Coney Island Drive Inn

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Pam Schwartz and I drove west towards Weeki Wachee. Along the way we stopped at Coney Island Drive Inn (1112 E Jefferson St, Brooksville, FL 34601). This place has served the same huge foot long hot dogs and sausages for the past 40 years. Stepping in felt like going back to the 1950s. Elvis posters adorned the walls, along with vintage pop logos and advertising. I ordered a standard foot long with mustard and sauerkraut along with
fries. It was good. Pam naturally had something a little more interesting. I wish this place was closer to Orlando. If I had my way, I could live on hot dogs and pop. I taste the varieties of hot dogs much the way a sommelier tastes fine wines, and this was a rare blend.

They serve John Morrell all-meat Hot Dogs, both short and the
“World Famous” Foot Long Hot Dogs. Everything is cooked with
steam. The Hot Dogs can be served many ways and they will custom make
them any way requested. The Coney Sauce is a meat sauce
with no beans, or they also have a made from scratch chili with beans. They offer a variety of specialty Hot Dogs as well as Corn Dogs and many other sandwiches.

On July 7, 1960, Darrell and Gertrude Todd and family from Brooksville opened Coney Island Drive Inn in an old boat manufacturing building. In 1961 Elvis Presley was in Inverness, Florida filming a movie and legend has
it he ventured down to Coney Island Drive In for one of the famous foot longs. The business has changed owners four times over the years, but Fred Rice was the master hot dog slinger for over 24 years and he still keeps an eye on the place. If you are ever driving West on 50, this a definite required stop for a foot long.

The Oakland Mill

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Jenni Schwartz and Roger Wood held a second baby shower in Maquoketa, Iowa, which is Jenni’s home town. Lacey McDevitt and Nick Szebeni own the historic Oakland Mill (22095 IA-64, Maquoketa, IA 52060). Lacey is an old friend of Jenni’s and offered the mill as a venue. The theme of this shower was woodland creatures and Lacey, and another friend Season, did an amazing job of decorating. Photos of cute baby critters were hung on the wall near the food serving table. Centerpieces were elegantly appointed. A large horse-drawn hoe hung from the ceiling.

The historic building, originally known as Oakland Mill, was built by Joseph Willey in 1867. The 2½-story stone building has a
partial basement and is capped with a gable roof. A water-powered
turbine, still extant, supplied the power to operate the mill. The
location of the mill race can still be seen on the east side of the
property, and remnants of the damn remain in Prairie Creek. None of
the mill workings remain on the inside. Willey sold the mill to Seneca
Williams in 1867, and he operated in until 1904. The building was
converted into a barn in 1920. The building was listed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 1976. Wildlife artist Patrick J. Costello used the old mill as a residence and studio from 1979 to 2006.
Today it is operated as a reception
hall. I wish I had seen the place when it was an artist’s studio.

I fell in love with the site. From several outdoor balconies you can watch the creek as it flows gently by. The large wheel no longer turns because the owners are not allowed to build a small dam to divert some of the river’s flow.  The back yard has a nice paved path with a fire pit at the end of it a quiet gazebo. This baby shower never moved outside however.

This event was quite a bit larger than the party in Des Moines, Iowa. Food consisted of several large casseroles and cinnamon rolls. Bright blue cupcakes were arranged in the shape of a baby carriage. They had some kind of jelly center and were delicious. Though sketching, I ate more than I needed to. The couple opened presents in front of the “Oh Baby” banner. Between the two showers, the couples surely have more than they need to start their newborn’s life in this world.

Robert Ross Exhibit

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Found Spaces: New Paintings by Robert Ross will have its opening reception at Arts on Douglas Fine Art and Collectables (123 Douglas Street, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168.) I have been fascinated by Robert’s work for years. He creates oil paintings that depict empty interiors and exteriors. They break up the canvas into well defined, sharp-edged shapes, with warm and cool colors playing off of each other along with warm and cool greys. They create a sense of deep space while evoking, to me, a lonely atmosphere.

This sketch is of an opening at Mills Gallery in Orlando. Robert walked through the exhibit with guests explaining his process. I liked his response to one patron’s esoteric question about the underlying meaning of what he paints. He explained that he simply loves the process of painting. Years from now the critics can read what they want into the paintings but his goal is to keep creating. He said, “My paintings reveal the beauty, mystery, and hidden life in ordinary,
overlooked places. My paintings often convey a quiet stillness, a sense
that something has just happened, or is about to happen. While good
design is always my starting point, I also want my paintings to transmit
the pleasures of light and color.”

