took half a day off and she walked us around downtown Lake George. This place is booming with tourists everywhere and little parking. There were several haunted houses and plenty of miniature golf courses. Just south of town there was a drive in theater which had a line of cars waiting to get in. The lake itself was gorgeous with a large paddle boat and several beaches. We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the water. A guitarist was performing cover songs so loud it was impossible to carry on a conversation. The view across the lake made the location spectacular. A small beach right next to the building was crowded with tanning tourists. It would have been nice to stay longer so we could relax and swim, but our packed travel itinerary had us driving south early the next day.
Hillstead House
Terry and I drove to Hillstead House, in Farmington, Connecticut. Theodate Pope Riddle refurbished a small house on this property and then she assigned architects to build this colonial home. Theodate’s father, Alfred Pope, was an industrialist and art collector who financed the building’s construction. Theodate oversaw the design and construction. After I finished this sketch, Terry and I went on a guided tour so we could view the one of a kind art collection. When Theodate died, her will stipulated that the property must be used as a closed art collection. Art never leaves the collection. The dining room had several gorgeous Monets and Manets. There were Degas pastels and paintings in several rooms. My favorite was a painting of ballerinas in pink with several more dancers in the far wings. In an upstairs bedroom an early Monet of two sailboats fills a spot above a fireplace. On a table in the same room is a black and white photo of a New York City Hotel on fire. Our guide explained that Alfred Pope loved his art collection so much that he traveled with his paintings. When he returned to his hotel, he found the building on fire. He then petitioned people in the street, saying he would pay them if they would climb a ladder and save the art. Amazingly the black and white photo shows someone carrying the Monet painting of the sail boats down a ladder. We were able to witness the Monet painting being saved from the ashes.
This home has an amazing and priceless art collection. Our guide told of an instance when Alfred bought a painting from Whistler. When he unpacked the painting at home, he discovered the painting was unsigned. He wrote Whistler asking for a signature. Indignant,Whistler refused, saying the butterfly mark was signature enough. The butterfly mark is so subtle that most guests couldn’t see it. Whistler etchings lined the wall up the stairwell. It was refreshing to see so much art all in the collectors home.