Beach Day

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Pam, her niece and I took a trip to New Smyrna Beach. We had an industrial strength umbrella and I stayed under it as often as possible to stay out of the sun. Pan and her niece however lounged n the sun pretty much all day.

When we arrived I quickly slathered on some sun screen and joined them out in the waves. I wore a baseball cap to keep my scalp from burning but didn’t thing to bring a tee shirt for while I was in the water. Maybe I was out in the waves for 20 minutes at most.

The rest of the afternoon I rested in the umbrella’s shade with a white towel covering my legs. I sketched Pam while she read a gourmet magazine.

By the end of the day Pam’s niece was lobster red. Pam got some sun mostly on her upper legs and I figured I was fine. That evening however I looked in the bathroom mirror and found that my chest was a checkerboard of protected spots and spots that were turning beat red. I had been rather sloppy with my sunscreen slathering missing several kept spots like the tender spot at the base of my arm we tend to call my turkey cutlet. Pam had applied sun screen to my back and that was completely protected.

Pam’s niece was burnt everywhere and several days later pealed a huge sheet of flesh off of her upper thigh the side of a sheet of office paper. Regardless it was well worth it to be able to relax and listen to the waves. The salty breeze coming off the waves also opened my airways and lungs and it felt like it was the first refreshing breaths I had taken in over a year. There were two shark attacks the weekend we were at the beach but for once I let my COVID radar relax.

 

Community: 5 Years After the Pulse Tragedy

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COMMUNITY: 5 Years After the Pulse Tragedy is on exhibit May 29 to August 15, 2021, at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 E. Central Blvd.
Orlando, Florida 32801.)

The Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016 and the subsequent response forever changed Orlando – exemplified by the immense outpouring of support and love shown by locals in the days, months, and years that followed. However, the impact of the tragedy was not limited to the physical boundaries of Central Florida.

The History Center’s 2021 remembrance exhibition, examines how communities of all kinds were touched both locally and across the globe. Visitors will follow the story of Pulse nightclub, from its earliest conception through 2016, as well as the response to the devastating event and the lasting impact in the time since. Through the telling of this important part of our collective history, the museum seeks to celebrate the spirit of community and honor the 49 victims and all of those affected.

To ensure that this exhibition is accessible to the entire community, the History Center will offer free admission June 5 -13, 2021. The white memorial crosses will be available for viewing June 11-13, 2021. The exhibit was partly sponsored by The Contigo Fund.

On June 4, 2021 there will be a Lunch & Learn program at the museum: Pulse: Looking Back Over the Past Five Years. This is a free program through the Zoom platform. You can register and learn more online.

Pre-Pandemic: The Cloisters NYC

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While in NYC in October of 2020, Pam and I visited The Cloisters in the northern climbs of Manhattan. The subway station let us out at the base of the highest hill in Manhattan and we took a trail that chris crossed its way upwards.I once lived in Washington Heights so I have quite a few prints and sketched of the area around the Cloisers.

The museum in Fort Tryon Park in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City specializes in European medieval art and architecture, with a focus on the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it contains a large collection of medieval artworks shown in the architectural settings of French monasteries and abbeys. Its buildings are centered around four cloisters—the Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem, Bonnefont and Trie—that were purchased by American sculptor and art dealer George Grey Barnard, dismantled in Europe between 1934 and 1939, and moved to New York. They were acquired for the museum by financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Other major sources of objects were the collections of J. P. Morgan and Joseph Brummer. The Cloisters were built right before WWII.

We took a guided tour but I lagged behind doing several sketches along the way. I spent some time doing a sketch of the Tomb of Ermengol VII the Count of Urgell who died in 1314, and a quick study of a standing sculpture of the Virgin and child by Nicolaus Gerhaert Von Leiben. Nicolaus was a seminal artist of the generation preceding Albrecht Dürer’s, and was presumably born in Leiden  active in Strasbourg and Vienna, as well as in several cities between them. The tour guide stopped for a long time in front of the limestone doorway of Moutiers-Saint-Jean.

I miss sketching while traveling. I miss traveling in general.

Pre-Pandemic: New York City Subway

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In October of 2019, Pam and I traveled to NYC because she was meeting with colleagues at the 9-11 Museum. I got to attend the 9-11 museum for the first time, but don’t have a window in which to get a sketch done. The huge 9-11 Memorial reflecting pools inhabit the footprints where the towers used to stand. They were a moving tribute to those who were lost. Names were etched in the granite surrounding the dark voids. Photos never quite capture the immensity of this memorial.

