Castrol Sales Force Convention

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Stacey Paul Barabe hired me to work at the Castrol Sales Force Convention here in Orlando. Jeff Hollis and Roger Edwards wanted me to do some live sketching during their training session. Castrol is a British global brand of industrial and automotive
lubricants offering a wide range of oils, greases and similar products
for most lubrication applications. The goal was for me to create 20 sketches live that would fit into their Powerpoint presentation. Michele Bires kept everybody on track and saved my butt when I realized I had no script for the next day. She sent over the latest slides and I cobbled together something for the next day.

The day before we all met for a walk through of what they planned to present. The basic flow of the presentation was to start with introductions, compare technical and adaptive approaches, Reactive versus creative approaches a mindset shift and then a final commitment. From the meeting I learned that the presentation would move quickly. Some of the sketches were to be dome in less than a minute which presented technical difficulties for me since any sketch worth its weight would take longer than a minute.

The night before I set up each of the 20 sketches on my iPad Pro so I would not have to deal with layers and some writing was done before hand which I could swipe into place when needed. The rehearsal the next morning proved that even with this plan the sketches could not be done as fast as needed. With Powerpoint the presenter has full control of transitions at the click of a button. I was positioned in the back of the room and knowing exactly when a transition was needed was problematic. Some of the early images were only on screen for 30 seconds. I am fast, but not that fast.

My responsibilities shrank from 20 images sketched live to 4 or 5 sketches done live. Also several that were planned to be done live were instead rotated into the Powerpoint presentation. I don’t believe anyone realized that when sketching live that I would have to open pallets when changing colors. I followed the presentation sketching each of the 20 images live and did mange to keep pace, but none of that work ever went on the screen. The sketches I did do live went well. I learned much from the process and realize now that what would be needed to fit into an established presentation would be for me to create the sketches before hand and send the client 30 second lime laps animations of the drawings being created. Those animations could then be fit into their Powerpoint presentations and played at the press of a button. Watching art being created for more than 30 seconds at a time is like watching grass grow for most people.

There were team building exercises in which teams had to support a bamboo stick with just 1 finger and then everyone had to work together to try and lower the stick to the ground. It seems simple enough but in practice it proved difficult. Participants also had to stand in order of height without talking or pointing. It was news to me that a new CEO had been tasked with leading Castrol into the future. Paul Waterman, is an American businessman and the chief executive
officer of Elementis Plc. Paul was Global CEO of BP Lubricants, a part
of the BP Group.

The final Powerpoint slide I got to create live and it consisted of a box. After a break, everyone returned to find boxes had been set behind each seat. On each box people were asked to write a commitment about how everyday business might be done better or more effectively. All these boxes were then stacked at the front of the hall to create a large wall. On my sketch I got to play with a reference to Pink Floyd‘s “The Wall.” My biggest take away from the inspirational afternoon was that great teams value differences. Live on the edge folks!

Pepe’s Truth or Dare Dating Gayme

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To celebrate Pride Week here in Orlando I arranged with Rob Ward to sketch one of Orlando’s favorite Fringe and SAK Comedy Lab performers, Pepe!

Pepe brings an over-the-top performance and interactive LGBT Version of the classic Dating Game show, as three sexy singles play Truth or Dare to win an all expenses paid date. The tickets to get into the show at the Savoy (1913 N Orange Ave, Orlando, FL) were rainbow wrist bands.

Pepe stood like a giant in his huge platform shoes and bright pink mow hawk. Even before the game got underway, he shouted out, “FREE JELLO SHOTS Beetches!” He instructed us on the proper way to rim the cup with our tongue or finger and then suck down the shot. Pam informed me that apparently I did everything wrong trying to rim the edge with my tongue and also scoop it up like an ant eater. The end result was that much of the jello remained in the cup. I was so anxious to sketch that I didn’t go back into licking the half full cup. My hands were busy on the page.

