Flights to Europe

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my goal was to have everything in place so I could fly out of Orlando on the first week of September 2025. My roommate lease agreement was up so everything went into storage. The storage facility was actually rather nice since it was air conditioned. My Lake Country studio wasn’t air conditioned so my art was now in a better place for long term storage.

My goal for this a trip was to follow in my father’s footsteps as his 75th infantry, C-Company made its way through Europe. My original plan was to execute sketches over the course of 6 months. However in the last week of planning I learned about the Schlengen country rule which limited travel to 90 day or about 3 months. On the final 2 days in Orlando I researched and drew up a very concise plan which covers about 45 cities in 4 countries. I have maps and battle plans for many of the engagements but I learned that my father was a rather late replacement. The 75th Infantry had fought in the Battle of the Bulge and the Colmar pocket, but at that time my father was still in military training school in North Carolina. The 75th Infantry was at first referred to as the Diaper Division since the soldiers were so young. My father was 22 when he went overseas which was an old man for the 75th.

I at first was looking for ships that made the transatlantic trip but I get seasick and I absolutely hate cruise ships. My father left the states on February 10, 1945 and the sea voyage should have taken about 7 days. This was my key to cutting my trip back to 90 days. I would only look at cities and engagements that happened after February 17th. My father was a 1st Lieutenant so he would lead a company of about 50 men. The 75th Infantry was finishing the final battles in the Colmar Pocket where they pushed back Germans out of France. As the troops were being sent north, that is the time My father would have been arriving in Europe. The 75th Infantry map shows troops arriving in Europe via La Havre France, so that was my goal to get to La Havre on my first day. I flew into Paris and then found a Train heading to La Havre. It was an insanely long day, and I don’t think I slept a wink.

The Hound of the Baskervilles: Final Poster

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For the final Orlando Shakespeare Theater poster for the Hound of the Baskervilles, I kept the seated poses for Watson and Sherlock Holmes. In the Hound of the Baskervilles, Watson actually plays a much larger role than Holmes since he goes to the Baskerville estate to investigate alone. It is a chance to see him use his powers of deduction, but he is as swept up in the legend of the huge hound as the townspeople.

Through the mystery and intrigue Sherlock was actually investigating from afar. The Hound of the Baskervilles has been adapted so many times for movies and theater production that it is a perfect fit for a comedic farce. Most people are well aware of the story. It was required reading for me in high school.

mangling, murder and mayhem can be extremely funny when resented with tongue in cheek. In this production actors hod ornate picture frames to portray the historic Baskerville family lineage. I always love paintings that come alive, by expressing emotion.

If you get a chance to see this production, I would highly advise it. It should be laugh out loud funny.

The Hound of the Baskervilles: Third Pass

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Each time I work on a poster the image evolves. Changes are all part of the artistic process. The first pass at the poser was rather menacing. I decided with this pass to hav Sherlock and Watson sitting in easy chairs contemplating the mystery they had to solve. I gave Sherlock a quizzical look as if he were one step away from solving the crime. Watson on the other hand just looks a bit flummoxed.

I kept the misty forest in the painting of the hound between them. I considered putting them in Sherlock’s apartment but decided they too needed to be seated in the forest. I later changed my idea about the setting. The dog is rather lanky and sinister still. I remembered that picture frames played a role in the stage production, so framing the hound made sense to me.

The feedback I got to this pass was as expected. There wasn’t enough information to let the audience know they were going to see a comedy. I needed to push the expressions more for comedic effect and the hound was still too scary. I needed to push for a little more Scooby doo without getting cartoony. The new creative challenges kept the poster evolving.

Having seen a staging of a similar production, I a say that you will have a blast if you go to see this show. I was laughing out loud as I sketched.

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles: Second Pass

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The second pass at the Hound of the Baskervilles poster was simply a sketch I had done several years ago of the production. My primary concern while sketching live in the theatre is always to catch the key characters in a scene together. It is less about character and expression and more about doing anything possible to get the sketch done during the course of the play.

i knew this sketch would not fly, but I like to offer plenty of options. If this sketch was approved, I would then refine the poses and push it to more of a polished look. I do remember laughing out loud at the show. There were obvious theater doorways and frames were used which actors would hold as if they were posing for a portrait.

