Orlando Urban Sketchers: Arome Art Cafe

Posted on by Thor

Orlando Urban Sketchers hosted a drink and draw at Achillies Art Cafe, 2869 Wilshire Dr, Unit 103, Orlando, FL. It is tucked away in a typical little strip mall. Outside it just says Coffee Shop, but inside it is quite charming.

I took a look at the Cafe website and it looked quaint and hip. It is also just a block from the apartment complex I first lived in when I moved to Orlando back in 1994. This meet up was at 9am which I could do. Most Orlando Urban Sketch meet ups at held during times when I am teaching virtual courses. I was curious, so I headed out.

It turns out the Art Cafe had changed ownership in January of this year. The new name of the place is Arome Art Cafe. It looks the same as the photos I saw online. I noticed several people with sketchbooks as I entered.

I was rather intimidated looking at all the choices on the menu. I don’t know the difference between a cappocino, a latte or an affogoto, but I ordered a vanilla iced coffee which was REALLY good. I am glad I ordered the iced coffee because it came with a straw which made it easier to drink with my kn-95 mask.

Since several sketchers were seated at elevated circular tables against the wall, I thought I would sit opposite. I introduced myself to the sketchers since I realized I would likely be in their sketches. However when I sat in the low red velvet chair,  I found the table tops became flat and unrecognizable from the lower height. So I gently asked permission to sit with one of the sketchers, who it turns out is one of the organizers. She was already adding watercolor to her sketch, so I felt like I was behind the curve, and I started sketching frantically.

When I first hosted drink and draw events years ago, only a few artists showed up. Usually however no one showed up and I sketched alone. That was fine since I was in my happy place. But at this event just about every seat was filled with a sketcher. It gave me the warm fuzzies to see how far Orlando Urban Sketchers has come.

The owner came over to look at my sketch. “Oh, that’s cute!” she said. That response shocked me. For the past 4 years I have only sketched and painted human vulnerability, ignorance and horror. It is a real change of direction for my work to not insult and shock someone who is living like it is 2019. The art on the walls of the cafe, was all “cute”. The owner of Arome pointed out that the venue can be rented out for large events. They have wine glass painting parties, open mic nights, trivia nights, spoken word events and live music. It seems like a hip place with plenty of sketch opportunities. Check out their instagram @aromeartcafe for more information.

When the first Urban sketcher got ready to leave, everyone got up for a throw down to see everyone’s sketches. My sketch wasn’t finished but I put in the mix anyway. Then we all posed for a group photo.

Mennello Museum

Posted on by Thor

One evening, years ago, I sat on the edge of Lake Formosa near the Mennello Art Museum sipping drinks with a friend. When I wandered off to answer nature’s call, I was walking along the shore and felt like the burdens of life had lifted and that my artistic efforts had a purpose.

As small as I might be in the universe, meaning crept into my life moving forward. As fractured and disorienting as life might be, I felt a warm glow. Then on the walk back, as I tried to sit down, I stumbled on the embankment and the chair rocked forward, almost flipping me into the lake. Way to kick some reality back into my joy filled brain gravity.

This sculpture which I sketched as a demo for a student, is just as fractured and disorienting. We both joked about how it must represent a figure walking forward, but the exact orientation of limbs and organs gets a bit jumbled. That red protuberance around the hips of the sculpted figure really should be covered. I’ll have to see if this sketch gets flagged on social media.

This sketch is done much faster than most of my work since we did multiple sketches during our two hour session that day. I always have to adjust my timing on how long a student can focus on the subject.  I didn’t find a plaque near this sculpture So I can’t share its title or artist credit. If anyone knows, please shout it out.

Big Dog by Dale Rogers 2013

Posted on by Thor

This very fast sketch was done as a demo to show a student how to block in a sketch and quickly add color. I tend to work faster with students since they haven’t yet developed the patience needed for a prolonged study.

As simple as the sketch is, I used it to demonstrate how to dirty up the colors, mixing ochres and greens or adding red to the dark greens to neutralize the color.

This day was spent at the Mennello Museum sketching around the property. We did several sketched. I usually spend two hours on a sketch but these were done much faster since my student would finish and not know what other details to add.

We live in a fast paced society. Movies and TV only allow for a shot to last one or two seconds before cutting to another shot. Many beginning artists seem to think that art should happen just as fast.

I might do a sketch at an event and someone will be shocked saying something like, “You did that here, just now, you must be so fast!” However the sketch was done over the entire course of the event which is usually 2 hours. Most events are paced to last as long as the average movie. After that people start to loose interest.

