Fill the Grill Cook off 2

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The second “Iron Chef” style Cook off at Whole Foods matched chef Tuan Tran from Crave against chef Steve Saelg of the Crooked Spoon Food Truck. The chefs were given $2o to spend and 20 minutes to shop. They then had 20 minutes to prepare a healthy summer meal using an electric grill. The event was again held at Whole Foods Market at Phillips Crossing (8003 Turkey Lake Road). When I arrived the chefs were arranging their respective cooking areas. With a minute to the start of the throw-down, two shopping carts were rolled out for the chefs. An announcer began a countdown to the start of the competition. As the chefs shopped I sketched the grilling area.

Chef Tuan Tran arrived at his grilling station first. He prepared a Korean grilled beef marinated in soy sauce with a pepper paste, sesame seeds and sugar. He also made cellophane noodles marinated in soy, sesame seed oil and garlic, all grilled in butter. He also grilled tomatoes with olive oil, garlic and minced cilantro. The crowning touch was that he also bought several bottles of Vietnamese beer to serve with his dish.

Chef Steve Saelg was busy preparing a chili crusted chicken thighs with ginger, fennel served with couscous. He also grilled avocado and sliced orange wheels sprinkled with a ginger fennel vinaigrette. The chefs moved with swift deliberation. Before I knew it they were done.

I continued sketching as the three judges tasted the dishes and deliberated. Chef Steve Saelg was declared the winner. He will go to the final competition against the winner of the previous throw-down, Alec Cheak of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar.

Hot in the City Party

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Alchemy (2812 Edgewater Drive) is a hair salon in College Park. Together with TheDailyCity.com they hosted a summer party in the lot behind the business. The first thing I wanted to see was “Sea of Green” by Doug Rhodehamel. Cardboard fish with green fluorescent eyes were hung every where from the metal roof beams of the shop. The shop interior was pitch black and black lights illuminated the fish creating an hypnotic and playful deep sea space to swim through. Thankfully the shop was also air conditioned.

Outside in the alley between shops there were several cardboard boxes full of vinyl records. There were always people searching that music treasure chest. Other vendors and artisans had vintage clothing and jewelry. Mark Baratelli of theDailyCity.com arrived and handed out swag bags to the first people to arrive. A photo booth was set up by EnnaAnne Photography under a red tent behind Alchemy. Drawing the graffiti I tried to decipher what the tag spelled out but I never did figure it out. Several people introduced themselves to me. Steph has been reading for some time and she was honestly thankful for what I do. Meeting people like that really helps keep me going.

Several food trucks were on the far end of the lot and a stage was set up. Stage lights were sand bagged to the roof tops aimed at the stage. At one point a guitarist was playing musical chairs. When the music stopped everyone sat down. Two people were sitting on one chair neither one giving up. A judge had to be called in to see who had the highest cheek to chair ratio. When Terry arrived we considered getting a bite at the food trucks. One truck was sold out and the other had a long line. Wendy Wallenburg and Carl Knickerbocker and Mark Baratelli also were considering getting a bite. We all decided to go across the street to Paxia alta Cocina Mexicana(2611 Edgewater Drive), a Restaurant with really good Margaritas. The ice cold Margaritas were a great way to cool down after being on the hot asphalt for so long.

Red Chair Affair

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Terry and I arrived early to the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre for the VIP main stage food, drinks and silent auction bidding before she show. Food was provided by Charley’s Steakhouse, Moonfish, Johnnie’s Hideaway, Vito’s Chop House, Fish Bones, and White Wolf Cafe. Organic draft beer was provided by Orlando Brewing. Terry headed for the food but I wasn’t hungry. I hunted for a choice sketching spot. I decided I had to draw the IKEA Red Chairs which had been decorated by different arts groups in town and were now perched on tables to be auctioned off. The lighting technicians were still testing all the stage lights and the stage and all the red chairs went black on occasion. I paused thinking I might not be able to work under such uncertain conditions. I sketched anyway and as guests arrived the stage was bathed in a warm red light. Most women wore sleek red gowns. I struggled to keep my tie from getting in the paint.

I focused on the chairs. My favorite chair was decorated by the Winter Garden Theater like the plant from Little Shop of Horrors. I’m thinking it would make a great toilet bowl seat. The plush red plant lips would be a pleasure to sit on. I might just remove the sharp teeth from the design. Another chair had an entire doll house built around it. Fairwinds Broadway Across America had an Adams Family chair that was built like an electric chair with “Thing” perched on the seat.

When the sketch was finished, Terry and I were the first in the Theater and we found a group of seven seats just behind the VIP seats. Sarah Austin and Wendy Wallenburg had won tickets by answering an Orlando Cultural Arts question online. The question was, “Who is the artistic director of Voci Dance?” The answer was Genevieve Bernard. I guarded the seats while Terry searched for our friends in the lobby.