The lead contestant wore a blue t-shirt that said simply, “Send Nudes.” Pepe put a blindfold on him and then introduced the three contestants who would compete for his blind attention. Pepe played up the notion that the contestant was a hunk, not a Rhodes scholar. When the three other contestants came out I recognized the center contestant as a dancer and Fringe Performer. When he was asked “TRUTH or DARE!” He picked the dare. He was tasked with slipping a condom on a semi-large dildo the lead contestant was holding in his lap. He however could not use his fingers to unroll the condom. He managed to convince the lead contestant to to the hard work of getting the condom unrolled with his mouth as he thrust the condom deep into his mouth. It was hilarious but not as sketch worthy as someone on their knees doing the job with plenty of head bobbing.

Another contestant took a dare built around an iconic scene from Lady and the Tramp. He wasn’t a fan of Disney movies, but he had to eat a meat stick at the same time as the lead contestant until their lips met. The resulting meat mouthed kiss that followed was impassioned. Another contestant had to talk dirty while his mouth was stuffed full of cotton candy. The resulting muffled mumbling sounded more like he was grunting into a pillow. One woman in the front row must have had too much to drink since she nodded off while her friend shouted, “TRUTH OR DARE!” so loud that Pepe had to dial he back a touch to get the desired subtle effect. AS he said you don’t just shove it in you have to have some gentle foreplay.

Lisa donated a bandanna for the next dare that involved some sexy dancing that the lead contestant couldn’t see but the audience hoots and hollers must have peeked his curiosity. The bandanna was used to hide any dangling bits when the pants came down. When the red bandanna was passed back through the audience to Lisa, she gave it a healthy sniff and clutched it to her heart.

The show was over before my sketch was complete so I rushed to finish up as the audience filtered out into the bar. This was an over the top fun night that was a great intro the the Pride festivities. The Pride Parade is TODAY from 3:30pm until 5:30pm at Lake Eola. Pride is celebrating 15 years in the Central Florida community, as well as
50 years since Stonewall – a half-century of LGBTQIA+ liberation.

One of the most eagerly anticipated events of Pride Week, this year’s
festival and parade will feature more than 100 groups spanning a 1-mile
route through downtown Orlando. Throughout the day, guests can enjoy
live entertainment at multiple stages around the park, including
celebrity headliners.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for October 12 and 13, 2019

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In honor of National Library WeekSaturday October 12, 2019

10am to 1pm $5. Urban Sketching Workshop: Capturing Brutalist Architecture. Orange County Regional History Center, 65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801. The Accidental Historian
Young Artists Urban Sketching Workshops.
“Ink and Twig: Capturing Brutalist Architecture in Urban Sketch”
For students 14 to 24 years old.
Brutalism
was an architectural movement that flourished from the 1950s to the
mid-1970s. The term originates from the French word for “raw” as used by
the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier to describe his choice of
material as béton brut (raw concrete). The aesthetic appeal of Brutalism
sprang from its sculptural potential, and the style was generally
favored by architects who saw buildings as works of art. Brutalism is a
very cerebral style. The Orlando Public Library exemplifies the style,
with its “raw,” textured concrete facade. The original, easternmost
section, 60,000 square feet, was built in 1966 and was designed by John
M. Johansen. From 1982 to 1985, the building was enlarged to 290,000
square feet, with Schweizer Associates guiding the expansion to follow
Johansen’s design.
The sketching technique of Chinese ink and
twig perfectly captures the “raw” pure art form of Brutalist buildings.
With only a bit of ink and a sharpened twig, you will capture the raw
textural facade. In this workshop taught by landscape architect Art
Esteban and architect Gay Geiger, participants will learn a bit about
the history of the Brutalist architectural style in Orlando and how to
sketch with ink and twig to capture an urban setting.
This
workshop is open to students aged 14 to 24. All skill levels are
welcome. Sketching materials will be provided by Sam Flax Orlando. The
sketching portion of the workshop will take place outdoors. Participants
should dress appropriately for the weather and bring water and a snack.
Participants can bring a folding chair or stool to sit.
Workshop schedule
• 10 a.m. Meet inside the Orange County Regional History Center
• 10:05 a.m. Introductions
• 10:25 a.m.Tour of The Accidental Historian exhibit
• 11:15 a.m. Sketching instruction outside of Orlando Public Library
• 12:30 p.m. Sketchbook Throwdown

