Indie Folk Festival at the Mennello Museum.

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Flynn Dobbs invited me to exhibit a few of my painting along with three other artists at the annual family-and pet-friendly event, the Indie Folk Festival on February 10, 2018. The fourth annual Indie-Folkfest was presented by PLR Florida at the Mennello Museum of American Art. Pam Schwartz and I got there around 11:30 AM to get set up. Flynn had the tent ready and there was just enough room for my 6 framed paintings. Sprout, who is Pam’s scruffy pup was excited to experience all the new smells.

The event showcased local, national and regional art, music and culinary talent.

Last past February, in 2017,  the event welcomed nearly 5,000 guests to the museum grounds. Guests enjoyed beautiful weather, local music, food, beverages and art.

This annual free event serves as a gift from the Museum’s City-Appointed Board of Trustees in an effort to promote local art and community. A portion of all proceeds benefit the Mennello Museum of American Art’s education and family-friendly programs.

Each artist in our tent was active painting at some point during the day. I sketched our tent to document the day. Loren Berry set up a table and started doing some marbling. She poured multiple colors on the panel and let the colors swim together as she rotated the panel letting the paint flow across the surface. Then she lay the panel flat and used her gloved fingers to create pointed divots in the flow. This was followed by blowing the paint to create even more pattern. It was a fun process to watch and I sketched frantically. Her results, resemble the cloud formations on the planet Jupiter.

Terri Binion opened up the main stage with her unique folk music styling. She was followed by Beemo who got the folks gathered on the lawn warmed up to dance away the afternoon. The musical afternoon was capped off by Eugene Snowden who brought the crowd to his moving gospel of song and a crowd gathered in front of the stage to dance.

Cypress Tree.

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On rare occasions, I take time off from sketching events to seek out natural forms that are pleasing to my eye. This Cypress tree sweeps upward from the shore of Lake Virginia in Winter Park. Some of the branches are not round but instead shaped like streamlines surf boards. One of my Sketch Tours students, Louis Degni, recognized me and stopped to say hello.He had a painters easel under his arm and was off to sketch some scene lakeside as well.

The challenge in this sketch was to capture all the subtle warm greys and cool grays in the bark of the tree. Other than light pencil, I let go of any line work.

Out on the dock just beyond the tree I was painting was a musician just performing with no need for an audience. With my sketch done, I waded out into the water and enjoyed the unexpected concert. As often happens, I couldn’t stop from swaying to the beat. it was cloudy while I was painting the tree, but as the sun set to my right, the lake captured the orange golden glow and fractured it. Blue grey Spanish moss swayed in the breeze. Some bald cypress trees can grow to be up to one thousand years old. That makes my hot flash of a life seem rather short in comparison. That means I need to kick off my shoes more often and slow down to enjoy the natural beauty that is often ignored. I understand the attraction to working plein air, just finding natural beauty with no concern for mad rush of humanity, but I still find myself always drawn to crowds.

Red Bull Wings At Work: Outdoor Workspace.

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The Red Bull Wings At Work: Outdoor Workspace was held at Seneff Arts Plaza at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Downtown workers were invited to grab their laptops and sunglasses for a day of collaboration, inspiration and creativity. This was an opportunity for downtown workers to break out of their everyday routine and work in an unique outdoor location that fostered creativity and productivity. The day included speakers, reverse pitch groups, networking opportunities as well as a relaxing space to get work done.

The Wings At Work pop up workspace was built from scratch. Red Bull brought in a stage and seating for an area to host a Creative Mornings Orlando lecture session as well as additional speakers throughout the day. Red Bull partnered with Factur and Vudoo Wood by John Vu to build out the space with conference tables, seating areas and “living office space” where consumers can host a meeting, work on a project or brainstorm with others.

I settled in on my portable art stool making sure i was in the shade of a large orange umbrella. All the blue umbrellas on the central lawn had Red Bull logos on them. The event was well attended. It would be nice if downtown workers always had the choice to work outside. I kind of suspect the relaxed atmosphere prompted more socializing that work. The gentleman in front of me  however was diligently typing away at his laptop computer.

Blue Box 8.

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27 Blue Boxes are painted on sidewalks in Downtown Orlando. These boxes are for panhandlers and buskers. Busking is possible only during day light hours. Although set up for panhandlers, police often insist street performers must use the blue boxes. Performing outside the boxes can result in 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. I  set up the Blue Box Initiative to get talented Orlando artists from all creative fields to occupy a blue box while I sketch.