I am loosing vision in my left eye or that vision is being distorted. I am having surgery next week to try and repair the damage to my retina. I have always tended to close that eye as I sketch. I thought it was to help flatten my view but perhaps the damage to my eye was there much longer than I was aware. Right now if I look at something, I see multiple versions of it. It is sort of like the cliche drunken vision shown in movies. Perhaps my sketches will start to embrace this warped view of the world. Right now I correct to draw what I know it must look like. Even as I type this there are twice as many words on the screen than I need to see. I close one eye to actually read what I have typed.

Crealde Thumbnails

Posted on by Thor

I am thinking that I should hold off on posting scenes from COVID Dystopia until the weeks leading up to the next film festival. That means I should share more sketches done on location.

These are thumbnail sketches I did with my Urban Sketching students at Crealde. I find that many students start out with very tiny water brushes which makes covering a 9 by 12 sheet of paper an arduous task.

With this assignment we break up  the page into nine separate panels and then explore the Crealde campus. I then do a quick demo having them watch as I complete a single thumbnail sketch. I explain composition and keeping the sketch loose and simple. I then ask then to hunt down statues as center of interest in each of their sketches.

As they are working, I then do another thumbnail and walk around to check on their progress. At first I show them each individual stage of the sketch and then I start finishing each thumbnail before I walk around. My most impotent lesson is being sure you are in the shade for the duration of each sketch. In Florida that lesson is critical. I teach then to pay attention to the movement of shadows to be sure the shade doesn’t disappear as the sun moves. I have has students ignore that lesson and get caught in the blazing sun. I then swoop in to encourage them to take cover as they apply color.

There was a gorgeous wedge of ferns near the bridge at Crealde. Since renovations were done that wedge has been pulled up. I have been planting ferns in the back year of the Chatsworth Studio. I wish I had such a thick lush planting. In tile they will expand and fill in.

The Chatsworth Studio

Posted on by Thor

I was unexpectedly evicted back at the end of March of this year. On April Fools Day I moved into the Chatsworth Studio. The place has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and plenty of open floor space up front for the Disney Desk and bookshelves.

Honestly the place is bigger than I need but it is a fine place to sit back and reconsider steps moving forward.  I like the Chatsworth Studio, but the sound of airplanes with their air brakes engaged and wind hissing around their landing gear roar overhead all day long.

Neighbors who spoke to me as I was moving in all said the same thing, “This is such a quiet neighborhood.” They must be deaf. I am awakened every morning about 6am by the first airplanes landing into the Orlando Airport. I kind of preferred the sound of ambulances screaming past my apartment in NYC. That sound I eventually learned to tune out.

Each day I scroll through Zillow and consider the possibility of finding a home to buy. One option was a nice log cabin up on the blue Ridge Parkway with an amazing view of the mountains from the back porch. It sold as I was daydreaming. Other times I look at amazing abandoned Victorian houses with turrets and opulent front porches, that would need tons of work. One had garbage stacked everywhere inside and a a drug addict was collapsed in the bed in the promo photos. The building was gorgeous, but would need about $500,000 worth of restoration work. I don’t think I am that ambitious.

Places that are appealing to me the most are small cabins and bungalows. Since I am a tumbleweed now, I look everywhere. I found a sweet little place in Grand Island Nebraska where my first Thorspecken relative settled back in the 1860s. I warned against Grand Island however since they might not have much art and culture. Then I found places in Appalachia and I am even considering places in the colder north. I figure global warming might make those places ideal in a few years. I look around Brooklyn where much of my family lived back in the 1800s but the prices are insane. Who knows where I will end up. For now, Chatworth is where I dream and scheme.

Royal Pets

Posted on by Thor

This was a portrait done for a friend who always wanted a royal portrait with her dogs.The black dog in particular looks very regal. The other pup is disinterested.

I have been told such royal portraits are quite sought after so I gave it a try. The crown is from another painting I did for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. This is one advantage of digital painting in that you can recycle props.

Of course part of me wanted to add a COVID virus hidden somewhere in the picture but I resisted.

This morning as I tried to log onto this website to write an article I got a message that said: “Error establishing a database connection.” Who knows what that means but it is the equivalent of the Blue Screen of death. In panic mode I started researching all the myriad of steps I might have to take to get access to my creative content once again.

I texted my friend as well and she got on the case. She knows I have a tendency to scramble down the rabbit hole imaging the worst possible scenarios. My credit card info for the domain was out of date so I updated that information. But what if this was some sort of scam malware that forced me to enter financial information?