About the Instructors: Art Esteban and Gay Geiger
Art
Esteban is a landscape architect, off-road cyclist, and avid urban
sketcher. He has traveled to several Urban Sketchers Symposiums and
taken ink-and-twig workshops with the Malaysian sketcher and instructor
Kiah Kiean. Follow Art’s adventures on Instagram @artistotle_05.

Gay
Geiger is an architect with SchenkelShultz Architecture in Orlando. She
grew up in a small town in Wisconsin, learning to sketch from her
father. She moved to Central Florida in 1980 and has been practicing
architecture since 1987. Although Gay sketched buildings and entourage
for many years, it wasn’t until 2015 that she was able to define her
sketching interests as “urban sketching.” See more of Gay’s work on
Instagram @gaygeiger.About the Series: The Accidental Historian Young Artists Urban Sketching Workshops
Catch
the world around you one sketch at a time! Join Urban Sketchers Orlando
for any, or all three, sketching workshops in downtown Orlando for
artists aged 14 – 24. In conjunction with the History Center’s newest
exhibition, The Accidental Historian, these classes for all skill levels
will get you sketching on location and capturing history as it happens.
All art supplies are included, courtesy of Sam Flax!

4pm to 6pm Free. Young Voices. JB Callaman Center 102 North Parramore Ave Orlando FL. Teen Open Mic Every second Saturday of the Month. 

8pm to 10pm $5 Second Saturdays in Sanford. 202 S Sanford Ave, Sanford, FL. Live music event featuring 2 stages, drink specials and more. 

Sunday October 13, 2019

10am to Noon. Free. Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation Class. University, 5200 Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL 32811. The Method of Heartfulness A simple and practical way to experience the heart’s unlimited resources. 

1pm to 4:30pm Free. Family Day on the Second Sunday. The Mennello Museum of American Art, 900 East Princeton Street, Orlando, FL 32803.

The
make-and-take craft table is open from noon-2:30 p.m., and docents are
available to give mini-tours of the museum. Then it’s open house in the
galleries until 4:30 p.m.

3pm to 5pm Donation based.  Fundraiser Historic Preservation. Black Bottom House of Prayer, 921 Bently Street Orlando, FL 32805.

GM and Corvette Night at Ace

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I went to a meet-up for enthusiasts of Corvettes or other GM cars at Ace Cafe Orlando (100 W. Livingston St Orlando FL). I was hoping for a crowded lot full of old time Corvettes and GM cars but all that i noticed was this one white beauty near the entrance to the restaurant. A red host tent was set up and I parked myself in a an empty parking spot seated in my artist stool to sketch. I sketched quickly to finish before the sun set. Pam joined me on this adventure and she deflected any questions about what I was up to.

Ace Cafe has one of these meet ups just about every day of the week. The next Corvette and GM meet-up is on October 14, 2019 from 6pm until the owners drive off the lot. Other meet ups include Euro cars, Ford night, Scooter Sunday, Mercedes night, Mopar night, BMW night, Porche and Mercedes night on October 31 there is a menacing looking bike night. Unfortunately there is no night for my humble old Prius.

Ace Cafe has a long and interesting history dating back to 1939 in London. The building was damaged in a WWII air raid. North Americas first Ace Cafe opened in Orlando in 2017. The 35,000-square-foot dining, entertainment, and retail destination
reinvigorates a key parcel in downtown Orlando now known as “Ace
Corner.” The menu features American greasy spoon comfort food and a full bar. The building is a bit removed from the usual downtown scene but it is worth a visit if you a gear head who loves shiny cars, shiny food and smooth drinks.