To date, I have completed 16 sketches. I have about 9 more sketches to complete. If you know a talented local performer who might want to share their talents on a street corner for a couple of hours, please let me know. Originally the city ordinance only allowed busking in the blue boxes during day light hours, but now the ordinance was changed to allow their use at night.

Blue Box 8 is located near the Lynx bus station downtown. Local film makers Jen Vargas and Jay De Los Santos occupied the box as a form of protest for how the city discourages film production in Orlando. Most southern films are created up in Georgia since there are tax incentives up that way. It was a blistering hot May day with little to no shade when I  completed this sketch.

A space-themed film titled “Hidden Figures,” is about three African-American mathematicians who overcome racial and
gender bias to help launch American into space in the early 1960s from Florida’s Space Coast. But the irony is that no scenes from the film were shot at Kennedy Space Center, or
anywhere else on the Space Coast, for that matter, except for historic
stock footage.

Space Coast Film Commissioner Bonnie King said people
connected with the film had contacted her to talk about locations for
filming on the Space Coast. But, largely because Florida no longer
offers incentives for film and television productions, “the higher-ups
decided not to film here.”

Instead, much of “Hidden Figures” was shot in Atlanta and other locations in Georgia, a state
that has “fantastic film incentives” that make it attractive to shoot
movies there, King said. Those incentives include transferable tax
credits for the film productions. Film
Florida estimates that Brevard County‘s economy lost $10 million
because the film was shot in Georgia, rather than the Space
Coast. It seems like Florida was on the verge of amazing change in the 1960’s but today the state falls back on a lazy status quo as if we are just fine with our heads in the sand.

WeekendTop 6 Picks for February 17th and 18th.

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Saturday February 17, 2018

4 PM to 9 PM Free. 4th Annual Sanford Mardi Gras. West End Trading Co. 202 S Sanford Ave, Sanford, Florida 32771. 4th Annual Mardi Gras benefiting Meals on Wheels, Etc. at West End Trading Co. Sashay (walking, golf cart, biking parade) at 4pm sharp at the corner of
6th and Sanford Ave. March down to the 2nd and Palmetto Ave where the
party begins! Kid Dutch
and his brass Perseverance Band will take the stage directly after the
sashay, followed by local bands. Emcee work from everyone’s favorite local
Michael Nall of Park and Seventh!!! Check out all the vendors and attractions like face painters, stilt walkers and more! Food trucks provided Kona Food Truck Luaus, so plenty of choices!! Party sponsored by Magic Hat Brewing Company!!

6 PM to  Midnight. Saturday and Sunday. Nude Nite Orlando.  Warehouse – Central Florida Fairgrounds 4603 W Colonial Dr, Orlando, FL 32808-8158. America’s Largest Nude Art Exhibition is more than an art show.
It is an annual art and entertainment event showing over 200 juried art
works for sale, world class body painters, national burlesque acts,
interactive installations, performance art, cirque performers and a cast
of strolling characters both in costume and out…. 21+

7 PM to 9 PM Free.  UCF Symphony Orchestra. Rising Star a Local Legend. Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church (2021 West SR 426 Oviedo FL.)  UCF Symphony Orchestra. Rising Star a Local Legend – Chung Park Director with guest composer Stella Young.

Sunday February 18, 2018

Noon to 3 PM Donation based. Music at the Casa. Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum, 656 N Park Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789. Members of the public are invited to visit our historic home museum on a
Sunday afternoon from 12 to 3 pm, listen to live music and take a tour
of our historic home museum and the James Gamble Rogers II Studio by
trained docents.

7:30 PM to 9:30 PM Free. Concert.  Winter Park’s Central Park Main Stage. Park Avenue.

Celebrating 10 seasons of Winter park Institute.
Bob James Jazz Trio
Chip Weston and the Gazebos
Will Patrick
Rich Walker
Shannon Caine
Rollins student will play City of Winter Park Fanfare by Dr. John Sinclair.

10 PM to Midnight. Free. Comedy Open Mic. Austin’s Coffee, 929 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL. Free comedy show! Come out and laugh, or give it a try yourself.

Things Come Apart at the History Center.

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What makes a watch tick? How does a sewing machine stitch? Where does an iPod get its shuffle? For those who have ever asked questions like these, Things Come Apart is a revelation. The Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801) is home for this Traveling Smithsonian Exhibit until May 6, 2018.

Through extraordinary photographs, disassembled objects and fascinating videos, Things Come Apart reveals the inner workings of common, everyday possessions. Images of dozens of objects explore how things are designed and made and how technology has evolved over time. For example, the individual components of a record player, a Walkman, and an iPod illustrate the technical changes in sound reproduction over the years, and images of the parts of a mechanical and digital watch demonstrate different approaches to timepiece engineering.

