We got to the coast in the late afternoon. I drew the view with the tablet. In the evening a Delta rocket was to launch. We waited on the beach for an hour but the countdown was delayed because of a glitch. We gave up and went out for sushi. Just as we finished eating, we heard and felt a loud roar. Everyone including the chefs ran outside to see the huge orange trail rise into space.
Built in 1927 the “Million Dollar Courthouse” is a fine example of Beaux Arts architecture. The building was designed by architect Murry S. King. Today the Orange County Regional History Center is located in the building. An exhibit of Jim Henson’s Muppets is now on display. While working on this sketch I kept getting bombarded by acorn shards from a squirrel that was sitting on a branch about 10 feet above me. I shouted up to him to cut it out but he just kept munching away. I finally had to accept the fallout in order to complete the sketch. A yellow smudge in the upper right hand corner is from particularly gross half eaten bit of acorn.
Today I searched the web for images from Andrew Wyeth figuring I could learn something from his loose high contrast watercolors. As it turns out Andrew Wyeth died yesterday at the age of 91. He seems to have been producing art right up until his final days. He will be missed.
Today is the final day in my 3 day oil change saga. I picked up my truck at Zembower’s Auto Repair and I find that it only cost $500 to do the repairs. That saved me $3000. The folks at Zembower’s now have a loyal costumer. Driving back from the shop I decided to go downtown and sketch on top of a parking garage that is overlooking a construction site. A photographer from channel 13 news also was taking in the view. He is composting a number of shots together to get a panoramic photo. For me this may be the start of a construction time lapse series of sketches.
With an auto repair that will cost over $3,000 I decided to take a look under my hood to see if I could spot any problems. The only item I have ever touched is the oil dipstick in the lower left corner. All the other wires, tubes, nuts, clamps and hoses are a mystery. I figured if I could see the problem then I should be able to fix it with some Duck Tape. To me everything looks in order.
I decided to go in to my Nissan dealership today for a long overdo oil change. The waiting room area had a window that overlooked the actual work space. Donovan sat reading a good book and another costumer surfed the web with a laptop. It turned out that my truck has a few leaks and the grand total for the repairs would be $3,500! I called my wife and she suggested I go to her mechanic for a second opinion. That second mechanic claimed he would do the work for 10% less than my dealership. When I got to this second mechanics shop however I find that he has a backlog of work and at the least the repair would take 2 days. That means I would have to pay to rent a car for 2 days. I came back to the studio with just the oil changed and now I need to decide what to do next.
I wandered over to International Drive again to give the tablet another try. This pirate ship is one block East of International on Canada Avenue. As I walked towards the theater I saw 2 pirates on the street corner trying to entice tourists to get tickets. I thought, what luck I get to draw some pirates today. Unfortunately they turned on there heels and headed for the stage door before I had a chance to put a single line down on the tablet. As I was sketching a young British tourist who was lost asked me if I knew where Walgreen’s was. I didn’t have a clue.
This is the last sketch from Saturdays Sketch Crawl. This was done from a parking garage overlooking Church Street Station. While doing this sketch I noticed a black purse on the railing of the garage. Inside the purse was a small zebra stripped wallet with a drivers license and a credit card. Rather than trust the garage weekend guard I figured I would return the items myself. I tried to find the person online and in a phone book with no luck, but of course the license has an address so I will mail it off. I considered driving to save postage but the place is like 50 miles over by Tampa. So today I will take a trip to the post office.
Although I did some sketches today of my wife’s horse riding lesson, I will post another drawing from yesterdays sketch crawl. The little girl had an ice cream and soda. When the wife returned with some more food, the couple argued a bit. Dad didn’t want to pay $12 to float around on some Swan. Gabi over at sketchcrawl.com said that this was his favorite crawl sketch, so it would be a shame to not post it here.
Well today was the Twenty First World Wide sketch Crawl and Orlando is participating for the first time. Two other artists showed up to meet me at Church Street Station Paul and Don. Paul did a sketch of the old Steam train at the Old Railroad Depot and apparently was constantly being asked for money by homeless. I tried my Tablet out but made the mistake of sitting in the small shadow of a street sign. Within a half an hour, I was fully in the sun and the battery gave out half way thru that sketch. I ended up loosing about a half hours work since the sketch reverted back to its last saved state.
I then pulled out the old trusty pen and ink and got to work. I only did 3 sketches but I am pleased with the results. Today I will post the first which is of the Church Street Ballroom. As I sketched the lawn keepers busily blew cut grass and leaves into the street.
Only one day to go until the twenty first world wide sketch crawl. Orlando artists will meet at the Old Orlando Railroad Station at Church Street Station at 10am. I will be working with my tablet until the battery dies and then it is pen and paper for the rest of the day. I am looking forward to a solid day of sketching and hopefully meeting some local artists.
For anyone who. like me, does not like paying for parking, I tend to drive east through downtown until the suburban streets loose the parking meters. That adds some walk time to my trip but I can use the exercise.