Urban Sketching at Panera

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At Elite Animation Academy (8933 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL) I have a really talented student who is catching on to my sketch a day mantra quickly. Before class she shows me sketches she had done during the week and at the end of class she asks for home work. That is the kind of dedication that is truly needed to gradually grow as an artist. For the last class I took he out of the classroom and introduced her to the challenges of sketching in an American style cafe like Panera Bread.

My first works of advice wasn’t about techniques, or what tools to use while sketching, but to watch to see how much food and or drink remained on peoples tables. She laughed, but realized why I had mentioned it when the woman she had been sketching got up and left the restaurant. She lucked out however because the woman in red that I had been sketching moved to the empty table once again supplying my student with a model.

I ordered a fountain drink and focused most of my attention on the college students plugged in at the corner table. They surfed the web and maybe did some homework. It is hard to explain the joy and challenges of sketching on location to someone who is just stating out but my student this semester is very much up for the challenge. I also let he know that she should pay attention to the art on the walls and let the work inspire her as she develops her sketch. Proportions, composition and setting the stage were all covered as she progresses quickly in this class outside the classroom. When I get a student like this who is exited to explore the work while sketching I realize that I can really make a difference in another artists life.

Irrizary Pagan: Latin American Artist

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For Irrizary Pagan, art is a catharsis. Everything he went through from childhood until now he describes in his paintings. Anything he might feel about any situation be it personal, religious or political, is put on canvas so it no longer lives inside him. If someone walks up to the painting  and sees what inspired its creation then that is a good thing. They may not like it, they may not love it, they may not want it but is has a message and meaning for those who look.

When he starts a painting, he comes up with a them or message that he wants to convey. Then he looks for certain symbols that he wants to add to make the painting graphic, but not too graphic, to make it funny or sarcastic, to disguise it in a sense because if it is too blatant, people would get offended. If it is too silly then the message is lost. He tries to find the right balance where symbolism and the image strike the viewer. If someone walks up and says, I see this or I feel that, then he has hit his mark. The process of looking for symbolism is intense for him. He had a vast library of books on the history of symbols and what they have meant through the ages. Shapes forms and colors all come into play as he works.

When he started his journey as an artist he asked another artist for advice and was told, “All you have to do is practice. Could you ride a bike the first time you saw one? No. How do you get good at it? You keep riding. If you have a passion for it you excel at it. If you don’t then you excel at something else.” It is that simple. So, how do you learn techniques? Simply through trail and error. Like any great artist he is still learning. The canvas is like a window to the soul, it is an opening or entrance and he is always looking for things to put it it. For instance the symbol of a frog is good luck.  If you don’t have frogs then nature is in danger.  When you loose the frogs, in the forest, then the forest is dead. Once the frogs are dead, the Amazon is dead. If a plantation is sick it will loose its frogs.

When studying art in college all of his teachers were artists struggling to make money. They took the teaching job at college to make ends meet. The way he was taught was to “Just do it.” If you can’t draw then practice. It wasn’t about techniques. If you wanted to paint then you just had to paint. An instructor put student canvases on the floor and then dipped his shoes in paint and walked all over the students work. Irrizary laughed until his sides hurt while other students cried. The instructor told him, “You pass.” Some people take art so seriously that they forget why they are doing it. When you create something it is not just for you. It is for everybody. You move on. If you are afraid of loosing it or of it being destroyed then you will not create any more. No work is ever finished or complete. IF you get that philosophy in your head then you become good.

As a work study in college he worked in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC polishing armor and in his off hours he would explore the catacombs of books by famous artists. It was the best place to learn. His other academic learning came form comic books. In New York City there were many underground magazines and comics in Soho. These were radical new venues to see new art.Even traditional comic artists did underground work and he studied them all.