After photographer Todd McLellan disassembles each object, he spends hours arranging its components in the order in which they were taken apart to achieve a cohesive photograph. With the eye of an artist and the precision of a scientist, he then captures a moment in time of the components falling to the ground. Things Come Apart includes four disassembled objects permanently mounted in acrylic for display in cases to be provided by exhibitor, in addition to short videos documenting Todd’s artistic process.

The History Center added it’s own Central Florida items to the exhibit such as a Disney World Singing Cockatoo animatronic from the Tiki Room. A vintage video from Walt Disney himself introduces the inner working of the mechanical bird. The staff also disassembled a Beefy King sandwich to highlight the inner workings of the local flavor sensation. The youngest person at the VIP opening was particularly absorbed in the Tiki Bird and a slow motion video of a piano being dropped to the pavement.

Things Come Apart strikingly reveals the design and engineering behind some of our most common, useful, and prized possessions.

DRIP is Closing their Internationsl Drive Location.

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I was there sketching as DRIP opened  its International Drive Location with its grunge underground bar vibe, the shows featured modern dance, water effects and colorful paint. The walls were painted black and would get covered each performance with bright splashes of color. After 5 successful years of bringing innovative, edgy dance shows and
art events to the I-Drive area, DRIP will be closing the location to
focus on new projects.

“Closing this location is bittersweet but exciting for our team.  We put
a huge amount of passion into everything created in that space and have
amazing memories from the team interacting with the guests. We had
terrific experiences over the last 5 years and are eager to re-focus and
inject our creativity into the next project.”  explains DRIP founder
and creative director Jessica Mariko. “We appreciate our fans and are
looking forwards to playing with them again soon.”

Since DRIP
opened their International Drive location, they have produced over 700
shows, artistic events, concerts, festivals, fashion shows, private
parties and corporate events. Experiences in the DRIP venue have
included a super-hero show during the Megacon Convention, The Blind Date
experience for couples during Valentine’s Day, the Underground Vampire
Bar experience in October, Gay Days events, Local Art Night, BASE Body
Painting Art Events, and many more. DRIP has also been commissioned to
develop creative experiences for companies such as Timex, Siemens,
L’Oreal, Wrestlemania, and Kawasaki.

The sketch above is from a DRIP Art Night which always featured the talents of local artists. Paint the Trail was using cut out stencils to create quick colorful portraits of celebrities. As soon as he was done spraying another artist would blow dry the paint to get it to dry fast. The same portrait might involve 5 different layers which were built up, one on top of another. A pile of the portraits build up to the table on the artists right. People rifled through the art as the artist worked.

I produced a small book about the history of DRIP. I am amazed that it now documents a past history. The venue did so much to help promote the arts in Orlando. It is a bright beacon that will be missed. I hope that the cutting edge dance company will resurface in a new and unexpected form. The loss of Drip reminds me that I need to continue documenting unique Orlando culture. Even the brightest lights will fade or transform.

Corsets and Cuties at the Venue.

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I went to sketch a dress rehearsal of Corsets and Cuties Fan-Frickin’-Tastic February Show! along with Pam Schwartz and her sister Jenny form Iowa. We arrived at the Venue (511 Virginia Dr, Orlando, FL 32803) and walked under the tree of light. There was a crowd in the front bar at the venue, so for a moment I thought there might be a show rather than the rehearsal.

The entire cast performed in the opening number which was rehearsed several times. It was set to Pat Benatar‘s “Love is a Battlefield.” The  opening lyrics however rang true to the Orlando rally cry after the Pulse Nightclub tragedy. Barbie Rhinestone rose up from behind the back stage wall and lip synced “We are Strong!“In that moment it felt like a rally cry in the face of recovering from tragedy.

The show is already sold out, so if you didn’t get your tickets you will miss this hilarious show.The Divine J-9 sang a song shortly after Teddy had finished an aerial silks act. He tried to introduce Divine to the silks with absolutely hilarious results. She wedged herself into the fabric swing with her arms over the fabric and her breasts crushed under the weight. He lifted her legs and flew her around the stage. She was laughing so loud that she couldn’t sing. I was laughing so loud, I couldn’t sketch.

Jax N. Augh performed a strip lease wearing bubble wrap. He snapped the bubbles with attitude and emerged from the wrap in a muscle print jump suit. Debbie Dulce performed a classic striptease in white and worked the room and rubbed against me leaving behind some glitter that had to be answered for later.