Artist Dana Hargrove will also be exhibiting in the galleries alt_space. Dana’s work questions the ties that surround our daily lives, whether cultural,
political, religious, or social. She looks at how our ideals and values are
shaped by the fabric of our society and our identity within a nation. To me, her work looks like colorful shipping container architectural communities. 

The opening will be on on Saturday, September 7, between 4-7 PM. During this event, Arts on Douglas will be featuring the smooth jazz stylings of Trio with Ron Gilotti on the upright bass, Howard Post on the guitar, and Tyler Rosenke on the drums. Light refreshments will also be served.

A Book of Baby Names

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The dining room table is the heart of the Schwartz family home in Iowa. Jenni Schwartz is expecting a baby boy this October and her sister-in-law, Kim, revived a silly book Pam and Jenni had given her when she was pregnant with her first child. They painstakingly went through every page of the book and wrote in new names, made jokes in the margins, and illustrated some names.

She, Pam and Kim poured through the book looking for possible names for baby wood. They all laughed hysterically at the ridiculous jokes and suggestions. Jenni laughed to the point of tears and complained it isn’t so easy to keep from peeing a little when you’re pregnant. I can confirm that the baby boy’s is not likely to be names Aapo, Aaro, or Abasi. I don’t think they got past the A section of the book.

Before this sketch was complete the table was cleared or another family meal and then a round of games. I did not try my hand at Canasta this time around, instead relaxed, finishing this sketch with color.

Family History in a Cardboard Box

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Pam Schwartz has been assembling her family history for years. Her grandmother, Martha, on her father’s side died in June 2018. Her dad’s sister, Carol had been taking care of Grandma Martha in her final years. I got to experience one Christmas at her grandmother’s home. It was full of tradition, for instance, the men got to sit in the kitchen and eat dinner before the women and children.

Aunt Carol had a large box full of old family photos, documents, and newspaper articles. This was the first time Pam had seen many of the photos. She had never really seen an image of her grandmother as a young beautiful woman. One newspaper article was about couples who had been married for a combined 187 years. Her great-grandparents were the youngsters of the group having just been married for 58 years. Pam took cell phone photos of every photo and document, believing this was her one chance to document this history.

On the plane ride back home she read a long transcript of a court case. It involved an auto accident which killed several of her relatives. Back in 1958, the family was driving home from a party in an Oldsmobile. As they approached a curve in the road a truck was approaching from the opposite way. The truck driver looked down for just a moment. The family car drove off the road onto the shoulder to try and avoid the truck but the the truck slammed into the car on the driver’s side. The car had its roof peeled back by the bed of the truck which was carrying dozens of cartons of eggs. The driver (Pam’s great uncle) and his wife behind him were instantly killed. Pam’s grandmother on the passenger side survived along with her children (Pam’s father and Aunt Carol). Eggs broke all over the roadway. The story is that the family was rushed to the hospital but when they got there, Pam’s father was nowhere to be found. Police returned to the crash site to find the 2 year old boy wedged under a car seat, cold but very much alive. It is hard to imagine a family bouncing back from such a horrific accident.

Aunt Carol decided to give the box of family history documents to Pam, and she is now tasked with sorting through the thousands of new facts and images. That one box of documents is a genealogist’s dream come true.

Sunburst Celebrity Impersonator Showcase

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The Sunburst Celebrity Impersonator Showcase is always a great sketch opportunity for me. As I entered the Florida Hotel and Conference Center (1500 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, 32809) I saw Colonel Sanders in the lobby with an ice cream cone. Jack Sparrow was wearing a Captain America costume. He must have been a celebrity impersonator impersonating another celebrity. Marylin Monroe was putting out buttons on her marketing table. The Queen posed with James Bond, as Donald Trump was adjusting his suit’s shoulder pads for the best effect. He has our lunatic POTUS’s mannerisms down pat. Across the room Breaking Bad‘s Heisenberg was talking to Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia. Sheriff Rosco from Dukes of Hazard took some interest in the fact that a sketch artist was in the room. For me, this is an annual ritual to sketch the stars in their element.