Artists constantly create and destroy. As a child we learn, then we grow up and go back to being a child if we re lucky. Love and hate are all a part of creation. When you create you are destroying the pure blank canvas. You scumble into it, scratch it, and if you put down a wrong color you scrape it off. So an artist is creating and destroying constantly until they reach a point and say, “That is it.” They walk away. None of Irrizary’s paintings are finished. He has worked on one canvas for five to six years. He rolled it up and put it in a tube. He started that painting in 1992 and is still considering completing it today.

There aren’t any galleries in Central Florida. A gallery might be a thrift store with a bare wall or a coffee shop or maybe a City Hall or a small commune but they want artists to pay to display work. Why would an artist pay rent to show their work? The painting would also be lost among hundreds of other artists works. That is not how art is meant to be seen. South Florida has started doing this as well. It is a business that bleeds artists. One gallerist wanted to charge him $10 a foot to show his work. People come to Florida for the beaches or to spend hundreds of dollars to ride a theme park ride for a matter of seconds. They don’t come here to buy art, they want a memento, a postcard.

When he first moved to Saint Cloud, there wasn’t anywhere to show art. Marilyn Cortes-Lovato moved here from Chicago to run the Osceola Center for the Arts and now things are happening. New Concept Barber and Art Gallery also opened and they are promoting artists in new and inspired ways. The landscape keeps changing. Art isn’t easy but it is what he loves. We create and destroy.

Todd Bright

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Pam Schwartz and I went to AIGA Orlando‘s October Community Meeting at Credo Conduit (1001 N Orange Ave Orlando, FL.) The invitation was open to everyone, AIGA members, non-members, designers, non-designers, and beyond. Merritt Andrews, a former co-worker at Disney Feature Animation, put the invitation up on Facebook and the evening featured another former Disney Animator Todd Bright.

Todd’s career in animation began at the Disney Animation Studios working on such films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo and Stitch, Brother Bear, and Curious George.

His experience and approach to storytelling, character development, and personality animation has brought to life projects for clients such as Walt Disney Imagineering, Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney Junior, ESPN, Purina, EA Sports, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Big Idea.

It was fascinating hearing Todd’s story of how hard he needed to work to get into the Disney Feature Animation Studio. After several years of Art School, his parents hit hard times and he was on his own. That didn’t stop his dream. He took drawing classes obsessively and got better at his craft. Applying to be an intern at Disney was its own story of setbacks and perseverance. He drew in public catching the little stories that happen every day around us if we only pay attention. When he referred to himself as the creepy guy in the corner sketching I had to chuckle. Besides commercial jobs he has taken to painting on location as well, fueling the inner artist. A playful animation he did of his pet pug wallowing in his food dish ended up getting him freelance work from Tom Bancroft another Former Disney Animator.

When Todd talked about the closing of the Florida Disney Feature Animation studio, he said it was like watching a family get torn apart. He thinks there is easily a feature film in that studios story. He talked about the chance he took when he entered the office of top animator Andreas Deja. He asked him for a shot at doing his rough in-betweens and after a test he was working with this top flight talent. As the studio was closing Todd was invited to the animators California home and at that party several of the 9 old men, legends of the early Disney animated feature years, were there. Ollie Johnson and Frank Thomas were there and another animator was playing piano. My heart hurt as I listened to the end of an era and the legends of the industry who are only known by those who know the hardship and struggle of mastering animation.

This was the most highly attended of AIGA’s meetings this year. Local students from UCF and other community colleges filled the quaint community space filled with quirky bungalows. There is clearly a hunger from this new generation of future animators for insights about the traditional days of hand drawn animation. Digital might be bright and shiny but traditional has depth and heart. On scene, “Bedtime Story” was cut from the final Lilo and Stitch Film. It demonstrated the heart that can be found in hand drawn animation. It hurt to discover it ended up on the editing room floor.

