Play Coach Story Swap

Posted on by Thor

Jeff Wirth is a dynamic theatrical powerhouse in the interactive Orlando Theater Community. I sketched some of his unique workshops and productions early in my Orlando sketch a day journey. In one workshop he demonstrated the proper way to roll up electrical chords. You wind the chord between your wrist and elbow and every other turn the chord needs to be flipped to take away some of the rotational tension. Anyway, I think of Jeff every time I roll up a chord after working in the shop.

Jeff is the director at the Interactive Play lab. The Play Lab fosters Interactive performance  where audience members become co-creators of performed fiction. The Interactive PlayLab provides resources and training for creators of interactive performance. Jeff offers books, e-books, apps and templates to help performers meet their full potential,

Jeff moved to New York for a number of years and he dropped off my radar. When he returned to Orlando he immediately promoted his Interactive Play experiences on Facebook. I signed up but wanted to find a way to also sketch the experience. Sketching is how I play. I recruited a dear friend, Stella Arbeláez to also participate. The experience involved sharing stories and I know she is exceptional at sharing her story.

We met Jeff at the entrance to Dickson Azalea Park. I was looking at the possibility of buying a home in the Azalea Park area, so I considered it a sign that the universe was speaking to me. The home it turns out had termites that had infested all the roof rafters. Since I wasn’t up to rebuilding the home from the inside out, I abandoned the sale. All the reconstruction costs would have added over $100,000 to the price.

We walked with Jeff through the park until we came to a bench that overlooked a babbling stream. Jeff and Stella sat on the bench and I set up my little artist stool to sketch. Boo Boo jumped up on Stella’s lap and settled in. He was having a grand time with all the new smells to be found in Azalea park.

The structure of the Story Swap was pretty straight forward, Jeff asked a few questions and let Stella relate her stories of  shock and recovery. I will not recount what she discussed, they are her stories to tell, but they left me feeling inspired that the creative human spirit is incredibly resilient.  She took a sip from her aluminum water canister between tales.

Jeff then relayed his own story of a young relationship which had to end, yet there was no animosity in the separation. They both loved one another but work pulled the couple in different directions. They walked into divorce court holding hands. Having lived through a bitter divorce that probably still clouds my dark view of what a relationship can become, and having a marriage proposal refused, I found his story of loving separation surprising and ideal. Like an army retreating, my bridges are demolished with explosives.

I was so elated to have two of my dear friends relating such intimate and heart warming stories the very first time they met. When I look at social media or follow politics I see nothing but stories of violence and deception. I make it a policy that once I see a punch thrown on social media I turn it off and instead go about doing a sketch. Sitting with Jeff and Stella made me feel that there is still hope for friends to share meaningful stories that show how the human spirit can grow despite life’s challenges. Life can be a playful challenging adventure that is meant to be shared.

After the story swap, Jeff walked off, and Stella and I decided to do a painting in the park. We walked off to the car to get art supplies and when we got there, Stella realized she didn’t have her aluminum water canister. She riffled through the car but it wan’t there. She must have left it on the bench by the stream. We hiked back into Azalea Park toward the bench. As we got close, I noticed a man walking towards the bench. He was with his ten year old son. The dad picked up the water canister and started to walk off. We ran after him shouting out that the canister was Stella’s. He was happy to surrender it. Another of life’s tragedies had been narrowly averted.

Olive Garden

Posted on by Thor

I have been helping Stella Arbelaez with several large art projects. After a day of working in the studio, we went for dinner and a sketch at Olive Garden (10027 US Highway 441 Leesburg Fl). She had a coupon for a free dinner from years ago. She wasn’t sure it would work, but it was still valid. We ordered a big salad and pasta and then we both started to sketch while we waited for the food to come out. The menus on the tables were electronic. The displays flickered with adds constantly. I am amazed at how digital displays are invading even the simple act of going out to eat.

