Sunset Fire

Posted on by Thor

I end many of my days by sitting on a 5 foot fallen and cut pine tree log and staring at a fire in the large fire pit.

There is nothing more soothing that watching the flames dance and keeping the fire burning as the sun sets. After dark, mosquitoes become far more active and will buzz my ears, possibly attracted by the glow of my iPad screen. I thought a hoodie might save my sanity from the buzzing but the sound of the attack is just as loud.

I have a few evenings where my virtual classes end at 6pm which allows for this sunset fire. I am getting better at scheduling sketch opportunities around Lake and Orange Counties. Most theater rehearsals or theater productions happen around this time and unfortunately the long commute back to Orlando makes it impossible for me to sketch many of those events that I used to sketch every day. Many evenings I am just exhausted and have work I need to do on theater posters, late into the night, so I set a fire to reset my brain into painting mode. I like to dash off quick paintings of the studio to get used to catching different lighting situations and to experiment with different brushes.

By the time the final embers settle it is time to go inside and make some dinner and get back to work. This time by the fire is my chance to reflect, listen to the birds, watch the warm light settle into dusk,  and feel connected to the land. After a short walk each morning, I work in the yard or on the house and feel that same connection to the place. A lone donkey is often hear braying off in the distance. I am so fortunate to have this time in a rural setting. I suspect that the time may soon come to an end with travel or a purchase of a homestead of my own. As I fix gutters, latches, and doors, I intend to one day leave the place improved. If travel is in the cards I intent to help with some far more major renovations which will make the place a very attractive rental opportunity for someone who sees the charm of the place, as I do.

La Niña

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I have been studying Spanish. Each time I eat a meal, I check in with Duolingo on my phone and do a lesson. My friend invited me to go to her sisters house where the family would be celebrating her sister’s birthday. Since I am studying Spanish, she felt it would be good for me to immerse myself in the family conversations, many of which would be in Spanish. She was absolutely right. I am thrilled each time the family speaks in Spanish. I catch maybe a quarter of what is said but the playful sing song exchanges are a thrill to listen too.

I met my friend at UCF where she was giving her finals presentation and then we hit the road. It was a long scenic drive on endless rural roadways. I loved driving through the wide open horse and cow country. She had pulled an all nighter to assemble a map using the paper we had created over the weekend. She was exhausted so she slept through most of the trip.

The original plan was for me to use a iPhone hot spot so I could teach a virtual student for most of the ride and I am glad that the class was canceled at the last minute. It would have been unfair to my friend to struggle to stay awake for that long drive.

She had a present for her niece. It was a curved long board. It is such a simple and sturdy toy that encourages balance. As soon as we arrived she and her niece played with it for the longest time in the living room. Stella lit up when she played with her niece. First she taught her how to straddle the board and treat it like a surf board rocking side to side.  Then it was turned over like a bridge and her niece jumped off with glee. Then her niece sat on the board and rocked side to side. This was certainly the safest and most balanced way to play.

A box of small animal toys was brought out and the animals hid under the long board bridge like trolls. my friend played with the animals allowing them to chase a ball. All of the interactions were in Spanish and it was such a good learning experience for me. Elephante was one of the first words I learned in Spanish and sure enough there was a small stuffed elephant. She also read a book to her niece in Spanish and I was on the edge of my seat hanging on every word. Playtime and pre-school learning are such a thrill for me as I slowly pick up a new language.

On the trip down we stopped in a Spanish supermercado. I needed a bathroom and like a dope asked in English. Afterwards I realized I know how to ask for a bathroom. “Yo necesito uno baño.” I need to get more daring in using the language I am slowly learning. As in art, mistakes are inevitable. I will learn faster if I take more chances and use what I have learned. I now have 2 days of absolute Spanish immersion. Every playful exchange my friend has with her niece is a gold mine of fluent Spanish. She reads the children books that are printed in English and translates them for her niece in Spanish. She created several movies with those translations and I want to look at the movies which should be another gold mine.

During her all nighter creating a map with the grass paper she discovered an online channel that has an endless stream of Colombia soap operas. She described the over the top villainous and sexy leading lady. Sweet innocent couples were forced into  turning to a life of evil due to circumstances. The plot twists were silly and unrealistic but that is what makes it sound so fun. If I were to watch this soap opera first with English subtitle and then without them, I should start picking up phrases and conversational Spanish. At least that is my hope.

Making Grass Paper

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By Thomas Thorspecken

Over the weekend I helped Stella P. Arbelaez Tascon in making grass paper which would be used for her final project in her MFA program at UCF.

She started by transforming the back patio of her home into a working paper manufacturing factory. She took an unused bathroom door and placed it on two saw horses to create a long table covered in black plastic. A crate from her back shed was used as a station for beating and crushing the bags of grass that we had collected on the roadside.