Todd did a great job inspiring these young new artists. He stressed the importance of feeding the artist soul while persevering in an industry that is small and demanding. Animation is challenging and can break your heart, but when a scene is working there is magic in the moment.

onePULSE Memorial and Museum Models

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The six architectural firms that were selected to submit Pulse Memorial and Museum designs to the onePULSE Foundation, now have their models on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL) through October 10, 2019. The six firms submitting were…

  • Coldefy and Associés with RDAI, Xavier Veilhan, dUCKS scéno, Agence TER, Prof. Laila Farah
  • Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Rene Gonzalez Architects with Raymond Jungles, Inc.
  • heneghan peng architects, Gustafson Porter + Bowman, Sven Anderson & Pentagram
  • MASS Design Group, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Sasaki, Sanford Biggers, Richard Blanco, Porsha Olayiwola
  • MVRDV, Grant Associates, GSM Project and Studio Drift
  • Studio Libeskind with Claude Cormier + Associés, Thinc, and Jenny Holzer

I will refer to the submissions just by the names in bold above for convenience.

The model in the foreground of my sketch by Studio Libeskind was one of my favorites in terms of of the design for the memorial. They propose a heart-shaped design of 366 rainbow gates, each for a day of the 2016 calendar year that creates a walking path around the club. Victims names appear on the gate that corresponds to the date of their birth. That path then cuts through the Pulse nightclub in a Z/broken heart pattern. They propose projections inside the club that are words of love and loss spoken by those impacted. This feels like a weaker aspect to the design concept.  The areas inside the heart pattern become a community space. There is a break in the heart pattern that is the entry into the club and symbolizes June 12, the day of the shooting. The theme of the design is Perpetual Light. The design then spills out onto Orange Avenue up towards Orlando Regional Medical Center with landscaping. Orlando is the most dangerous city in America for pedestrians and the present sprawl of Orange Avenue doesn’t seem a welcoming site for a peaceful “Survivors Walk.”

The museum design proposed by Studio Libeskind is a tall, boxy sculptural form that is meant to resemble a standing figure. Though the idea that it represents white light being broken up into a great diversity of colors, it just feels monstrous, like the iron giant. The museum seemed less thought out than the boxy form. It is the less inspiring half of the studio’s proposal. Each model also had a second small scale model that showed how the museum and memorial would fit into the Orlando Urban landscape. These were helpful to consider the future of the how SODO district might look.

The museum designed by Coldefy, was, on the other hand, well thought out and truly inspiring. The museum spirals upward with a central core that is dedicated to the museum. Each level had outer areas that incorporate landscaping and bright light. Vertical gardens and public plazas create new community places, and a
rooftop promenade offers views to the memorial and over the entire
district. It feels like a space station, modern and sleek with spiraling forms. Modular storage is explored in the schematics, making it clear they considered the storage of archival items. The museum also has a large community space for presentations and possible performances. This amazing museum design seems big and ambitious for small town Orlando, but it is my top pick.

In the Coldefy design the club is kept as an empty shell surrounded by a circular encompassing overhang that acts as a sun shade and protection from rain for visitors. The original Pulse fountain is maintained which feeds a large circular reflecting pool and the water cascades over the base which has the names of the 49 who lost their lives that night. The pool is lined with 49 colors that radiate towards the public spaces. A slice of the club is removed in a V shapes pattern and that section is preserved for the Pulse Museum, while the rest of the building is kept intact as an empty form, a memory of times past with a canyon walkway through it. A garden around the club is filled with 49 trees. I found it ironic that they were all orange on the model since we never experience fall here in Orlando. I noticed a wall that would break the street noise which was an intelligent design choice. Together they transform the SODO district. Once again, a top choice for me.

MVRDV had a memorial design which would allow visitors to walk under the club which has the bullet holes and damage covered in gold. Though a bold choice, it seems impractical. Water would likely pool in the new sinkhole created, and quite honestly it might best function as cover for a homeless tent city. The landscape consists of 49 trees chosen by victims’ families with atmospheric lighting.