Celebrity impersonators of legendary actors, singers, comedians, politicians, and sports figures perform, delight, and entertain the masses. Guests can also get their picture taken with their favorite “celebrity” during intermission and following the showcases.

Each year, over 100 of the world’s best professional celebrity impersonators, lookalikes, and tribute artists fly, drive, and cruise into Orlando for the Sunburst Convention to gather, mingle, network, educate themselves, and have an unforgettable time. They are joined by numerous talent buyers, talent agents, producers, and meeting planners from all over the country who are invited to watch the imitators perform live and make a lasting impression.

Sunburst features performance showcases, themed parties, an awards banquet, promotional room, and tons of photo opportunities. The general public is also invited to attend and rub elbows with the “Just About Famous” stars, and with special public access again this year, now even more spectators can enjoy the unique, fun and one-of-a-kind entertainment Sunburst has to offer.

Join the 17th Annual Sunburst Convention and Showcase of Celebrity Impersonators on Saturday, August 31. For more information and to purchase public showcase tickets online, visit www.SunburstShowcase.com.

Tickets range from $15 to $25. 

Weekend Top 6 Picks

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Saturday August 31 and September 1, 2019

10am to 4pm Free. Sanford Farmers Market. First and Magnolia Sanford Fl.

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

10:30pm to Midnight Free but order drinks and food. Son Flamenco. Ceviche Tapas Orlando, 125 W Church St, Orlando, FL 32801.

Sunday September 1, 2019 Labor Day

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. 

7pm to 9pm Free. Movie Night. Old Town. 5770 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy, Kissimmee, FL 34746. Sunday nights are movie nights at Old Town with a family-friendly
showing happening weekly at 7pm. These are free to attend, but be sure
to bring chairs and grab snacks from the nearby vendors to complete your
viewing experience. Labor Day Weekend’s showing will be Herbie: Fully
Loaded.  

4pm to 1am Free. Raglan Road. 8th Annual ‘Great Irish Hooley’ Music Festival. 1640 Buena Vista Dr, Orlando, FL 32830. A boutique Irish music festival with a colorful live playlist of
traditional Irish, Celt grass, folk, blues and soul. The festival will
also include Celtic face painting, Hooley-crafted cocktails plus
creative new bites by the pub’s inventive culinary team. The pub also
will introduce a new local craft beer collaboration with Crooked Can
Brewing: the Devil’s Foot Blackberry Golden Ale. And Raglan Road also
will serve the delicious Rollicking Raglan Brunch Saturday, August 31
through Monday, September 2.

FREE Admission, food and drink prices vary

Iowa Baby Shower

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Pam’s sister, Jenni Schwartz and Roger Wood, are having a baby and we traveled to Iowa for several baby showers. Jenni lives in Des Moines, Iowa and that shower was held at the Raccoon River Nature Lodge. I was on task to help set up. Pam ordered several dozen tiny wicker baskets which were intended to hold thank you presents for this hot air balloon themed party. She ordered them online and had the boxes shipped to Jenni’s home. The baskets turned out to be VERY tiny only able to hold one candy. In desperation, she made a run to a party store which was going out of business. A few items were on the shelves but many items were scattered on the floor. It was a post apocalyptic scene.She did find some silk gift bags which fit three pieces of ganache and truffles, as opposed to the one that could be held by a basket. She wanted to leave the baskets behind to be returned, but I insisted they were a much needed decoration item.

The lodge had a gorgeous view overlooking a lake to the south. Floor to ceiling windows made the view amazing. We were responsible for all the set up and break down for the event. We rolled out 5 round tables and covered them with white plastic table cloths. Center pieces were rectangular blue place mats with a bowl of caramel/cheese popcorn and the candy bags scattered about. I discovered that the baskets were just big enough to hold 1 Starburst candy, so I raided all the candy to just find the Starbursts.

My main job was to build the balloon arch. I blew up most of the balloons. Jenni blew up the golden balloons since they were easiest to blow up. When they were inflated, golden confetti inside would blow around like they were in a tornado. All the other balloons were blue or white. That is a clue that baby Wood would be a boy. There was one very big blue balloon in the bag, so I tied a basket under it to make it onto a hot air balloon.