I believe this sketch as done as we went up to my old neighborhood, Washington Heights to visit the Cloisters. Pam was disgusted by what she saw on the subway ride. Some guy using his cell phone, wiped his runny nose with the back of his hand, then pinched more snot out of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. He then played with his phone and reached out with the snot covered hand to grab a support bar. As she said, “He was F%&king gross.” She said she could never live in the big apple after seeing that guy on the subway.

We both got sick on this trip with what we called the plague. It was a really bad cold that lasted for months. It started to clear up by New Years day of 2020. Who knew that 2020 would be the start of the very real world wide plague of COVID-19.

Pre-Pandemic: Love Fest

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Love Fest was an outdoor festival held on Sunday March 8, 2020 outside the Quantum Leap Winery (1312 Wilfred Drive Orlando, FL 32803). There is a magnificent grassy knoll at this spot filled with Live Oak trees whose branches cut up the sky in a pattern of light and dark.

What is Love Fest?
The word says it all. A festival all about love.
Love for each other.
Love for the universe.
Love for food, music and art.
So come feel the love!

Love of self – Fitness instructors, yoga, self-awareness, body products, clothes, jewelry, etc.
Love of others – Jewelry, flowers, gifts, couples massages, oils, wedding planners, Dating websites, hotels, travel companies, etc.
Love of Community – Non-profits, organic gardening, Mills 50, volunteering, etc.
Love of Music – Local Bands – All genres
Love of Art – Local Artists – All types
Love of Food – Food trucks, vendors – Chocolates, pastries, anything goes
Love of Beer – Great craft beers
Love of Spirits – Lots of spirits
Love of the World – Recycling, pedestrian-ism, bike enthusiasts.

Pam Schwartz and I sat on the curb and I sketched the collection of tents under the gnarly branches. Pam got us both drinks and I sipped as I sketched. Actually, I forgot about the drink and glugged it down when the sketch was done. A little girl checked back on me multiple times as I worked on the sketch. She is an artist and wanted to see the progress. On tree I drew had a strange growth pattern. One branch shot off to the right and another looped down and off to the left. The little girl pointed out that it looks a bit like an elephant. A bull dog had the longest tongue I have ever seen and he panted in the heat.

On March 8, 2020, the day this sketch was done, the CDC recommended avoiding travel on cruise ships  worldwide for those with underlying health conditions and for persons over 65 years old. From February to March 2020, Covid-19 outbreaks associated with three cruise ship voyages had caused more than 800 laboratory-confirmed cases among passengers and crew, including 10 deaths. Transmission occurred across multiple voyages of several ships. On March 8, 2020 there were 219 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the United States.

Pamdemic Kitchen

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Pam Schwartz, the head curator at the Orange County Regional History Center has teamed up with Brendan O’Connor at the Bungalower to produce Old Florida themed cooking shows on Zoom during the pandemic.I sketched he first show where Pam demonstrated how to prepare Chicken Pilau (pronounced Pur-lo) in an instant pot. Pam based her creation on a recipe by Florida author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings who is best known for writing The Yearling. It was a fun hour of watching Pam and Brendan joke together while she taught him how to prepare the dish via Zoom.

The Pilau had diced white bacon (Pork Belly), Chicken, 1 chopped Green Pepper, 4 medium onions chopped fine, 1 clove chopped garlic, 4 cups chopped tomatoes, 1 teaspoon thyme, 2 teaspoons salt, 1/8  teaspoon pepper, 6 cups long grain rice, and 6 cups water. If you like hot, add 1 hot Datil pepper shopped. The recipe calls for things to simmer for several hours, but with the instant pot, it took just 10 minutes to cook. The process, after cutting and dicing seemed to be to just throw the ingredients in the pot, set the timer and forget about it while chatting with the audience and Brendan. You can tell the dish is done when the pot’s pressure nipple pops up. The great thing about this show is that I get to taste the leftovers for the next couple of days. This dish was delicious!

Yesterday they were back at it making sour orange pie. The pie was Pam’s personal recipe. Sour oranges are the types of oranges that used to grow in Florida before farmers started growing the sweet navel  oranges. I didn’t sketch this recording session since I was working on one of my pandemic themed illustrations, but I heard them joking and of course tasted the final result. Sour orange pie is a real taste explosion covered in a gorgeous lightly toasted meringue. Someone offered her to pick oranges off a tree in her yard but the yard was way out on the Atlantic coast. This seemed an excessive drive for a few oranges. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings had one abandoned sour orange tree on her property in Cross Creek Florida. When she wanted to make a sour orange pie she had to ask her assistant where the tree was. The assistant had been using the trees oranges for herself. The tree was right across the road in a ditch from the house.  Pam had to call all over Orlando to find a grocery that carried the rare sour oranges and she found them at Fancy Fruit (7192 East Colonial Drive Orlando FL). There is nothing fancy about sour oranges, they are wrinkly and ugly but make a great pie.