I focused on the group of diners seated next to us, while Stella did a sketch of me. Her sketch turned out rather good. It is one of the better sketches of me with my 75th Infantry cap and my beard.  There must have been about 5 different servers who stopped by the table. One was an artist himself who was attending college. The fellow who brought out the food would respond with “I got you” for any request. He said it to everyone in our section of the restaurant. I find myself saying it now in a joking way anytime someone makes a request.

There is something truly rewarding and relaxing about sketching with another artist. being around another artist you know they understand the struggle to create. A sketch isn’t easy, It is often a compilation of mistakes which hopefully is believable in the end. There might be two steps forward and then a step back. It is simply reassuring that sketching around another artist there is no expectation of perfection. As she put it, there is no need to act like a “normie’. We could just relax and be ourselves as we created.  For me there is always a feeling that I need to capture the moment with a sketch. In a restaurant there is a certain rush to try and block in the sketch before the food comes out. In Europe, especially Paris, many people will linger over a meal and watch the world go by, but in America there is a rush to get people served and out the door as quickly as possible.

I have gotten used to eating out alone, because that way I can always get a sketch done. It is a rare pleasure to share the experience with someone else.

David Plotkin Memorial

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I have been staying in an AirBnB in Thornton Park Orlando Florida for the past week. It has been wonderful to be able to walk to venues each day to sketch. One of the first places I wanted to sketch was at Stardust Video and Coffee. At this coffee house, Doug Rhodehamel has been assembling a magnificent display of brightly colored cardboard fish in honor of a dear friend David Plotkin.

David who was a close friend of Doug’s was a former Orlando Weekly staffer, WPRK DJ, a political activist and a cultural mover. Doug was asked by the Casselberry Arts & Sculpture House to do a solo show and he enlisted the help of David to come up with a concept for the show. Unexpectedly David died on April 1, 2025 from heart failure before the brainstorming session. Doug considered canceling the show, but decided instead to make the show a tribute to David.

Doug wondered what Dave would want to see if he were to go to the show. David was on a pickle kick. He had old drawings that Doug called war pickles. Doug decided he would build the show around pickles but also allow them to become something else. He ultimately decided to create a huge school of pickle fish swimming through the void. The fish are light and vibrant reminding anyone seeing them that there is light and wonder in the world which is often all too dark and drab. Besides the large school of pickle fish, Doug created a green pickle moon and blue corrugated cardboard columns that resembled coral. The opening reception for Flight of the Pickle Fish was on July 18, 2025.

It took Doug close to a year to cut out all the fish out of corrugated cardboard. I am familiar with Doug’s fish because he mails out a fish each year as a Christmas ornament to friends and supporters of his work. I look forward to seeing each unique fish each year. Some time in the future I hope to have a Christmas tree to display all the ornaments.

The David Plotkin Memorial Aquarium was unveiled on March 22, 2026 at Stardust Video and Coffee. Doug plans to keep making changes to the installation over time. The Stardust installation recruits many of the fish that were on display in the Casselberry Pickle Fish show along with new exotic species.

I went to Stardust Video and Coffee first thing in the morning to sketch. The online Stardust website showed photos of delicious looking waffles. At the front counter I asked for a coffee and the waffles. The woman behind the counter apologized. They no longer have waffles although they are listed in chalk on the blackboard above the counter. There was also an item on the blackboard called the Rhodehamel. I asked what the Rhodehamel was. I imagined it must be some kind of delicious sandwich. Maybe it was a pickle fish sandwich? She had no idea. The kitchen also does not open until 11AM. At least I got my coffee and set about doing the sketch. I was fascinated by a woman at the bar who was on a Zoom meeting about wine sales. Her earth toned dress had fish shapes all over it. When the sketch was complete, I went back to downtown Orlando to grab the waffles I craved.

