Triathlon

Posted on by Thor

I got up at 4:30 AM to get down to the Woman’s Triathlon being held at the Disney Wilderness Lodge. Blogger, Sultana Fatima Ali told me about the event. I arrived at the magic kingdom and had to take a bus over to the Wilderness lodge. It was still dark out when I got off the bus. Bright theater lights with bugs swarming around them lit up the finish line area. I kept following the line of women who all were walking in the same direction. I found myself at a “marking area” where volunteers wrote the runners number on arms and then another number on racers legs. I considered doing a sketch here but the action was so frantic and varied that I decided to move on. I needed some anchor to help me calm down and start composing a scene. I started drawing near where all the bikes were stored. I was disappointing when I couldn’t enter the area where the bikes were stored. The first sketch of the crowds milling about as the sky grew lighter was fine but I decided not to post it. The funny thing is that I drew so many people holding water bottles by a strap and now a few days later I have the same water bottle sitting beside me as I type. This is an indication that this event was for me a life changing experience. Sultana spotted me sketching and leaned down to give me hug. As quickly as she appeared she disappeared into the crowd milling all around me. I noted her number which was 893.
After finishing my first sketch I walked down to the beach where the race was to start. A huge crowd of about 2000 women were gathered, all adjusting their swim caps and anxiously waiting. The women would go into the water in 12 different waves, or groups. Sultana was going to start with the 9th wave and she had a yellow cap. Each wave of women wore a different colored swim cap. The Star Spangled Banner played and the crowd fell silent. I decided I needed to finish this sketch before the start of the 9th wave. My line work became more fluid and experimental because of all the energy in the crowd. I worked fast and furious. When the 9th wave got onto the water, I was still applying water color washes to the sketch. I stopped and walked to the waters edge to see the start. I bumped into a spectator and we turned to each other. I suddenly realized it was Travis Blaze a former Disney Animator. He was watching his girlfriend, Sarah Purser, who was also going to start in the 9th wave. He laughed and said, “What are the chances?” While we waited, he said, “We should do a triathlon someday.” I said, “If your game, I’ll start training.” I was half joking. Travis explained that the numbers on the woman’s legs were their ages. From that moment on I was much more curious about the numbers written on legs. I went back to finish my sketch and then I would watch Sultana as she got out of the water. I finished fast and jogged over to the place where the contestants were exiting the water. I stood right next to the photographer. I waited until there were no longer any yellow caps. She was too fast, she must have gotten out of the water before I finished my sketch.
I next went to where the women dismounted their bikes. The crowd of spectators was pressed up against the barricade so I had to stand on my camping chair to look over their heads. Women kept falling off their bikes at this transition point since some wanted to keep riding past the sign and others stopped early. One woman got her foot caught in the pedals and she crashed right into the metal barricade in front of me. One woman rode in on a tiny child’s mountain bike. She explained to friends that she had gotten a flat and a little boy lent her his bike. Finally I saw Sultana cruising in on her bike. I shouted out her name and yelled waving my arms, but she was so focused on the transition that I don’t think she heard me.
When the Bike dismount sketch was finished I went to the finish line. I once again stood on my chair to look over the crowd. Runner 893 which is the number right after Sultana’s ran in at 9:55. Bubbles were billowing up from a bubble machine. Large groups of spectators would cheer as runners they knew ran for the finish line. It was exhilarating. I waited to see Sultana finish. This time I was too distracted to sketch. There was so much love and energy in the crowd of spectators. I just soaked it in.
The race was held on the day before Mother’s Day. A woman ran across the finish line with her 10 year old son sprinting beside her. Betty Vernon ran in with her 3 children and she held her youngest daughter in her arms. Family’s were cheering and supporting one another. This was the most amazing Mother Day celebration! I felt elated! When ever a runner would come in with a really strong sprint I had to cheer! I waited almost to the end when women were walking to the finish line. I realized that once again I had missed Sultana. She was just to fast to keep up with as a sketching spectator. I glanced over my shoulder as I got on the bus, 4 women strolled across the finish line arm in arm wearing Hawaiian leis and wide brim hats. The leis reminded me of my step mom, and I remembered that my mother, Elvira, had died on mothers day when I was 10 years old. I felt sad for a moment, but then joyful that life keeps striding on in wild celebration.