The MVRDV museum is designed to look like LOVE written in cursive and slanted up from the ground. The sloping roof top is covered in green-space but seems impractical, since people who go up there would be surrounded by walls making the experience feel confining. Having a museum occupying the inner strokes of a cursive shape might also feel confining.

MASS Design Group surrounded the Pulse Nightclub with giant wedge shaped shards that act as a large waterfall feature. The club is contained withing the water feature, only faintly visible through the cascading water. The names of the 49 victims are at the base of the fountain feeling much like the 9/11 memorial. Though the nightclub remains, it is encapsulated and contained. The museum design is consistent with large wedge shapes thrusting towards the ground. It reminded me of the Star Wars Sandcrawler where droids go to die. It also reminded me of cheese graters and Hollywood sets with false facades. Needless to say, this was not my favorite design.

heneghan peng was the starkest of the designs for the memorial. My favorite aspect of the design is a stark wall that simply has 6.12.2012 emblazoned on it with 6 foot high carved numerals like on a gravestone. The curved linear exterior design of the museum is nice. Its curves embrace public spaces along West Kaley, tilting upwards to
provide shade. At its heart is a matrix of flexible chambers. The interior however feels dark and cavernous like a mall. This felt cold to me and not fully thought out.

Diller was my lest favorite of the designs. The memorial model appeared like a birthday cake with candles on top. The plan is to have pillars through the club which illuminate in rainbow colors. The impression is of stripper poles or ballistic tracks of bullets through a crime scene. Not only that, but the club is surrounded by similar poles. It all felt wrong and disconcerting to me.  The club is surrounded by what appears to be a beaded curtain. The museum design seemed to surf through a variety of scenarios as though they had no idea where to begin the final design. In general, they incorporated green space concepts with a series of blocks for the museum itself. Nothing seemed right.

Regardless of how I feel, you should look through the videos and design drawings and decide for yourself what you feel would work best for the memorial and museum south of downtown. If you are local, go in this week and leave your comments. If you aren’t local, visit the onePULSE Foundation website to review and leave your comments there. 

Lip Sync Battle

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Opera del Sol and Central Florida Vocal Arts hosted a fun evening, of fun-raising, silent auction items, live musical
performances by Opera del Sol Singers and of course Celebrity Lip
Syncing at The Abbey, (100 S Eola Dr #100, Orlando, FL). The catch phrase for the evening was, that it was “for those of us who CAN’T sing- raising money for those who can.” The goal was to have local celebrities compete for the loudest cheers and most outrageous performances.

A single Mic stood on stage along with a drum set. Theresa Smith-Levin stepped up to the mic and introduced the all female Opera leadership team which brought a roar from the audience. Theresa explained that many young performers feel they must leave Orlando to go to larger cities like LA or NYC to pursue their career in the arts. Her hope is that the Opera programs they are promoting might someday find venues and creative opportunities for talent to stay in Orlando.

My expectations were for a pretty tame evening of watching people lip sync. It should be a fun and straight forward sketch opportunity. Those expectations were quickly blown out of the water.  The first act featured news caster, Bob Frier and his support band wearing very fake wigs and lip Syncing to Nirvana. One song involved the submerged baby with a dollar bill dangling in front of it. Giovanna Ciccone danced out and thrashed the plastic baby about with it’s creepy red eyes bulging as it reached for the bill. It was a hilarious moment. A smoke machine billowed a wispy cloud across the stage.

Next Ted Bogert of the Ted Show, took to the stage this time dressed in an opulent rainbow gown and an orange wig that was out of control. Things were happening so fast that I struggled to keep up with the action in my sketch. The crowd went wild when he ripped off the rainbow gown to showcase a tight fitting black dress with fringe that showed plenty of leg. Two sexy backup dancers, Giovanna Ciccone, and Olivia Figh raced on stage to dance behind him.