Venetian Gardens, Leesburg Florida

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I went to Venetian Gardens in Leesburg Florida with a friend to paint. We made the mistake of getting to the gardens right before sunset. The golden hour light illuminated the far shore of the lake a golden orange. Two fishermen were out in small boats pulling in the last of their catch. It was a beautiful scene but we had to work supe fast to try and catch it.

The second it got dark, the mosquitos came out with a vengeance. We both scrambled to pack up our art supplies while getting bitten from all angles from clouds of mosquitos. I don’t even mind getting bitten, I just hate when the mosquitos buzz into my ears. I swear that every mosquito takes a kamikaze run at my ears. Hitting myself on the side of the head to try and kill the culprit is useless and deafening.

We both managed to get something 0n the page in the limited time we had. I of course would have liked more time to mix richer colors. I am considering making changes to my daily sketch kit to include gouache colors which can be applied opaque. With watercolors I can cover the page quickly with thin washes but there are times when I want to paint lights back into the sketch or mix rich pure colors. My watercolor palette is always rather dirty so finding pure color is a challenge.

In this same park there was a magnificent Christmas light display. Lights would flicker on and off in tempo with the music, and a series of reindeer would turn on in sequence making it seem like they were galloping across a bridge. I wanted to return to do a digital sketch of that display but I never got around to it. There were a few magical places to sketch in Lake County, but I have returned to downtown Orlando to search for the types of events that I have loved to sketch for years. I am on a sketching staycation in Thornton Park right now. I am staying at AirBnBs each week and walking downtown  to explore and sketch. My goal is to stay in Orlando long enough to sketch the Orlando International Fringe Festival in May.

Howie in the Hills Christmas Festival

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I went to Howie in the Hills to sketch a small town Christmas Festival. I fell on love with a home in Howie in the Hills which looked like a 1920s Hollywood hacienda. The home was on the main road where traffic is supposed to travel at 35 miles per hour, but the huge 18 wheelers seem to roar by at 55 miles per hour. The studio would have faced out on that main road.  I returned to the home a second time to see if the noise was an issue. The first time the real estate brokers had been talking constantly. This time I wanted a moment of peace to stop and reflect. There was a tall grouping of bamboo between what would have been the studio windows and the road. I considered planting more bamboo to further muffle the roar of traffic.

On the second floor the real estate broker confided for the first time that there was termite damage to a door frame. The termites had infested the home starting in the kitchen and then migrated through the walls upstairs. The door frame was so hollow that the door higes had nothing to hold onto. The door was resting 0n the floor. I hadn’t tried closing the door on my first walk through of the home. I abandoned the idea of buying that home. It was also too far from the events that I love to sketch each day. I like being able to walk to coffee shops and arts venues to sketch at a moments notice. Howie in the Hills is about an hour and a half drive from any Orlando events.

I am 0n a staycation at an AirBnB in Thornon Park, Orlando Florida. Since staying here, I have been doing several sketches every day. After I teach a virtual class tonight, I will be walking down the street to City Arts Factory to sketch Story Club. If I was still out in the country the hour and a half drive would have made the sketch opportunity a no go. The AirBnB is in a great location, but it has no WiFi, so I have to move again in a couple of days.

I parked across the street from the Howie in the Hills home I had decided was all wrong for me and I walked to the Christmas Festival. There was a stage for performers and I leaned against it to sketch the inflatable bounce houses. One of the staff who were supervising the bounce houses and slides set up beside me to eat lunch. He explained that he had to ask one kid to leave because the kid was bullying other children. By refusing the bully admission, the other kids could play without the harassment. If only politics were so easy.

I enoyed watching the kids trying to scale the rock climbing tower. One boy kept trying and failing at reaching the top. I admired that he never gave up. An older girl managed to get to the top on her second try. She raised her hands in victory and was lowered to the ground swaying on her safety rope. The little boy looked on in wonder and then attempted his climb with renewed determination. He failed again. He was dropped to the ground swinging on his safety rope with his arms dangling. I don’t know if the little boy ever made it to the top of the tower. As I packed up my sketchbook he was in the midst of another attempt.