Grass was boiled in water on the stove and the stove ended up looking like a Chernobyl meltdown. Some of my canvas stretchers were used to create screens which were used to strain the sheets of paper. The first day of paper production we managed to make 5 sheets of paper which were hung from the small folding drying rack, lightly hinted at in the sketch. We were exhausted after that 5 sheet day.

On day two we became far more productive, having learned from our many mistakes made on day 1. Making paper is less science and more trail and error. I took over the pounding and mashing job that is pictured in this sketch. A painters spatula is used to stab the blades and then a mallet was used to pound the fibers even finer. By the end of the day I developed a very definite technique. The fibers were then placed in a blender to further emulsify the mash. I found that the blending was finished when the machine stopped lurching when large chunks of organic matter would catch in the blades.

A large container was filled with water and the screens Stella made were dipped into the water and grass emulsion mixture. Making the paper is a bit like panning for gold, where you want to catch the perfect thin sheet of fibers. Okra was boiled to get a viscous and slick substance which helped to bind the fibers into paper. Another task that I had was to use my fingers to break up the grass mixture into the water in the large vat. My hands were covered with the slippery green mix all day. I rather enjoyed the process.

On day 2 we managed to make about 25 sheets of paper and we could have made more since there was more grass emulsion that I had pounded into a fine slurry. We started using a large clothes line that she has in her back yard to dry off sheets of paper and microfiber. Once the  grass mixture was on a screen it would be flipped over onto micro fiber and then more micro fiber sheets would be used to dry off the back of the screen. She became really good at pealing the paper away from the screen. She let me try pealing one late in the day and I failed miserably at first. I finally developed my own technique of easing the paper away with my index finger sliding delicately around the edge.

It was a sunny, gorgeous day with the birds chirping in the trees. It was so much fun assisting. I can’t imagine a more pleasant and productive weekend.

Stuart Little Final Poster

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For the final poster image of Stuart Little I had to reduce the size of Snowbell and move him into the background. Stuart remained standing right where he was and I made Snowbell’s head as large as I could in the negative space to the left of Stuart.

The title looks much better against a bright blue field so it can be read from a distance. I kept the chalky typeface for the credits.

Staurt Little is running right now at the Shakes. It involves some puppetry and a brightly colored set.

The vertical poster was adopted for a horizontal format in the promotional video. Since I am always rushing to finish the posters on time, I don’t paint behind foreground layer. In this poster Stuart is the foreground layer, that meant I didn’t paint the parts of Snowbell that could not be seen. When Stuart is removed, a Stuart shaped unpainted negative space appears on Snowbell’s fur.

This year I am re configuring every poster as a horizontal image as well so that such strange unpainted areas don’t happen when the poster is dissected and pulled apart for various uses.

The jealous gaze of Snowbell now is softened to curiosity or concern. Since he is reduced in size the threat is also softened.

Stuart Little runs through April 27, 2025. Tickets are $20.

Third Pass with Snowbell

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For this pass at the poster I wanted to play up how big Snowbell was in relation to Stuart Little. Stuart is a true gentleman with his ivy league causal jacket and vest. I wanted jealousy to radiate from Snowbell’s eyes.

I felt a bit uncomfortable that the title might not read well enough against Snowbell’s brilliant white fur. The chalky typeface I liked from the second pass at the poster I kept for the credits.

The note from the approvals meeting was that Stuart Little needed to dominate the poster instead of Snowbell’s huge face and jealous gaze.

I needed to make Stuart big and the cat in the distance smaller. This would reinforce the basic rule of perspective in that what is close to the viewer is usually bigger that what is in the distance.

I decided to keep Stuart the size he was and Snowbell underwent a major size reduction. I am thankful I was working digital because I only had to make adjustments to the one layer while leaving everything else alone. If this was an oil painting, or watercolor, then every aspect of the painting would have to be changes or redone.

I am slowly learning to appreciate the advantages of living in a digital world. Stella has been showing me how to share images using Google photos. Images shared are a full resolution. Whereas if I were to share the same images in a text, message of email, the resolution would drop to 72 DPI.

Second Pass at Stuart Little Poster

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This was the second pass at the Stuart Little poster for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. The show is being performed through April 27, 2025. Tickets are $20.

For this poster I focused on the scene where Stuart captains a tiny radio controlled sail boat in Central Park in NYC. I used to live in NYC and this lake was a welcome get away from the hustle and bustle of surviving in the city.

The scene takes place in early morning as the sun rises in the east. I know that because I am familiar with the warm light.

It should be noted that this is a quick color sketch which I assumed might get rejected. Because of that I don’t refine the brush work very much. Working fast like this, I often prefer to leave some of those panicked brush stokes rather than refining and polishing every aspect of the piece.

I am thinking this because I am working on the final stages of the posters for next season. Part of me wants to refine everything, but I resist and only work on areas that have changes or adjustments. I always want to have the poster look like it was made by hand. The best way to do that is to leave hints of the human touch.

I like the look of Stuart in this sketch but once again he is the sole focus of the poster. I wanted to include at lead one other character as well.

