Premiere Orlando International Beauty Event

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Sultana Ali who was working at the information booth at this event was kind enough to get me a press pass so I could wander the Convention Center at will. She showed me around the show floor pointing out various sketch opportunities. I shouted out, “Everyone here is a model. how can I go wrong!” After she went back to work, I settled in and started sketching.

The first booth I stopped at was Farouk Systems. The product they seemed to be showcasing was a special hair spray. The two hair stylists circled a model seated in a barbers chair. They both kept spraying the models hair until he was lost in the mist filled cloud they had created. They both teased and snipped the hair while talking incessantly. It seems this product is targeted for a Hispanic market. Between hair cuts, the stylists would shout out to the crowd, “Who wants some free stuff!?” “I can’t hear you!”

The models hair was multi-colored. The stylist demonstrated how to cut a perfectly straight edge between hair colors. Fashion models would strut up and down the runway and cameras would start flashing.

The convention floor was packed. Who knew that so many people would want to attend a conference devoted to beauty products? This sketch was a real challenge since there was a nonstop flow of humanity between me and the booth I was trying to draw. When I finished this drawing I felt I was capable of drawing anything. Drawing the stylists proved a challenge since they moved with amazing speed. His hands moved so fast they would show up on film as blurs. At the front of the stage there was a huge assortment of lotions, creams and sprays. They all seemed to sport the same orange label.

I continued to walk the show floor but I am sure I only saw a fraction of the vendors. Events like this are for me exhausting since I am always changing direction to avoid people who stop in the isles. It is like running an obstacle course all day long.

sleepwalk 2: i walk over you

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The week Winter Park hosted the 51st Annual Sidewalk Art Festival, Katie Windish of Frames Forever & Art Gallery hosted the 2nd Annual Outsider Art Fair in the parking lot of her framing shop. I like the sound of being an outsider, so I agreed to exhibit a bunch of my prints from sketches done around town. Doug Rhodehamel also was going to be there making paper bag mushrooms and this was going to be an opportunity for me to get a sketch of him at work.
I got to the Outsider Art Fair a little late and found I had to squeeze in to make some space for my work. I had just exhibited my work in theTheDailyCity.com Mobile Art Show and so I had a pile of prints which had been used to wallpaper the entire inside of the truck. I simply threw the pile of prints down on the pavement and let people who were interested flip through. I think I sold just 2 prints that day but I got to meet so many great artists. Tracy Burke was working on a large portrait of Pete Townsend in bold black and white brush work with just a touch of warmth added for the flesh tones. I was impressed by her work, yet didn’t interrupt her to talk. I have bumped into her several times since and I keep trying to arrange to try and sketch her at work.
Towards the end of the day, I finally went up to the front of the shop to see Brian Feldman’s performance called “sleepwalk 2: i walk over you.” I set up across the street and watched Brian as he stumbled back and forth on the scaffolding that was set up in front of the shop. With the original “sleepwalk,” Brian slept for 50 straight hours while people were allowed to walk over him. This time, the bystanders were under the scaffolding while Brian sleepwalked above them for 8 hours. A small sign read, Shout out, “Why don’t you get a room?” A mother encouraged her little girl to shout this up to Brian in order to get a 1 inch button. He had a face mask on and thus really couldn’t see where he was going. The metal railings were the only thing keeping him from falling to the ground.

Beyond Beat – David Amram

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David Amram returned to Orlando to be a part of, “The Turning Point, a Symposium on Jack Kerouac in Florida.” This multi day event took place at different locations around Orlando like, The Grand Bohemian, the Kerouac House, and as pictured here , the White House. The wite house was built by the music director for Circue Sole and he opens his living room each month so people can listen to talented musicians for free.
David played piano as authors got up on stage and read from excerpts from Jack Kerouac books. The performances ere part jazz and part smooth unexpected improvisation that flowed with the words lifting the spoken words to a heightened meaning. A drawing hung on the wall behind Dave as he performed playing a Peruvian wooden flute. Jack though always vibrant seems to always have a sad searching gaze. I had to keep drawing Kerouac even thought he was located behind the spot where Amram was standing. I enjoyed watching the painter on stage as she worked on a painting of Kerouac for the duration of the set.
I feel Kerouac would have likes this event. He would have jumped up on stage with the rest of the authors and shouted his words out to the waiting audience slipping his syntax to the slippery beat.

Fringe Line

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Just standing in line for a Fringe show is an adventure in itself. As usual at leas half of the people were fingering their cell phones sending texts or checking Facebook statuses. Many of the people in line were also actors which can be surmised from their feather boas and loud Hawaiian shirts. Well, I also saw them perform later that evening. One of the young astronautics from “Cat Women on the Moon” dances up and down the line in slow motion as if weightless. He handed out Cat Women on the Moon fliers to anyone who would take one.
Before I was fully finished of course everyone filed into the theater. After I finished up enough washes, I followed them in. This twenty first Century digital age moves a touch too fast for me to be sketching it using methods used back in the Renaissance. The only way to keep up is to ignore the final polished look of things and just let go and get sloppy!