I walked down the street filled with tents where vendors offered their Christmas knick knacks. I wasn’t tempted to purchases anything. To be honest I kind of skipped Christmas this year. My Christmas highlight this year was a Christmas market in Plettenberg Germany and sipping mulled wine while overlooking Wiesbaden Germany from a mountain top. This small Howie in the Hills estival felt overly commercial and shallow in comparison. There wasn’t much history behind the festivities. Being single and completely unattached, the holidays have less meaning. I might just treat myself to a new sketchbook or some new tubes of paint. I can’t order them online, since I don’t know where my next address will be.

No Kings Protest Orlando Florida

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Stella Arbeláez Tascón has wanted to build a large puppet for some time. When she found out that a No Kings Protest was being staged nation wide, and in Orlando Florida, she decided it was time to build a 14 foot tall puppet of Donald Trump as a Jailbird in Chief. Such large puppets are often build in Europe but it is a tradition that has not yet taken root in America. I became Stella’s studio assistant to help bring this behemoth to life.

Stella found many videos online that showed how these large puppets could be built. She borrowed from various puppet workshops to come up with her n. A walker was cut apart and when turned upside down to became the spine of the puppet. She borrowed the shoulder straps and belt from an existing backpack and miraculously they fit neatly onto the walker.

The Trump head was constructed from 1/4 inch plastic tubing which formed the three dimensional framework. Paper mache was then added to create the skin of the face. The result was a highly stylized and expressive head. In the final night of construction, I was tasked with building the hands and painting Trump’s’ Orange face. When Stella gave advice on using thin washed of red over the nose, and ears, the face started to gain a ruddy life. Bruises and blotchy skin were replicated. By 3 or 4 in the morning I had to drop off to sleep, but Stella kept working. She had to sew the huge orange prison jumpsuit by the time we would have to leave for the protest in the morning.

The rib cage of the puppet had to be cut back to allow the puppet to fit in the hatchback of her Prius. The giant head could just fit in the passenger front seat. It is an absolute miracle that the entire fourteen foot puppet managed to fit in her Prius.

Stella hired a second puppeteer to handle the extremely large left hand. She dressed like a secret service agent with a white dress shirt, black tie and sun glasses. Since I am living out of a backpack, I didn’t manage to pull together an equally stellar garb. I made due with what I had.

Assembling the puppet and getting Stella set inside was challenging. We practiced the assembly at her studio and then recreated the steps outside the parking garage near Orlando City Hall. The trickiest part of the assembly has snapping the bulk of the puppet onto the walker that Stella had strapped to her back. With the huge Trump head mounted on top, the puppet wanted to topple. I was grateful when everything snapped into place. Stella’s solid hips and low center of gravity were an absolute advantage.

The puppet was so tall that it could not walk under the covered awnings on the side of the skyscraper leading to City Hall Plaza. When we stepped out of the shadows into the open plaza people shouted out, “The hands are too big!” That is my fault, I built those monsters. The puppet would be so much more manageable with tiny little raptor hands. You know what they say about tiny hands, right? Anyway, that was the ongoing joke all day long.

We marched the puppet around every corner of the City Hall complex. In several places the tree branches were too low to allow passage. We found other ways to navigate around. Hundreds of people were gathered. I kept shouting out, “Jailbird in chef coming through!’ to help clear a path. Stella was the brains of the operation. She would let us know which direction to turn and make sure we were all lined up. If one of us walked too fast we could throw off the balance and cause the puppet to topple. When Stella wanted the hands to wave she would let us know. She then wanted us to walk the diamond shaped crosswalk in front of city hall. When we did that the honks and shouting from the cars waiting at the light became overwhelming. Crossing quickly with a fourteen foot puppet isn’t an easy task. The Trump puppet can’t break into a run when the time runs out on the crossing signal.