P.S. I spoke with Sultana after the event by phone. She finished with a time of 1:40:35 and was 27th in her division. She went into the race hoping to finish in less than 2 hours, so this was an undreamed of success and victory. She told me that when she was biking she saw a woman with one leg passing other racers on the course. This inspired her to push past her minor frustrations and pain. She said that the transition to running was the hardest part of the event. She had to talk to her legs convincing them that they had seen much worse while training. They came to an agreement and pushed on. Only 2 women passed her as she ran.
I am now jogging every day and I hope to experience a triathlon myself. If I experienced such a glorious adrenaline rush as a spectator, then it must be even more rewarding as a contestant. My favorite quote from the day’s events was, “The irony of commitment is it is deeply liberating” -Anne Morris. I am now committed to treating my body with more respect rather than just using it a a vehicle to get my hands to the next sketch location. Stride by stride I try to grow.

Play in a Day

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Having a bad day. My truck was rear ended and the guy said he had to run because he was picking someone up at the airport, so there was no police report. I looked at my cell phone only to find the battery dead. We did exchange insurance info. People need to slow down and relax. A friend sketched a peace sign into the dirt on the back of my truck. When I got home after the accident I rubbed it out thinking it might have been a bulls eye for the road raged Daytona driver that hit me.
Play in a day is hosted by Beth Marshall at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. Six groups of Orlando’s most talented actors and playwrights had just 24 hours to put together their consecutive plays. Writers were given a theme and certain ideas that had to be in the play. They then wrote late into the night some of them all night long for the production starting the next day.
When I arrived Beth Marshall was directing a musical political satire written by Margot Knight. Margot explained her process a bit and it was fascination. She had a long list of free associated ideas that she jotted down in quick succession. No ideas were rejected and many ended up in the final production. She said she even was writing as she drove which is a practice I have started following her example. The fact that I had a fender bender this morning is an entirely unrelated event. I was rear ended and I wasn’t writing at the time. Margot’s production was a fun romp about health care reform. The political quagmire was best represented by using Alice in Wonderland as the vehicle to start the production. At one point Alice tries to read the legal document of the health care reform bill and she is rightfully confused by the language where up is down and down is up.
Britni Leslie had the lead roll as Alice. She had several song numbers to sing and Beth was concerned that her voice might not carry well enough in the theater. Beth arranged to get a wireless mic. The rehearsal was fast and furious with tech setting up lights and sound cues on the fly. I am amazed as how the actors could retain so much dialogue so fast. When it came time to present the play in front of an audience, I felt it went rather well. watching rehearsals I knew where a few blunders and slip ups had happened, but when there was an audience the adrenaline and focus kicked in making everything flow smoothly.

Sidewalk Art

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Heritage Park Square in front of the Orlando County Regional History Center was the site of a daylong sidewalk chalk artist festival. I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired this day, but I had to push past that and just get lost in the work. The park in front of the History Center had a large circular sidewalk and artists were assigned designated areas where they could create their sidewalk creations. I found a spot under a shady pine tree and settled in to get a quick sketch done. The artists I was sketching seemed to all be from the same high school. I believe the art teacher was to my right since once in a while a student would walk up to him and ask a question about their project. The kids were in constant motion wandering back and forth comparing chalk creations before settling in and putting some chalk on their own work. The piece right in front of me was rather nice, being a sketch of a girl half veiled with a colorful shawl.
When my sketch was finished I wandered around the rest of the park and ran into Bob Kodzis, Anna McCambridge and her mom Vicki. Anna was working on a bunny rabbit, while her mom had a human figure with rather intriguing firework type effects. Bob went with a crowd-pleasing black and white dog that looked like the dog from “The Little Rascals.”
After this event I walked down the street to the library to participate in Brian Feldman’s 67 Books project.