Pam designed cute cards with a fox and rabbit riding in a hot air balloon. She brought a stuffed red fox which sat on the serving tables and a metal basket containing baby diapers had balloons attached to it to make it resemble a hot air balloon. We also had paper hot air balloon decorations with a cloud and star hanging below each. I taped them to the blinds on each floor to ceiling window and they were raised or lowered based on how high or low the blinds were raised. The balloons didn’t have baskets, so I placed a basket on the window sill ledge below each making it seem like the balloons had launched without their baskets.

The cake was beautifully decorated reproducing Pam’s fox  hot air balloon cartoon. However the cake imploded when we were transporting it. It had a creamy salted caramel filling which caused the layers to slip like tectonic plates. By the end of the evening the cake had slipped and twisted making it look like a California earthquake had hit. It was still incredible delicious….when eaten with a spoon.

About 35 people RSVP’d to the party, but only 15 or so arrived on this Friday night. When they arrived they were invited to put a fingerprint on a hot air balloon image with the fox and rabbit, and sign it, for it to later hang on the nursery walls. The diapers were to be inscribed with messages so the mother could have a giggle when she had to change them in the middle of the night. I drew a poop emoji and signed it. Some of Jenni’s co-workers were giggling and writing on diapers for most of the party.

History in a Glass Celery Edition

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The History in a Glass series, at the Orange County Regional History Center, (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801) featured three local craft bartenders who competed for
bragging rights by creating libations linked to historical themes and
artifacts. The June edition was about the history of celery in Central Florida. Pam Schwartz, the chief curator made herself a crown of celery stalks for the evening. I set up to sketch backstage behind the bartenders looking out over the crowd enjoying the libations. Lite bites for the evening were supplied by Hawkers Asian Street Fare.

Now on to the history behind the drinks… 100 years ago Sanford, Florida was undergoing major economic shifts. Steamboats were being replaced by steam locomotives and the citrus industry experienced a a series of huge freezes, destroying all the crops. The population plummeted as crops were abandoned.  

I.H. Terwilliger stayed after the freezes and is reputed to have planted
the first celery crops grown in Sanford in 1896. More people came to plant
celery and by 1898 Sanford’s celery was known nationwide. Celery
was being grown across more than 6,000 acres in the Central Florida
area, producing 73% of the nation’s celery. Sanford became known as Celery City. There were roughly 553 celery farms in the area in the early 1900s. That
number dwindled down to just 22 by the end of World War II.

Three downtown bartenders mixed libations based on this history of celery. They were instructed to use celery in their concoctions. After tasting each of the drinks the attendees got to vote on their favorite history themed libation. Justin from, The Courtesy Bar, prepared a cocktail influenced by Central Florida’s resurgence after the death of the citrus industry called Phoenix Rising. The tasty drink included peach and orange blossom vodka, the Florida Key lime, and ITALICUS, an Italian liqueur made with rose petals, and it was this cocktail that earned him the title of  Celery King. 

Gaining Perspective at Elite Animation Academy

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After teaching students to draw simple shapes like circles and squares for several days to create compositions, the big challenge is to get them to draw three dimensions shapes like a cube. The first lesson many of them can quickly master, which consists of drawing two overlapping squares and adding lines that connect the corners. The real challenge comes when the front face of the cube is not squarely facing the student. In this drawing each face has more of a diamond shape with none of the lines being parallel to the edges of the page. Since mastering this form doesn’t happen immediately for most students I find excuses to come back to drawing this basic building block of a form again and again.

In this class, my students are drawing from historic models of what Orlando looked like hundreds of years ago. Each building is of course a cube shape and the challenge becomes to fit several buildings on the page and then add some detail. Most students can master this sketch after I do a step by step tutorial in which they do drawings of cubes using one point and two point perspective. Sometimes I do these exercises on the white board and other times on my tablet which is hooked up to the large TV screen. Some students do amazing drawings from this session while others still stumble trying to draw the basic form. It is rare that I get to do a drawing of my students at work since they often need notes and advice every few minutes, but this class had some real focus and that is a joy to see.

Elite Animation Academy fall classes are beginning this September 10th. Should you know of a talented middle school or High School student who wants to learn some new creative skills have then contact the Academy. Classes are on Saturdays. I will be teaching a Story boarding class which should help anyone who loves to tell stories.