My friend got on a message board or chat with the site hosting company and managed to find out that the glitch was on their side having to do with server encryption communication protocols or something, or the other. It is all Greek to me.

Bottom line my friend got the site back on line by asking the right people the right questions.

COVID Dystopia: Jesus Dropped a Cluster Bomb

Posted on by Thor

In this shot from COVID Dystopia of a stillborn Jesus, there is no animation, just a depth map and camera pan downward towards the child. It is interesting that a new born is the first to experience zip ties.

I am about to wrap up a series of theater posters for the Shakes and when that is done I will dig back into several scenes to add more animation.

Yesterday was the notification date for the Tampa Film Festival, but they bumped the notification date out to June 30. I always have 20 film festival submissions in the works. This keeps me from spending an insane amount on submission fees for rejections.

I do a small amount of research every day on which film festivals might screen COVID Dystopia. It is a difficult process since the film will easily annoy any COVID minimizer. Any film festival jury will likely have COVID minimizers judging what should be seen.

COVID Dystopia is fast paced, has curses in the lyrics and expects a lot of an audience to keep up with the carnage.

If there is one thing the ongoing pandemic has taught me is that people are slow to react and quick to deflect and deny what is happening.

One audience member at the Cleveland Film Festival asked if I could expand on COVID Dystopia and flesh out a longer story line. It is a fine idea but it means another year of animation at least. I also am aware that everyone but a few are over COVID. The virus is however not done with us. The next story I might animate will be slower paced and hopefully tug at heart strings. That for now is just in the daydreaming stages.

COVID Dystopia: The Rally

Posted on by Thor

In this shot from COVID Dystopia, the former president tosses a skull out to the crowd at a rally. He was hosting packed rallies at the height of the pandemic. Each rally was its own unique superspreader event.

People still love the guy even after he was impeached twice and now is convicted on 34 counts in a New York court.

It is impossible to separate politics and the ongoing pandemic. Joe Biden won the election in part because he promised to follow the science in handling COVID. One in office however he proclaimed freedom from the virus on July 4th and accomplished what the former president wanted to do which was make the virus seem to disappear by dismantling all testing. More Americans have died under Biden’s presidency from COVID that during the former presidents reign.

Inn this shot people will know to look at the skull since it is the fastest thing moving. Also the previous shot of Sturgis had a bike rider with a skull and that skull is in the same location on the screen as this skull. Which keeps the audience from having to look around to find the action.

COVID Dystopia: Space X Flames

Posted on by Thor

I added animated flames to this scene from COVID Dystopia and I am glad that I did. I see a couple of gaps so i will add a few more flames today. I will also add masks to calm down the motion at the base of each fire. I also slowed down the burst of exhaust flame that transected the scene from right to left. I may refine the timing of that a bit more today.

Was all the extra work worth it? I think it was, and that is what matters.

I might get to the other scene I have been wanting to animate, namely the Norway Superspreader scene. That should go fairly quickly once I separate out each demon. I will make them all seem like they are walking my moving them forward and bobbing them up and down. Since there are no legs visible things should progress quickly. The trick will be to keep them all from moving in sync. Each will be animated separately at different stages of the walk to start. What seems simple is still pretty complex when it comes to animation.

Today I will find out if COVID Dystopia is accepted or rejected by the Portland Film Festival. I liked Portland when I rode my bike trough when I bikes across the country. I know that people don’t want to see these images since they want to believe life has returned to “Normal.” It hasn’t. We might be done with COVID, but COVID is not done with us.

COVID Dystopia: Sturgis Bike Rally

Posted on by Thor

In COVID Dystopia this scene appears in an instrumental section of the soundtrack. The Sturgis Bike Rally takes place every year at the start of August and it never took a break at the height of the pandemic.

Research after the Rally in 2020 verified that the rally was a superspreader event that bikers becoming infected and the bringing the virus back to their home state.

The problem of course is that without widespread testing it is impossible to prove the virus was picked up at Sturgis. The bikers could have picked it up at a gas station of restaurant o the road. Plausible deniability makes it possible for business to tick along as if nothing is happening.

In this shot I particularly liked adding flames to the front tire. The flames being blown backwards were a real challenge and honestly they could be better. Sometimes however you just have to accept what is done and move on.

Today I will be animating flames again. Hopefully I have picked up some tricks along the way. It has been several months since I animated flames, so it might take me a while to get back up to speed.