15 different arts groups performed. The Florida Opera Theater performed a hilarious “Complete History of Opera (Abridged)”. They began with a guttural caveman grunting and quickly moved to a Renaissance harmonizing. All the subtle shades of operatic romance were sung to hilarious effect. My favorite performance was “I love you, I can’t live without you although I might kill you.” All sung in classic Italian. Since Terry and I used to attend the opera all the time before it went bankrupt, we were laughing out loud at this tongue in cheek irreverent view of opera history. Frank McClain the company’s Artistic Director has helped raise the phoenix from the flames.

The Orlando School of Cultural Dance had the packed theater clapping in unison as they danced to the African beat. Orlando Aerial Arts featured three beautiful women who climbed way up near the stage lights, wrapping themselves in the white silky material and then spinning down like yo-yos. I was to nervous to enjoy the performance. There were no safety nets or guy wires. The evening ended with the Power Chords singing “I got the music in me!” 16 energetic youthful singers danced and sang their hearts out causing a standing ovation. All of the performers crowded on to the stage for one final bow.

Back stage VIP’s and performers mingled behind the closed curtains enjoying cupcakes provided by Sugerbuzz Desert Company and Barnies Coffee. The crowd dissipated fairly quickly except our group, who had to be chased out with the flickering of lights. We decided to go to the Imperial bar behind Washburn Imports for after show drinks. I left the sketchbook in the truck and laughed and talked with friends until we were the last to leave the bar. I love the Red Chair Affair because it introduced to me some new and exiting new arts groups that I hope to visit for more sketch opportunities.

Spring Awakening

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The Greater Orlando Actors Theater is presenting “Spring Awakening” at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater through September 4th. This is a musical based on a play written in the 1892 by Frank Wedekind in Germany. Having seen the play in its original form I thought I knew what I was to expect. Entering the Mandell Theater I was surprised to find it had been turned into a theater in the round. Seating bleachers lined all four walls creating an intimate square staging area in the center of the room. A single wooden chair with a young girl’s night gown draped over its back sat in the center of the stage as the audience filed in. The house went dark and then actress Melina Countryman stood on the chair and she was bathed in a spotlight wearing only her turn of the century undergarments. I was hooked from the moment she sang “Mama Who Bore Me.” She was soon joined by a chorus of girls who stomped to the lyrics in a sensual anger. The shows over riding theme was shouted to the rafters. These were women in full bloom who had to deny their sensuality.

I resisted the urge to sketch these young actresses and instead focused on the boys in their school uniforms who were being forced to learn using rote memorization. Adam McCabe as Moritz began to doze off. When the instructor prodded him awake he came alive as an electric live wire, frenetic and disheveled. He began to sing “The Bitch of Living” and all the boys joined him as they expressed their yearning and sexuality which was repressed and as of yet only a dream. I was surprised when audience members stood and started dancing. The choreography by Jessica Mariko was driven and sensual. During the course of the show several members of the audience changed into turn of the century garb becoming part of the cast. Simple effects like using a flashlight to illuminate a singers face were beautifully understated and intimate. Sarah Villegas as Ilse reacted against the sexual abuse of her father by running off to an artist commune where she posed for artists. She was attracted to the quirky Moritz but he was to blind to see her advances. When she sang “Blue Wind” it became clear she was to beautiful for such a cruel world.

Melchior played by Anthony Pyatt Jr. wrote a long scientifically accurate and occasionally illustrated description of the sexual act for his friend Moritz who was experiencing tortured sexual dreams. When this document was discovered by authorities he was accused of warping his friends mind and hastening his suicide. I’ve been told I avoid intimacy, yet when I write, I tend to express myself without inhibition and more than once what I wrote was unearthed and used as evidence against me. Yes, I wrote that. My soul is not my own. I am “Totally Fucked.” “Lets discuss what you meant in paragraph two, sentence five.” Blah, blah… blah, blah… blah, blah, blah.

The director Paul Castaneda and assistant director Jeremy Seghers did an amazing job of bringing this show alive in such an intimate setting. Simply stated, I was bowled over by this show and the young talented cast. There are only three performances left. Friday and Saturday’s shows (Sept. 2nd & 3rd) are at 8:30pm and Sunday’s show (Sept. 4th) is at 7:30pm. GoatGroup.org for tickets or call 407 872-8451 for information.

In Bloom

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Friends of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra were invited to a class on flower arrangement at In Bloom (325 West Gore Street). Terry gave me her invitation suggesting it might be a good subject to sketch. Hurricane Irene was spinning 200 miles off the coast of Florida sending outer cloud bands over Orlando. When I arrived at In Bloom, the sun broke through the clouds. I was impressed by a small garden of native plants that had been nurtured in front of the building. Inside I was introduced to John Kobylinski, florist and owner. He offered me a quick tour. A hidden black wrought iron spiral staircase lead us up stairs. This building had once been a Coka– Cola bottling plant. He lead me to a room with old wooden floors and an old sink. Here he said the Coke was mixed by hand in that room.