Cinnamon Roll Hug

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Jessica Earley organized a Facebook event called the Cinnamon Roll Hug. Amanda Chadwick told me about this event only about an hour before it was to take place at Lake Eola near Panera’s. started called encouragement rules!. One previous event she talked about was a party where all the women created small time capsules in bottles which they then buried. The idea was that they would be burying any of the negative nonconstructive energies in their lives.
I got to Lake Eola about a half hour before the Hug was to take place. I went into Panera’s with the idea of getting a Cinnamon Roll to munch on while waiting for the crowd to show up. I had the image in my head of hundreds of women all joining hands. It would certainly make for a challenging and dynamic sketch. There was a line in Panera’s however and I gave up on the roll.
Here is the description from the event page of what I was about to witness…
Outline of Activity: Group stands in a circle holding hands. One person breaks her link with the person on her right. That person then walks to the center of the circle still holding hands with the person on her left. Everyone is still holding hands except for this one break. The person who had been on the center person’s right then begins to walk clockwise around the circle. Everyone follows her. They spiral in tighter and tighter until they are a snug pinwheel. On the count of three, the group gently squeezes.” Jessica explained to me that the best position to be in would be in the center of the roll.
When 6:30PM rolled around, I saw Jessica with two other women near the large flower bed. I walked over and said hello. The two women with Jessica were Marnie Sears Bench and Luisairis Soto. I asked Jessica how many people she was expecting and she said, “Twelve people confirmed on Facebook.” Deciding that would still make for a worthy sketch, I leaned back against a tree and started blocking in the elements of the grassy field where the hug would take place. Jessica wandered off and went to another grassy field where she felt some people might have mistaken for the event site. She returned empty-handed.
It was now well past 6:30 and time for the hug to commence. Jessica and Marnie walked across the street to Panera’s and asked people going in if they wanted free hugs. They asked a family of tourists, who replied, “Sorry we are from out of town.” The tourists rushed into he pastry shop to escape. Marnie then asked a small group of men if they wanted free hugs. She was shocked when they said, “Sorry not interested.” Back at the park Luisairis started shouting, “Free hugs!” I was afraid she might get arrested for disturbing the peace. She was after all shouting in Lake Eola Park. All this last minute advertising was not bringing any more people into the circle. Finally the three women stood out in the field and hugged. They knew I was sketching and stayed together hugging for probably five minutes of so on my behalf. I had not expected them to pose but I am grateful they did. Had I known they would pose, I would have moved much closer.
I consider the Cinnamon Roll Hug a novel and fun idea. I didn’t participate since I was busy sketching. I hope Jessica organizes this event again, inviting far more people. But honestly the number of people isn’t the issue; it was still fun and exciting to sketch this display of open friendship and affection. Jessica said, “Well there wasn’t really enough people for a Cinnamon Roll Hug, what you saw was more of a Donut Hole Hug.”

My Fair Lady

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The Orlando Philharmonic along with Mad Cow Theater is presenting “My Fair Lady” at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center (401 West Livingston Street). I went to a rehearsal of this limited staged production and was shocked at the care taken with the set. The whole living room section rolled forward towards the audience. I thought I was going to sketch back stage, but the whole orchestra was elevated making that a challenge. Instead I sat in the front row looking up at the action.
I loved this production it was funny endearing and the singing was great. The sound techs were still working out the kinks on the sound dials for the actors mics. This caused actors to occasionally go mute but I’m sure it will all be worked out by show time. Caroline Blice a french horn player came down to say hello during the intermission. She explained that every instrument in the orchestra had a separate mic.
I loved every second of this production. The performance features Michelle Knight as Eliza Doolittle and Philip Nolan as Henry Higgins. Performances are today at 2PM and 8PM. You will be sorry if you miss this production.

K.T. Sullivan -Mad Cow Cabaret

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For the next three weeks the Mad Cow Theater is offering great cabaret entertainment from all over the world. This is the 8th annual cabaret festival hosted by Mad Cow. Cabaret offers a celebration of song and personality; musical entertainment in a intimate setting. I saw Zac Alfson who works at the Mad Cow at the WPRK radio station and he invited me to go to the opening night performance by K.T. Sullivan which would then be followed by a cabaret party. I have never been to a cabaret before, so I jumped at the opportunity. I got a seat in the back row and that worked out great since I needed to use a book light to see the pages the whole time I sketched. This is the first time I have done a sketch with a book light in a theater and I was a bit self conscious. When the house went totally dark I would shield the light with my hand.
Just as the show was about to get started two young women in fluffy night gowns and high heels got into the row in front of me. One of the girls got up probably to go to the rest room and she pranced down the steps theatrically as if trying not to make a sound. Half of the audience was able to see her stealthy comical movements and they started laughing uncontrollably. The woman had to be an actress and I wondered if she had been planted in the audience.
K.T. Sullivan’s performance was both sultry and humorous. Jon Weber accompanied her on the piano. She sang the songs of Dietz and Schwartz who she said wrote the songs late at night. One song written around the time of WWII was about a woman having to date young boys and old men since all the best men had been shipped off to war. The lyrics were very funny. Seeing her performance from the back row let me focus more on the overall feeling of the intimate setting of the space.
After the show was over everyone gathered in the lobby and I was surprised that no one left. I noticed one of Terry’s friends named Eileen and I went over to say hello. She had just gotten back from Louis’s funeral in New Orleans. She is selling her home in Chuluota and will be moving to New York City soon. I offered my condolences and told her a bit about my trip to Pennsylvania. She was with a large group of people and they left for another venue.
There was to be a Cabaret House Party starting at 10PM and so everyone waited in the lobby for the next half hour or so till that started. I got a chance to talk to Genevieve who is now working with Aradhana Tiwari on Project F. Genevieve is the choreographer of Voci Dance and she is excited about the Facebook themed show she is collaborating on. She told me about a rehearsal I missed in which everyone on stage had yarn and as they walked on stage they would leave a trail behind them. All the actors became entangled in this web and it affected their movements. I can kick myself for missing that rehearsal.
I got a white wine when the Cabaret House Party began. Seth Kubersky carried a clip board and wandered the crowd looking for people to sign up for Karaoke Cabaret. Tod Kimbro took to the piano and entertained the audience for a while. The first singer that took to the stage was seventeen year old Samantha. She said she was a bit nervous because she had never been to the Mad Cow Theater before then she quietly began to sing “Till there was you.” She began tentatively but then her voice rang clear and beautiful. She had a gorgeous voice. What a fabulous start for the night! Another couple that I absolutely adored sang “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors. I love this show, and used to sing the songs to myself as I painted in my rundown apartment in New York City. The notion of finding romance in the ruins of New York appealed to me, as did the idea of escaping to find a better life somewhere else. Who would have imagined that might be Orlando. They finished their song and kissed. She quietly said to herself,”He’s so adorable.” I found myself humming “Suddenly Seymour” to myself on the whole drive home.