Since I was busy holding the rod that controls the puppets right hand, I didn’t get any sketching done at the protest. In one of the videos I saw of the protest, I overheard someone saying “Wow pretty awesome.” I was sure he was taking about my stellar puppetry performance in waving that right hand. I was a sweaty mess by the end of the day and muscles I didn’t even know I had were sore, but it was sooooo worth it.

I returned the next day to sketch city hall and then added protestors and the puppet when I got back to my Thornton Park studio. The Jailbird in Chef go plenty of coverage on the news and social media.

Brooklyn Pizza

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In an attempt to locate arts events in Lake County, I found out that Brooklyn Pizza has live music on Thursday nights. Stella Arbelaez agreed to stop out for the sketch opportunity. It is always fun to sketch with another artist. When we got to Brooklyn Pizza on highway 27, we f0und out that there was no live music. The website had been wrong, or rather misleading. Live music was a rare occurrence. It is more likely to happen in the summer months rather than leading up to the Christmas holidays.

Rather than leave, we decided to settle in and order a pizza and sketch anyway. The tables in the center of the room had been pushed together and there was a large group of retirees, probably from The Villages which is a short distance to the north. Their pizzas had not been served yet so there was time to sketch the group.

Our waitress was an artist herself. She had done the Christmas window paintings at Brooklyn Pizza. Stella and I checked out her handy work when we were leaving. I have returned to Brooklyn Pizza several times since this outing, since it isjust one of the three choices if you want to have a quick bit out. There always seems to be a crowd of baby boomers enjoying a slice here at Brooklyn Pizza.

At the No Kings Protests around the country, baby boomers came out in force. Even in the deep red south, the young and old alike are furious at the fascist direction the country had shifted towards. There are plenty of Boomers making their voices heard.

Our waitress kept checking in on our sketching progress. I think having artists sketching is a rare occurrence at this pizza joint. The open sign was a lit up as an American flag. Seeing people crowded around a pizza pie as the world burns is true Americana. The only thing that could have mede the scene more complete would be for a guitar player to be standing in the corner working hard to drown out the conversations.

Krampus Fest

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From the home I was c0nsidering buying pn F0rest Avenue, I walked up Bumby to the Plaza Live Theater. I havnt sketched at the Plaza Live since before Christina Grimmie was shot by a fan on the evening before the Pulse Nightclub Massacre that took 49 lives. There was a long line t0 get through security to get into the event which was staged in the Plaza Live parking lot. I stood in the block long line that made its way to a huge inflatable cow. The cow makes sense since the Plaza Live theater is in the Milk District. Officers checked peoples bags as they moved through the belly of the beast. Just as I exited the butt, it started to rain. I ran to some cover near the theater and considered sketching the security check point but the driving rain would have soaked my sketch page.

I made my way instead to the front of the theater and found cover under an awning that covers the long arching entry ways. It was still early in the day. I am certain that the best Krampus bests would come out after dark. W9th my bck against the wall, I sketched. Orlando Urban sketchers were supposed to be at the even, but I never noticed any other sketchers at work. I did notice plenty of people wearing horns. The spot was perfect to see bests as they entered for the first time.

There was a small puppy seated to my right and he seemed as curious as ai was about all the creatures with horns. When the rain let up a little bit, I wandered through all the booths. I never stopped since I was still getting wet. There was a main stage set up in the parking lot, so there would be music at some point. If I needed a Krampus themed Christmas present, this would have been the place to get it.

The rain was clearly not going to stop, so I made my way back to where I parked my car on Forest Avenue.

The Delgado Ponzi Scheme

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I was called in to do a courtroom sketch in the case of the United States vs, Christopher Delgado of Goliath Ventures at the Orlando Federal Courthouse. Christopher Delgado stands accused of building a $300 million dollar Ponzi scheme that bilked thousands people out of millions of dollars. The scheme was paying off for Delgado who bought himself fancy cars a milti-million dollar Winter Park home and fancy jewelry.