Back downstairs he lead a small group into a freezer room where boxes of flowers are stored at 30° Fahrenheit. He explained that all the flowers are shipped from South America. Roses arrived with 200 blooms per box. They are wrapped in groups of 25 although they are sold by the dozen. Several beautiful arrangements were stored for an upcoming event. Friends of the Philharmonic were sipping wine to relax before the arranging began. Ten to twenty orange clay pots were set out for the students. Wet green foam blocks were placed in each pot.

I decided to climb half way up the spiral staircase to get an overall view of everyone at work. Everyone was first asked to arrange yellow, orange and red roses so they looked like elegant round topiary spires. Smaller blooms and greenery were arranged at the base. The long blades of saw grass had serrated edges so everyone was warned to be careful. I rushed the sketch thinking that the arrangements would probably be finished quickly. I was wrong. Arranging flowers is a subtle art and it takes time and lots of concentration. My eye glasses were filthy. I kept tilting my head to look around distracting fingerprints as I drew. I took my glasses off when I painted. Everything was blurry but at least the colors were vibrant. Sunlight streamed through the shop’s glass doors as the sun set.

Evoke 365

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On the third Thursday of every month I like to go downtown to see what is new in the art gallery scene. My first stop was to see Parker Sketch who had his easle set up outside Nube Nove Salon in Thornton Park. He had three paintings he was ready to work on. One was of Bert and Ernie and another was of Jack Skelington. His easel was splattered with paint indicating it was well used. I really want to sketch Parker Sketch but he explained that he would be handing out business cards more than painting. Besides the sky was filling with dark storm clouds. I realized I should probably seek some cover before I started a sketch.

I walked to Blank Space where an event called “Blank Canvas” was taking place. Jon Glass Man Gardner was outside with a table full of vibrantly colored cans of spray paint. At a previous event he had asked to take a picture of my sloppy, overused watercolor palette. Greeting me, he said, “I wanted to challenge you with that limited palette you use.” Jon had spray painted a spiral design on one of Blank Spaces windows. He told me that Pine Street had been shut down near City Arts Factory. This was news to me and I assumed something big might need to be sketched.

The street outside City Arts Factory was indeed shut down. A food truck was parked waiting for costumers. A makeshift stage was in the middle of the street along with a large screen. It began to rain and people rushed to move the amplifiers, microphones and band equipment under cover. Between downpours, break dancers dried off a dance floor with rags. The rain returned with a vengeance however. A lightning bolt lit up the street and the thunder was so loud and sudden that a woman screamed in surprise. My line jumped.

Two drummers started performing under an awning. I was dry thanks to the same awning. A singer started shouting out the lyrics to the beat. A man sat next to me and started telling me of his life on the streets when he was an alcoholic. Since I was focused on the drawing, I only half heard his story. I assumed that in the end, he wanted change. When he turned to leave, I saw “Trust in God” was emblazoned on the back of his T-shirt.

The performers were part of Evoke Ministries. Evoke began in 2010 with ten artists who vowed to do one painting a day for 365 days. The artists prayed, fasted and asked for god’s direction as they pursued this artistic quest. They hoped their work might open a discussion on what faith means to this generation. They hoped to unveil the liberty, love and freedom of a life rooted in faith. The 1500 paintings, all executed on four inch square wooden panels was on display in the halls and galleries of the City Arts Factory. The paintings were simple and straightforward. Many relied on writing to express thoughts when images didn’t fully express an idea. “A revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having.” An image of a farmer sowing seeds read, “Sow love.” “Why http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnot a flood of love?” “Get your hand off your mouth… expose your flaws to someone you trust…be unbound and move forward.” Proverbs 28:13

I was inspired with the artists passions to express themselves, unfortunately their visual journey didn’t move or inspire me. Outside the rain continued. A small group of of people were clapping and swaying as a rapper made up devotional lyrics to the beat of a drummer. His rap was fun and inspired until the words got lost and jumbled, he choked. Everyone laughed and clapped encouragement. He dusted himself off and continued to sing.

The Pollock Project (Abridged)

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Spending so much time working on the Mennello Museum Mural, I realized I never posted a sketch I did of the Beth Marshal production of “The Pollock Project.” This one act play was presented in the Mennello Museum gallery when Jackson Pollock’s actual paintings were on display. John Didonna played Jackson Pollock and Jennifer Bonner played his wife. I just saw them perform together this week in a music video being produced for Britt Daley. Douglas McGeoch played the part of a German photographer who wanted to photograph Pollack at work and get an interview.