The cast is always fun and frivolous. The show is not for the faint at heart, but for those with a sense of humor and adventure. There was an intermission half way though the show. There is a full bar available in the front of the Venue for those wishing to imbibe, and the Cuties are always more friendly to those with tips. Everyone has a chance to win fun door prizes from our fab sponsor
Premier Couple’s Superstore.

Loose Lips at Lil Indies.

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I stated the new yer off with a trip to Lil Indies (1036 N Mills Ave, Orlando, FL 32803) to sketch Loose Lips. Hosted by Tod Caviness, Loose Lips has Local writers read works inspired by current events. Authors all read their text in their digital devises before taking to the stage. The humble typewriter or pen and paper seems to have fallen to the wayside. For most of the time I spent sketching, people struggled to get the microphone system working. The lighting situation at Lil Indies is less then perfect anyone at the mic is lit from behind making them appear as a black silhouette.

Lil Indies reminds me of my parents basement in their small post WWII home. My older brothers artistic endeavors consisted of paint by number clown portraits. These same creepy clowns adorn the walls of Lil Indies along with a classy nude behind the stage. I don’t think she was paint by numbers, but I didn’t get close enough to tell. This sketch was a digital experiment to use different colored pencils to start the sketch. It came about after seeing the work of Howard Brody. He used just three colored pencils to do his sketches and he achieved so much with so little.

With Trump in office, it seems there is endless material for lampooning the news. As frightening as the news might be, there is plenty of room for laughter.  I don’t understand how people can lock themselves at home staring at insipid stories with laugh tracks on their TVs when there are such amazing stories being related at our local dive bars.

Festival of the Arts at Epcot Center.

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Crealde School of Art invited me to offer a one hour workshop at the Festival of the Arts at Epcot Center. My workshop proposal was titled “Sketchbook Savvy.” This was the first time I had been on Disney property since Orlando Disney Feature Animation closed its doors in 2004. I parked in the back stage blue lot which was set aside for instructors. There was a bread trail of signs leading to the place where the workshop would take place. Unfortunately, I lost track of the signs and ended up lost underneath the test track attraction. The cars on tracks rumbled by overhead. A cast member offered to guide me but he ran into a dead end because Disney landscapers had added a hedge blocking our route since the last time he passed that way.

Like a scene from Goodfelles, I walked through the kitchen and made my way to the hostess who guided me back stage. I was about half an hour early, and rather than wait back stage, I decided to sketch the Disney artist sketching a character for the audience. Based on his description, it sounded like he was drawing Donald Duck, but I can’t be sure. The workshop attendees followed along every step of the way. Actually, one of the attendees wearing the mouse ears contacted me and she might correct me if I am wrong.

I was set up with a mic as I sketched and then the tech crew told me to walk on stage as soon as the introduction music started. My goal was just to share a couple of sketchbooks and then talk about how carrying a sketchbook everywhere you go can become a lifestyle. I started off with the story of my first day at Disney in what the animators called “The Fishbowl.” A glass wall was set up to overlook the artists at work and as a new artist my animation desk was right next to the glass. Work on my first day became frustrating because people kept knocking on the glass and giving me a thumbs up. The guard who ushers people through was pointing down into my work space. Since the glass was thick, we couldn’t talk. I finally realized that he was pointing at the bottom ledge above my head that supported the glass wall. I found some tape there and peeled it up. It said, “Hi my name is Tom, if you like my work, please knock on the glass and give me a big thumbs up.” The animator next to me laughed. I was initiated. This story always gets a laugh and it warmed up the crowd.

I talked about my last 9 years sketching everyday here in Orlando and how this habit of remaining curious and sharing my experiences has changed my life. I introduced the idea of sketch crawls and the Orlando Urban Sketchers. Then I showed the audience the sketch I had done of the venue we were in. It was rough and incomplete but that is the definition of a sketch. Afterwords there was a line of about 10 people who wanted to share their sketches and shake my hand. A Disney intern asked my advice on how to prepare a portfolio to get into a movie studio. My Disney portfolio had been sketches much like the sketches I do everyday today. They liked what they saw and then asked me to prepare a portfolio of just sketches of animals. I went to the zoos around NYC every day for months and sketched. That portfolio got me into the studio to work on the Lion King. Of course today, everything is digital, so it is a Whole New World. I sang that song to myself as my plane flew through the clouds on my way down here to Orlando. I measure my success today by the fact that I remain artistically productive, not by an appraised value to every sketch I did over the years.