Investors were promised incredible returns on their crypto currency investments. At first the funds brought in by new investors helped pay for the returns expected by early investors. But then the returns on investments stopped coming. Shallow excuses replaced returns on investments. One client invested well over a million dollars which vanished.

In the hallway leading to the courtroom, I saw Delgado dressed in a tight designer suit that made it look like it could not contain his chest. Funds were raised from doctors, educators, firefighters and blue collar workers, many of whom lost their life savings. At least 328 million dollars  was pocketed rather than invested. The vast majority of the money is gone at this stage. There were about 2000 victims and only 50 million made its way back to investors. That left over 250 million that may never be recovered for the investors.

Much of this court case was a discussion about where those funds might be and if Delgado was a flight risk. Despite his designer suit, he was wearing an ankle monitor and his lawyers stressed that he has been cooperating. Delgado had transferred funds to a bank in Dubai and since the United States and Israel had attacked Iran, Dubai was under missile  attack from Iran. Freezing the Dubai finds would require a pause in the hostilities.

The judge didn’t want to be responsible for policing the many luxury cars and accounts that needed to be seized. The prosecutors and defense had to come to an agreement on how the frozen assets could be held until the court case. Luxury cars included a 2024 Rolls Royce Ghost, a 2024 Lamborghini Hurricán,  2023 Ferrari GTS, some diamond encrusted Rolex watches, some Tiffany and Company diamond gold and titanium necklaces and cufflinks. Prosecutors pointed out that all these items were evidence of money laundering since they were purchased by Delgado’s corporate account. The hope is that these luxury items would not be sold by Delgado in an attempt to flee the country.

Milk District Christmas Market

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I was giving serious consideration to buying a property on Forest Avenue in the Audubon Park district of Orlando. After walking the home and taking measurements, I decided to then walk the neighborhood. Several blocks away was North Bumby Avenue. I walked towards the Plaza Live Theater. Within a block I ran into this Christmas market set up in a parking lot. I decided to just sit down and sketch. This is exactly the type of event I tend to seek out and sketch anyway.

It had rained recently and there was a big puddle in front of me. On sale were vintage records and various arts and crafts. This neighborhood where the home was located felt right. A short walk from the front yard and I was already finding sketch able subjects. The Plaza Live down the street was having a Krampus event and I was excited to get there to sketch as well.

The home I was looking at had a wild and overgrown front and back lawn area. There was no grass, which I like. It had all native plants including bamboo which grows like wildfire. The house is a small 1 bathroom and two bedroom place. I had already drawn out a map of the rooms to see if I could fit my art studio furniture into the place. It was a tight fit. A huge live oak tree cut off much of the light that could make its way through the studio windows. Looking back the place was kind of dark. I could have controlled the light with natural electric lights but that would have run up the electric bill.

After spending $700 on an inspection, I decided the place wasn’t for me. Termites had infested the carport and they made their way up into the roof rafters. Though the roof hadn’t leaked yet it was structurally unsound. Rats had also taken up residence in the insulation in the attic. I figured that I would have to invest well over $100,000 to put on a new roof and it is also possible that interior walls were infested. What I would have been buying was a pile of cinder blocks. It would be a long time before I could move in. This was far more work than I wanted to get my studio set up. It is a good fit for a contractor who wants to flip the place.

Right now I am in between residences. I need a roommate situation or rental so I can stay in Orlando through the end of May since I plan to sketch the Orlando International Fringe Festival which runs from May 12 to the 27th . I am paying top dollar to stay in an AirBnB next week in downtown Orlando but that is very expensive. Apartments often want an 8 month commitment for the lease. I want to drive north in June to look at the possibility of setting up a studio in New York State. If anyone knows about short-term rentals in Orlando Florida, please let me know. I am living out of a backpack and scrambling to find a place. My studio and art supplies are packed away in a storage container and my Prius has my backpack a few groceries and my bicycle. I can view this as a problem or an adventure. I hope it is an adventure.