Next, a county themed Savannah Boan a Gator Land Ambassador, came out with a singing horse. You heard me right, a singing horse. I struggled to get the horse in my sketch, but it was cut in half before I finished getting its misshapen head on the page. Clothes flew off and costumes changed in a blink. The horse team turned out to be two Gator Land Bose including Brandon Fisher first in overalls and then in torn tops and flowing skirts. The audience was up and dancing and clapping to the wild action on stage as I scribbled.

Some sanity returned when Dan Altman and Olivia Figh from Opera del Sol, performed a moment from Phantom of the Opera. She has an amazing range and she brought home Opera del Sol’s mantra to make Opera sexy again. Sabrina Ambra co-host at the News Junkfollowed this up with two amazing back up dancers that were puppets connected to her with a complicated series of poles. I wish she had kept those back up dancers for the duration but like every other act she made a quick costume change which was hilariously difficult to pull off since she got tangles in the web of poles and pant legs. She followed up with some over the top hip rap with two live back up dancers.

Next came a cross dressing bomb shell by Rauce Padgett who is from the Jim Colbert radio show. The crowd absolutely loved him. I sketched madly to try and capture the wild pig tails and skimpy skirt and top. He had a bold, nervous, stiff staccato way of dancing that caught everyone’s attention. Jim Colbert followed up with a fiddle battle with the devil performed by Opera del Sol’s Nichole Dupre. She seemed right at home in her bright red skin and horns whaling away on her fiddle.  Ultimately at the end of the night Rauce won for his stellar performance and he stripped of his top to raise the trophy to the sky. He shouted that he had stripped the prize from Jim Colbert.

This was a fun evening of fun-raising with a flair. As Theresa Smith-Levin said, “We got some strange friends.” That is just what Orlando needs, a taste of strange to keep the arts thriving.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for October 5 and 6, 2019

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Saturday October 5, 2019

8am to 1pm Free. Parramore Farmers Market. John H Jackson Community Center, 3107, 1002 W Carter St, Orlando, FL. Purchase
quality, fresh and healthy food grown in your own neighborhood by local
farmers, including Fleet Farming, Growing Orlando, and other community
growers.

10am to 4pm Free. Orlando Elks Vintage Faire. Elk Lodge 1079 12 N Primrose Drive Orlando FL.  

5pm to 10 pm Free. The Night Market + Zombietoberfest. Audubon Park Garden District, 3201 Corrine Dr #216, Orlando, FL. The
Audubon Park Garden District’s Night Market at Audubon features locally
and regionally made crafts, food trucks, vintage, art, photography, DJ,
live music, cash bar and fortune tellers. Part of Zombietoberfest, it
is Orlando’s most original Halloween festival.

Plus, enjoy a free
outdoor movie, music, two craft beer gardens, food and drink specials,
free costume contest, and more. Come party under the stars in award
winning Audubon Park Garden District, near Redlight Redlight and Park
Ave CDs. Family friendly! Leashed, vaccinated, well behaved pets
welcome.

Sunday October 6, 2019

9:30am to 12:30pm $275 for 6 weeks of instruction with Thor. Crealde Urban Sketching Class. Crealde School of Art, 600 St Andrews Blvd, Winter Park, FL. Learn
to sketch from subject to the environment. Classroom sessions will
focus on sketching clothed models and progress towards sketching the
model and classroom environment. Learn how to incorporate storytelling
into your sketches in our location sessions. These trips to local venues
will challenge you to use your sketchbook the way a photojournalist
uses a camera. The six-week goal is to produce finished sketches using
pencil, pen, and watercolor within two hours. Skill level: Intermediate.

10am to Noon. Free. Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation Class. University, 5200 Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL. The Method of Heartfulness A simple and practical way to experience the heart’s unlimited resources. 

Noon to 3pm Donation based. Music at the Casa. Omar Miguel. Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum, 656 N Park Ave, Winter Park, FL. Members
of the public are invited to visit our historic home museum on a Sunday
afternoon to listen to live music and take a tour of our historic home
museum and the James Gamble Rogers II Studio by trained docents.