My research turned to Snowbell who is jealous  of how well Stuart fit into the family where he was once the sole prince.

Stuart Little First Concept Thumbnail

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This is the first Stuart Little Concept I did for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater poster. I did similar thumbnails for all the posters for the season. The idea was to see if it made sense to have all the posters use the same limited palette.

This concept was built around a scene in which Stuart gets caught in a washing machine. To save time I used a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. If I wanted to finalize the idea of course I would sketch and paint everything.

The idea didn’t fly. I needed to incorporate more characters for the final poster. the idea of having all the posters with the same color palette also didn’t fly. There was no enthusiasm for the limited palette when I showed the concepts at the first approval meeting.

I kind of liked the chalkboard title but I later abandoned that for a much bigger and bolder look to the lettering. The one good thing about this fast approach is that I could get ideas out fast and with more ideas on the table I could pick and choose what was working best.

Doing these children’s show posters are always a fun departure from all the other shows of the season which are usually more serious. With the kids shows I could fall back on a more cartoony look. This sketch is a rare case where I didn’t even bother to add shadows to the character. Of course if the idea had legs I would have refined it much further.

I am right now in the throws of doing posters for the next season at the Shakes and it is amazing how many changes and adjustments each poster goes through. At the last approvals meeting three of the poser ideas were approved and I have about 4 posters to change and adjust. A sloppy sketch like this is like me throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.

Flower Animation

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Every afternoon except Sundays I am online teaching students for Elite Animation Academy. Today was the last class for a student and this is the character she wanted to animate. I thought I should share an example of the types of scenes we work on. this must be a character from a video game my student plays. The assignment integrates squash and stretch, fast and slow movements incorporating slow in and slow out, arcs, a change of expression and a blink and creating a cycle. The flower pedals incorporate drag and some follow through. As simple as the assignment looks it incorporated quite a few of the 12 major animation principles.  I like to follow the student’s interests which means I get introduced to a whole lot of characters and culture I wouldn’t otherwise get exposed too.

Since this was a final project, I wanted the student to push the scene to a more final look by using color and a background. The reference the student showed me had the simple grey background so I went with that. I enjoy teaching animation online. I go over the same 12 principles each time but each student inspires me to push each assignment in a new direction to match their interests.

This is a bit of a departure from my sharing my illustrative journalism work, but every afternoon when most events are beginning, I am in my studio online teaching a student. This student wanted to include an audio clip with her animation in Procreate, but the program doesn’t have an audio feature. I use a program called Callipeg and it does allow for audio clips, so with more ambitious students I sometimes have a short dialogue clip to work on. By short, I mean one word, like “no!” which could be finished in one two hour class.

First Ad seen of Stuart Little Poster Art

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This is the first ad I found featuring the art I created for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater production of Stuart Little. The show runs through April 27, 2025. I need to arrange to get to the theater and sketch the actual show.

I watched the Stuart Little movie on YouTube for inspiration and found so many illustrated renditions of Stuart. Designs started with thumbnail sketched and then I did multiple versions of the poster before this one was ultimately picked.

I remember that Snowball the white cat at first was immense, with his cat face filling up most of the poster while Stuart was small and diminutive. When I reversed that size dynamic the poster started to fall into place.

I find it fascinating how many steps it takes to reach a final look for the poster art. On rare occasions I hit it out of the park on the first try but that is rare. Being flexible and rolling with the punches is what makes illustration challenging, and so much fun.

By working digitally, changes could involve just turning off a layer to eliminate a character and then start over while the rest of the poster remains intact.

I am in the heat of the moment making changes to the posters to next season. Three posters were approved in the last meeting but four have more adjustments that need to be made. The goal is to know that every change can and will make the poster even better.

One play was dropped to be replaced by another and I had one day to come up with a new concept. That is when things get really fun and exciting!

Ravine Gardens Entry

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Ravine Gardens State Park was a Works Projects Administration (WPA) project completed in 1933. Located at 1600 Twigg St, Palatka, FL, this 152 acre park is a real gem. The park contains steep head ravines surrounding Whitewater Branch, a spring-fed stream that flows east into the Saint Johns River.

I did this sketch of the entry walkway after a long day of hiking on the Azalea trail. I was sweaty and exhausted and needed a rest so I sat down and sketched. I figured out the movement of the sun to be sure I would remain in the shade for the duration of the sketch.

The stone work on all these trellis columns is identical to the stone work on the front facade of the Lake County home I am renting. There must be about 25 sets of columns on each side of the walkway because each section had a plaque with a state name and a place to hang the state flag. It must be an impressive sight when all the state flags are hung and they waved in the breeze.

There is a 60-foot obelisk dedicated to Franklin D. Roosevelt at the end of the Court of States walkway with three stone cone shapes fountains. Ravine Gardens is one of the nine New Deal-era state parks in Florida. On holiday weekends, the park displays among the stone and wood pillars the flags of the 48 states that were in the Union when the park was established.