John did an exceptional job playing the volatile and contentious artist. When the photographer questions Jackson’s “style“, the artist stormed out of the gallery shouting from another room in the museum. The audience who were seated in the museum gallery were right next to the performance. Jackson’s wife managed to sooth his ego. The interview resulted in Jackson defending his work and vision, enlightening the audience in the process. Combining theater in the museum setting helped bring this artist’s work to life in a new and exciting way. There was talk of bringing this type of production to other museums and I hope that idea takes flight.

Le Musee de l'impressionisme

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Robert Callender wrote a show that takes you through Le Musee de l’impressionisme room by room, with live musicians, dancers, and singers. The show was produced once in NY, so this was a chance to see it in Florida at the Timucua White House (2000 S. Summerlin Ave). Each musical number was based on a different impressionist painter, like Renoir, Monet, Bazille, Morisot, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Degas and Henri de Toulouse–Lautrec.

Once Terry and I got to the White House, I made my way to the third floor to start my sketch. I sat against the railing along with a couple from out of town. Terry went downstairs to open the bottle of wine we had bought. I knew the dancers were from Emotions Dance and I was excited to see them perform. Three female vocalists backed up Robert Callender and the band was talented and tight with two guitars, a sax, Trumpet, bongo drums, a full drum set played by Benoit Glazer, the evenings host, and a wind synthesizer.

Wine wasn’t allowed on the third floor so Terry never rejoined me. I got several texts from her where she praised the band. All of the dancing was improvised on the spot. I spoke with dancer, Cindy Michelle Heen, after the performance and she described how she lost herself in the music and the energy from the audience. Her body moved freely without the restrictions of second guessing. I sketched the dancers when they came out in bright red skirts for the Lautrec piece. For an inspired moment I felt like I was at the Moulin Rouge. Durring the second half of the performance, Paula Large sat at an easel in the back corner of the stage and she did a composite caricature sketch of the performers.

Red Chair Affair Rehearsal

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As I approached the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center the sun was beginning to set, illuminating the clouds a deep crimson red. The guard at the stage door asked if I was a performer. I decided to say, “Yes”. She pointed me to the dressing rooms. I wandered the back stage halls searching for any sketch opportunity. Stage hands raised and lowered two shrouds which I suspect will be used by an Orlando Aerial Arts acrobat. I tried to stay clear as curtains were raised and lowered. The director John Di Donna offered me a seat on the front of stage right. After listening to the director’s notes I now finally have stage right and house right straightened out in my mind.

A woman in a sleek black dress kept tapping the stage with her toes listening to the sound difference between the main stage and the temporary stage built over the orchestra pit. It turned out she was a Flamenco dancer and she was one of the first to perform. Her bright red shawl was removed from her neck as she danced. It fluttered to the ground. When her performance was over, John walked up to the cameraman seated in front of me and said, “I loved your close ups on her feet as she danced.”

I sketched the Orlando School of Cultural Dance. The school’s director, Julie Coleman lead the singing. Drums set the beat to an African Rhythm. Young children danced to the beat pushing themselves in a vibrant dance. Eric Yow introduced his dance company, Yow Dance saying, “Rhythm is the one constant in life.” His dancers moved to the strumming of an acoustic Spanish guitar piece. Emotions Dance performed a piece called 5th Avenue which was about materialism in modern society. Larissa Humiston, the company’s founder and choreographer hoped the dance might spark discussion. She also pointed out that, “Art brings people together.”

The Red Chair Affair is a great way to see what is happening in the Orlando Arts and Culture scene all in one evening of non-stop performances. The Affair is happening TONIGHT at the Bob Carr. The doors open at 7pm and the stage show starts at 8pm. General admission is $22, students and seniors are $15. There is still time to get tickets, call 407-872-2382. You can also get tickets at the Red Chair website.

Red Wine Wednesdays

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Every Wednesday between 5pm and 8pm, the Global Beer Lounge and Grill (301 Church Street) across from the Amway Center, offers a $15 unlimited select wine and beer. I arrived shortly after work. Yvonne Coleman of WLOQ 103.1 FM was seated at a table using her laptop. The corner of the room was set up as a stage with saxophones and trumpets neatly arranged in a semicircle. I decided to camp out at the end of the bar which offered a clear view of the musicians. They were doing a sound check. Yvonne let me know that the musicians would start playing later as the place filled up.

I focused on the setting and composition. The musicians were sketched in quickly when they took to the stage. As expected the jazz was lively and entertaining. The musicians paced the room walking table to table. There was a table full of women and the sax player serenaded them with his saxophone and squealed as he reached his credcendo. After the first set, Yvonne introduced me to Guy Rawlings of WESH Channel 2 and Paul Stevens from a Circle of Friends.

When I packed up my art supplies, the place was packed. The evening was just getting started.