WPRK 91.5FM – Out and About

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Via Facebook Mark Baratelli contacted me and asked if he could borrow my printer so he could print photos for an upcoming show. Every third Thursday of each month Mark puts on a “Mobile Art Show” in a U-Haul truck parked outside City Arts Factory. This month he plans to showcase all the photos that have been take for thedailycity.com. We bounced ideas back and forth on where we could meet and we decided to meet at WPRK a radio station located on the Rollins College campus. Mark would be there to showcase upcoming arts and culture events as listed on thedailycity.com. I arrived early so I would have a full hour to sketch. Jeremy Seghers, the Out and About host, greeted me and then got his guest situated for his on air interview. Seated in the guest chair was Jesse Nager who is now appearing in Xanadu at the Bob Carr Theater. Jesse also discussed a cabaret show he organized with friends of his. An album is being released called “The Broadway Boys” that features hits from this group of talented singers. He wanted to stress that that even people who don’t usually listen to show tunes would like these performances. He expressed how fun it was to collaborate with so many of his friends.
Jesse and Jeremy discussed the plot line of Xanadu at some length and now I am really curious to see this Broadway musical. It seems the play pokes fun at itself and it’s 1970’s culture and should be very campy and fun. The music to this show I have heard many times many times on the radio, not realizing it was from a Broadway show.
Zac Alfson was also on hand to promote the Cabaret House Party at Mad Cow Theater featuring K. T. Sullivan. I will be going to this Cabaret performance tonight and I hope to get a good sketch of K.T. Zac pointed out that there will be cabaret performances every night through May 16th. The Mad Cow offers an intimate setting in which to experience these one of a kind acts.

Transending Vision – Orlando Museum of Art

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Band of America and Brokers from from Merrill Lynch gathered in the lobby of the Orlando Museum of Arts for a gathering in honor of the new show at the museum which is on loan from Bank of America. Bank of America started gathering the painting in the collection as far back as 1904. The paintings were gathered from over 3000 regional banks and thus show work gathered from artists all over the country.
Transcending Vision: American Impressionism follows the influence French Impressionism had on American artists from 1870 to 1940. Also on hand were works from the Hudson River School and the American Barbizon Schools of art. The paintings showed the development of landscape painting as an important feature of American art from the 19th to the mid 20th century. Landscape paintings also helped document this countries growth as settlers pushed west.
When I finished sketching the corporate mingling going on in the lobby, I went to the back rooms where these paintings are on display. It was refreshing to see so many paintings all in one place. The museum has a small permanent collection but lets face it the Orlando Museum of Art isn’t like walking into the Met or Chicago Art Institute. The paintings were technically great but even in a large museum, if I see too many landscapes all in one place, I glaze over. Landscapes are a dime a dozen to me. I miss the human element, the unexpected flash that comes the second a human enters and influences the landscape. As I was jotting down notes, Jodie Hardman, a Bank of America Marketing Manager, came over and introduced herself. She was curious about my work so I gave her a sketchbook to flip through. She then pulled out her iPhone and sent me a press release which gave me all the background information about the exhibit. That small technical wonder certainly made my job easier.
I examined the paintings up close. Sometimes the brush strokes were thick, juicy and delicious like frosting. The subject matter didn’t interest me that much but when I got close and examined the inner life of the paintings the tangled and twisted abstract world of brush work, I was excited and intrigued. The show left me wanting to work on large canvases.