It was a very fun show to watch and sketch. The poster however serves a different purpose. It isn’t about portraying what happens on the stage but about conveying an idea of what you might expect to feel watching the production.My sketches from life are almost always a long shot trying to show what is happening on the entire stage. The poster image needs to be more of a close up, offering a chance to see the actor’s expression. The challenge for me of course is that aI never know who the actors will be. This created a catch 22 where I need to be specific but also generalized in the approach to the image.

Hound of the Baskervilles: First Pass

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My first pass at The Hound of the Baskervilles poster was done thinking this was a serious drama based on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle book. I wanted a mysterious and ominous hound to be the primary image to catch the attention of anyone looking at the image. I wanted a deep forest with plenty of looming fog. I then decided to make to hound huge and integrate it into the surrounding landscape. The idea was a bit abstract but it represented the psychological spirit of the beast.
I then added the more straightforward image of Sherlock looking through his magnifying glass.

Of course this idea didn’t fly because the play is an adaptation  that is a comedy. My image had nothing to do with a comedy, I was looking for intrigue, mystery and a dash of horror. Most of my paining for the past four years have had all of those elements, so it is hard to shake off the dark nature of the images that first come. Out of my hands.

The Hound of the Baskervilles will be running from September 24 to November 2, 2025 at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater 812 East Rollins Street Orlando Florida. Be prepared for a hilarious time.

First Sighting of My Hound of the Baskervilles Poster

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While writing an article from France, I noticed that the Hound of the Baskervilles is coming up at the Shakespeare Theater (. This was a fun poster to work on.

I played with the replicate pattern aspect of Procreate to quickly find a pattern for the wallpaper. As usual there were multiple iterations of the poster until I dialed in this comedic image.

With my first pass at the poster I had no idea that it was a comedy. I watched several of the classic movies based on Arthur Conan Doyle‘s book and the movies were outright scary. I am never one to shy away from horrifying imagery, so I jumped in and played up the horror.

Of course the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Watson is always rather comedic as Sherlock tests Watson’s ability to make deductions. Watson always does a passable job of making deductions based on the evidence but then Sherlock makes astounding deductions based on the smallest evidence, and of curse he is right.

I did sketch this comedy years ago and remember laughing out loud.

What I love about this version of the poser is the grinning rottweiler. With a smile like that how viscous can the hound truly be. The silhouette and sheer girth of the dog seen from the distance are what make most feel terror.

The type treatment is very much like one of the early movie posters for the Hound of the Baskervilles. I think my favorite move version of the story was in black and white starring Basel Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes.

The entirety of my poster color treatment is in warm tones except for the mysterious green glow emanating from behind the hound. I love working digitally on these posters because I can add new layers over the painting to make changes while keeping the original concept in tact. Sometime an eliminate isn’t needed and I can just turn it off. If I was painting traditionally I would have to redo the entire painting any time there was a change.

Elementary my dear Watdon. I would strongly advise you to check out Hound of the Baskervilles for yourself, starting September 24, 2025 at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater (812 East Rollins Street, Orlando FL.)

Forest to Mausoleum

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A day or two before I left for Europe to follow in my father’s footsteps in WWII, a roof was thrown up on the home being built next to the Lake County studio I was renting. The lot had been a lush forested area just a few weeks before. The sand mountain the home sat on had been leveled and built up in a day. The cinder block mausoleum had gone p in a day, and now the roof structure went up in a day. This was now the largest home in the area on its own mountaintop/

The roof beams had an interesting inverted series of beams which I suppose are to keep the roof from collapsing inward in the high winds of a hurricane. All the triangular sections were delivered to the job site pre-assembled. They were each lifted int place where workmen quickly hammered them into place.

All the workmen spoke Spanish which made me concerned for their safety in the new hate fueled policies of ICE, seizures and deportations. I have seen photos of rooms filled with workmen still in their uniforms in detention centers, having been rounded up from their work sites.

