On the final class of my Urban Sketch course with my Elite Animation Academy students, I tend to bring them to Blackrock Bar and Grill, a restaurant that recently opened in Windermere (8965 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL 32819.) I order an appetizer to share with the students. At Blackrock, your choice of meat or seafood arrives seared and sizzling, sitting atop
a square, inch-thick piece of volcanic granite, heated to 755 degrees.
Your server demonstrates the process of slicing, cooking, and time
needed – as quickly as a minute – before reaching your preferred
doneness.
On Sunday afternoon when we went to sketch, the bar was active with sports fans. It was too early for the dinner crowd, so we didn’t get to experience the sizzling rocks being delivered to tables. The point of this exercise was to focus on one point perspective. I showed every student this sketch in the early stages with the one point out by the far window which is the brightest light in the sketch. I ordered a pretzel and cheese fondue appetizer for $9.99. Cheese and caffeine are fine fuel to do a quick sketch. I had a real talent in this class. The young girl seated in front to f me was doing stellar pencil line work. Her sketches were brilliant and it would have been nice to push her even further, exploring color and mass.I just hope she keeps doing a sketch each and every day which was my main mantra throughout the 10 classes.
This month I will be teaching Urban Sketch principals to adults for the first time at Crealde School of Art (600 St Andrews Blvd, Winter Park, FL 32792) on Sundays. I am excited to get the opportunity to share my experience with artists who are already well into their artistic journey. I did one workshop at Crealde and had a blast teaching. The Crealde classes start on Sunday January 28th. Contact Crealde if you want to join us. Classes will start in the classroom with a clothed model and then expand outside the studio so that we explore the community with our sketchbooks. The Urban Sketching: Tips and Techniques class starts at 9:30 PM until 12:30 PM each Sunday. Time to crack open those sketchbooks.