Project F – Vocals

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This was the second Project F rehearsal I was able to attend and sketch. When I arrived at the Shakespeare Theater there were only a few actors gathered in the space. Aradhana Tiwari, the director, explained to the actors gathered that this night they would begin with a viewpoints session and then move on to vocalizations for the first time. After more actors trickled in, Aradhana turned off the house lights leaving only the Ghost lamp to illuminate the stage. The actors began to walk the grid. Viewpoints is an acting regiment in which actors explore tempo, shape, duration, line, and form. When Aradhana described the process it was as if she was describing the creation of a beautiful canvas using actors and their creative spirits as the medium. She just returned from a month long viewpoints training session in NYC and her intentions and purpose were strong and clear. She often jumped up on the stage to join the actors and affect the session. My favorite quote which came up in the evenings review was, “Art is intention.” The actors were asked to do everything on the stage with a strong clear intention.

After a break. The actors were asked to sit on the stage and review some status updates that had been typed out by the director. All of the updates began with the ubiquitous Facebook “is”.

_____ is wishing and hoping.

_____ is work…again!

_____ is popping Advil like their Tic Tacs.

_____ is sending out healing energy, joy & swirling peas. Namaste ya’ll.

In the next view-pointing exercise, Aradhana divided the actors into 2 groups. When one group moved, the other group would remain still. Actors were asked to only move when they had a status to vocalize. Some fascinating things happened as one group would move in and around the other groups architecture. Sarah Lockhard lead one group and she moved frantically around the stage crouched and peering about as if she was being followed. She said, “Sarah has 534 friends.” The other actors echoed “534 friends” while mimicking her movements. At one point Dennis Neal stood still on one corner of the stage and all the other actors gathered around him. The moment became all about him.

Aradhana said she wants to explore archetypes. She asked the actors to consider what archetypes need to be in the show and how they can be represented through rhythm, melody and movement. She wants the actors to capture a persons signature through movement.

Natalie Peterson expressed the concern that she actually felt scared at one point in the session. Themes of voyeurism and exhibitionism were surfacing and they want to explore the extremes of those ideas. Dennis pointed out that everyone in the room is an exhibitionist, on some level. Aradhana pointed out that shy people can become exhibitionists on Facebook. Mary Hill pointed out that at times she could tell when an actor was reciting a line and when they were speaking from the heart from a personal space. Mary was bought into the cast because she has never been on Facebook. She honestly has no idea what most of the cast was talking about as they spoke of “pokes”, “likes” and “followers.”. She wandered the grid as an outsider.

There was some discussion on how Facebook promotes “revolving door relationships.” Just as in NYC where so many people are in constant close proximity, friendships and relationships can often be short and intense, then people move on. Facebook has the effect of throwing everyone into close proximity, knowing intimate details of people who barely know each other and perhaps have never met in person. This play has limitless potential and I’m excited by the possibilities.

The Spore Project – Doug Rhodehamel

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On May 1st, Doug Rhodehamel’s “Spore Project” began. Doug is asking people from all around the world to create paper bag mushrooms and plant them around their communities. He wants people to send in photos of their creations along with a name, location and number of mushrooms made. I had been trying to catch a sketch of Doug at work and finally got my chance when I found myself at a booth space right next to him at the Outsider Art Fair at Frames Forever and Art Gallery in Winter Park. Doug sat creating mushrooms at a fast and steady pace. As he worked, he explained to me the premise behind the Spore Project. Doug feels that the project will help promote awareness for the support for art education and creativity in day to day life. The project promotes self expression, resourcefulness and creativity by pointing out how a simple everyday item like a paper bag can be turned into something new and unexpected.
As Doug said, “Art is essential: it promotes intelligence and creativity, and it’s a great expressive outlet that inspires people toward new perspectives on life, which we all need and need frequently. Creativity is needed in every aspect of life. It teaches us to think differently and allows us to consider other options.The idea behind the paper bag mushroom grew innocently out of lunch in high school. While sitting around waiting for the meal break to end, I squished my lunch bag into a mushroom and gave it to my friend. this became a daily routine. years later I figured out a way to stick them in the ground. I then began placing them in my friends’ lawns while they were at work. it was meant as a joke, but other people loved them and asked me to cover their yards with mushrooms as well. I began making hundreds, then thousands. I did them for festivals, art shows, parties and just for fun. I began getting calls from teachers asking if I could come show their classrooms the art of making paper bag mushrooms. even companies and corporations began to get involved. this is where the SPORE Project began.”
So spread the word and go make some mushrooms. It’s easy and fun.