I am in Europe right now in Northern France about to cross the border into Belgium. Russia has just sent military drones over Poland  and it feels like WWIII is about to break out with Trump, a wanna be dictator, in the White House who is owned by Putin.

80 years ago America helped defeat dictators and bring about world peace. Nuclear bombs were used to stop the war in the  Pacific. That was a questionable decision which I hope is never repeated. It only takes a few petty, power hungry men to break down democracy and embrace autocracy in a lust for land, power and a desire to stay in power indefinately.

Montreal Museum of Fine Art

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After the Convention, I went to the Montreal Museum of Fine Art which was impressive. Back when I was an art student in NYC, I used to go to museums and stay so ling that I would be exhausted by the end of the day. I call that museum burn and I got to feel that luxury again in Montreal.

There was an amazing exhibit of the remaining sculptures of Camille Rosalie Claudel. She is known as being the mistress f of the famous sculptor, Rodin, but er sculptures are even more expressive and sensual than his. She was a true master in her own right, but she was thrust into the shadow of the famous sculptor.

Rodin mentored the young sculptor and she became an inspiration for him. She posed for him and he encouraged her to experiment in new mediums like plaster, bronze, marble, and onyx. A passionate love affair developed. Rodin could not bring himself to leave his 20 year marriage to Rose however.

Camille had to have an abortion and she ended the sexual aspect of her affair with Rodin. They continued to see one another for about 8 more years.

After the relationship ended, Camille could not get the funding needed to create large public works. Her work was considered to sexual while Rodin’s sensual sculptures were embraced.

After her father’s death, the family who inherited the wealth he had built, decided to let he live in poverty because they didn’t believe she should have become an artist. Camille is a true inspiration.

Poster Session

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I had joined several members of the Orange County Regional History Center at a conference abut oral histories. I have sat inn on perhaps hundreds of oral histories that History Center staff have conducted. I would sketch as the oral history would unfold. Every person has a story to tell and oral histories open a gateway to some amazing stories.

I always feel like I learn something about how I should be living my life, when listening to peoples stories. The struggles they faced and how they over came them are always inspiring. At time I feel like they are telling my story. It makes me want to take more chances.

The posters were maybe about 3 feet wide by 2 feet high. Each poster showcases imagery which highlighted each researchers area if interest. The History Center poster was bout the large series of interviews with Pulse Nightclub survivors and family after the tragic shooting that killed 49 people who were out having a wonderful time dancing.

I sketched from the upper balcony of the hotel. I always like this gods eye view of events. The space always feel so dimension when I get the sketch to work right. When I do a sketch like this of a crowded room of people, I inevitably end up sketching the same person several times. They move from one group to another and since I had fun sketching them the first time I often just sketch them again in the new position. The goal is to just keep adding figures to the page. At time I can catch several people in conversion at other times I just put two people together fro separate areas of the room.

 

Never Again

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I went to a conference with several embers of the staff of the Orange County History Center. Daniel Bradfield and Pamela Schwartz gave a presentation about the History Center’s collection efforts after the Pulse Nightclub massacre, where a gunman entered the nightclub with an AK47 and killed 49 people while injuring many others.

Spontaneous and large memorial popped up of flowers and  memorial items related to the victims. The collecting happened in the hottest months of the summer in Orlando. Flowers quickly wilted an died creating a tench that is quite memorable and perhaps unhealthy.

A few people were angered by the staff collecting at the memorial sites, thinking they were steeling items rather than preserving them for history. If the History Center had not collected items they would have all ended in the landfill.

There have been incredible exhibits each year honoring the victims of the mass shooting which happened on June 12, 2016. I sat in and sketched during the oral histories with survivors and family of the victims. Hearing all these life and death stories can be overwhelming and i helped to talk to staff to try and come to terms with the horrible situations that were presented. I can’t say I have fully come to terms with all that I learned about this and other mass shootings. Americas love affair with guns and mass murder is ard to digest.

I was just at a WWII American Military camp reconstruction in Clamercy, France and on a few occasion there were loud noises that must have been fireworks. Such noises can be triggering, making me think I should look for cover.