Gatorland

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Terry arranged a tour with the Audubon Society to see the nesting birds in the sanctuary behind Gatorland. The tour guide who was the grandson of the founder of the place kept up a constant banter. He also kept the group constantly on the move. I finally escaped the tour and settled in to sketch this white gator. It turns out a white gator would never survive in the wild and the two gators in this compound were found together and saved when they first hatched. Sea World kept them hidden away from the public for years until they felt they were large enough for their Giant White Gator marketing campaign.
Drawing a white gator is a little easier than drawing a regular gator since all the ridges and wrinkles are easily visible. I was of course in a rush since every line I put down meant I was falling that much further behind the tour. As I was working a thunderstorm rolled in. there were loud claps of thunder and illuminating blasts of light. In the lagoon outside the larger gators rose to the surface and started to let out an unearthly bellowing noise. Pairs of gators would bellow and roll in the water. Perhaps it is some sort of rain appreciations dance. Regardless it felt like I was back in the age of the dinosaurs.
Gator land is someplace I should really look into sketching at more often. It is a real Florida treasure right in my backyard.

Insurance

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Dealing with insurance sucks. I was rear ended about a month ago as I coasted to a stop for a stop light at 436 after getting off the East-West. The fellow that hit me was in a rush to get to the airport so He didn’t call police. My cell battery was dead. When I got to work I discovered that I wasn’t even scheduled to work that day. Someone had forgotten to tell me. This always happens to me somehow I end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. It has taken a solid month of talking to claims adjusters to finally settle the matter. The damage to my truck was light. I managed to fix the bumper with some duck tape and a couple of new bolts. The other truck blew out a head lamp and lost its front bumper. On top of everything I caught a cold and fever flying out of NYC. I need a travel sized hand sanitizer.

Fringe Merchandise

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The Fringe box office was a constant whirlwind of activity. Before you can even purchase a ticket for a show you must first get a Fringe button. I was running late to one show and had managed to forget my Fringe button at home. My button was tied to the backpack I had used to go camping for Brian Feldman’s Fringe of Nature. So I come running up to this table with just seconds to spare and I ask to buy a button. The kind sales lady informs me I can return the button after the show. I pull out my wallet and I don’t have enough cash. I rush up the ramp to an automated teller machine and withdraw some money. I rush back get the button and then rush to the box office to get the ticket. The ticket sales lady says, “I’m sorry the doors are closed already.” The Fringe is a tightly oiled machine. Show doors close on exactly the specified hour and then no one else can enter. I decided to return the newly purchased button and then I drove home to get my button and Artists Badge. I would see more shows that day, just without the rush and hassle.

The vote signs are so audience members can vote for their audience choice awards.

Follow Your Dream

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Dina Peterson is co-Directing a short film called “Follow Your Dream”. The film is about an Elvis impersonator who dreams of making it to the big time. His wife doesn’t understand the dream. While he sings in a smoky night club a young woman tries to seduce him. His wife finds out about this incident. While arguing one night his wife has a brain aneurysm. At her bedside the impersonator vows to get a 9 to 5 job as a mechanic to help pay the medical bills. Over time the wife comes to realize that she has taken her husbands dream away.
These shots were set up at the Dog and Bone British pub (9 Stone Street, Coco). When I arrived the smoke machine had just been turned on and an assistant was waving a large sheet of board around to spread it around the room. Once the smoke was ready, then the shot could start. Elvis sang 5 tunes straight through while the cameramen used hand held cameras. They also shot the songs using a tripod. At the time I sketched him, Elvis was singing “I Gotta Follow That Dream.”
As Elvis sang, Dina was dancing in front of the video monitor watching the shots. When I first met Dina she was singing karaoke in a bar very much like the one this film was being shot in. The film was shot over the course of 3 days and will be edited soon.

I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You.

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Although the Elvis impersonator’s wife wanted him to live a normal 9 to 5 existence, she soon realized she loved him more when he was chasing his dream, as crazy as it might be. She found out about a talent contest where some talent scouts were going to be and she insisted he sing again.
This is the last shot in the film where he sings “I Can’t help Falling in Love with You” to his wife. This is a 360 shot where the cameraman, director and an assistant circled the table as Elvis sang. The film ends with the couple embracing. This was a challenging sketch to get because the whole bar was black except for the spot light above the couple. I was using the book light as they set up but one they started shooting, I had to turn it off because they didn’t want to see anything in the background. I worked between shots and painted a bit after it was all said and done.
Later in the afternoon there was going to be a scene where a woman in the audience flashed Elvis. I had to get to Gatorland so I had to miss it.

Cody Rivers Show

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The Cody Rivers Show, starring Mike Mathieu and Andrew Connor, had me laughing out-loud for a solid hour. I had seen this comic pair last year and I had to return for more this year. Sultana Fatima Ali and I sat in the front row and at times I leaned forward and grabbed my camping chair, fearing it might get trampled in all the physical humor. A ping pong game with an invisible ball and table relied on nothing but sound effects to bring the scene to life. The game could be played as fast as the speed of sound and such limitations as gravity and realistic timing could he ignored. This could be said of so many of the fast paced skits.

The sketch depicts a Mummenschanz like moment where the actors hands function as eyes and a mouth. Different arrangements of hands portrayed different characters.

The pace of the show was fast and furious. At times I was laughing so hard I couldn’t catch my breath.

If you go into this show with no expectations you will be blown away. I left the theater in high spirits and every time I bump into someone I know, I tell them they have to see this show. I am telling you the same. You will thank me if you go.