The Lake Eola Swans were being paddled around the lake right up until sunset. They then returned to the dock for the duration of the fireworks. Mayor Buddy Dyer got the crowd rallied and ready for the spectacle. I had been working right up until sunset on the drawing of the far skyline looking across the lake. Disney music from the animated films warmed the wet the crowd for much of the afternoon.
When the first fireworks bursts went off flocks of swans and nesting birds took flight panicking as they tried to escape the noise and bright flashing lights. I made sure to capture the red white and blue lighting of the fountain. The fireworks were launched from a spot just to the left of the fountain, probably near the peninsula which had recently been denuded of palm trees near the red gazebo.
As I painted the fireworks burst I realized I had a disadvantage to the video and photo shooting phones. All the giant bursts went off in exactly the same place. So I focused on making the one fireworks burst I painted as visually interesting as possible. I discovered a whole series of luminous brushed in Procreate, my digital sketching program and I played with the toys as the fireworks burst. I might have missed some of the show as I hunted for new brushes to play around with. All the smoke from the fireworks drifted off silently to the south.
