Greenwood Lake 1

Posted on by Thor

I fought tooth and nail all day long to see this property in Greenwood Lake, New York. Greenwood Lake is a large lake that cuts across the northern border of New Jersey into New York State.

My financial advisor had hooked me up with a firm that set up a pre-approvel form. In Florida that form hasn’t been needed. But in New York, the real estate brokers will not even talk to you until you send them the form.

I found the PDF among all my saved home buying documents and sent it to the broker who was going to show me this house. She didn’t get back to me for several days. Since I was only in New York State for a week, I called her back.

It turns out there is fine print on the bottom of the document that points out that the letter is only good for 3 months. It had expired. I then had my financial advisor write a letter that confirms that I have the funds needed. I thought the issue was settled so I drove the 135 miles to this home. The broker didn’t show up. When I called her she said she didn’t get the letter from my financial advisor. The form he sent was in my email inbox and needed my signature. I was tired of all the red tape.

After I finished this sketch, I wandered of and got a New York Style pizza and a pizza parlor around the block. It was a taco style pizza and it was delicious. After that I wandered through the downtown district and settled down to sketch a historic church. I insisted that another broker show me the home I had waited all day to see. Zulma Rivera let me know that she had an open house at a $700,000 house way up on a hill. That was more home than I need but I met her there. We had a long talk and literally no one showed up to the open house other than her husband and child.

We met back at this property and she showed me around. It tuns out the place was smaller that I needed. It took all day to see it but it was too small to be a working studio. I had to pass. Zulma was the only broker I met who was responsible and communicated. She might help me as I continue my search.

Callicoon Barn Studio

Posted on by Thor

I took a trip up to New York State for a week to search for an artist studio to buy. I gave myself a week to search for places within a one hundred mile radius of NYC.

The drive to this property from further upstate was absolutely spectacular. Side roads wound their way down the Delaware river and a large lake. For one long stretch, I never had to hit the gas pedal since the car coasted down the mountain valley for about half an hour. My ears would pop as I descended or gained elevation.

This converted barn in Callicoon, New York was the first property I looked at. The barn sits on 3 acres that slope away towards the woods on none side and multiple sloping fields on the other. It must be amazing to watch a sunset form this elevated property.

My broker was a bit late, so I started the sketch. The property owner is an artist and seemed to be a single woman occupying all this space. She shouted at me from the doorway, “Hey, why not come sit up on the deck is is much more comfortable?” I was sitting on a low moss covered slate wall as I sketched. I shouted back, “I am an artist doing a sketch.” I shouted out that I loved the huge skylights. She let me know that the skylights were for her studio. The conversation ended after that since she had to cart off a mattress to a local dump using her Prius.

She left the front door open and when the agent arrived we walked around inside. The place really is perfect, although it is far larger than I need. The upstairs studio is huge. An amazing feature which I have never seen before was a false wall that was set up for the entire length of the room, covering the skylights. The walls were set up with large paneled doors which could be opened in front of the skylights that she wanted to open. Another great feature of the false walls is that they offered tons of art storage space.

The bedroom downstairs which was an addition also had sky lights and it too would make a great studio space since there were two other bedrooms to spare. A bathroom was decorated in a Japanese theme and had a bidet. Grape vines covered the outdoor patio. Everything seemed idyllic and perfect but then the broker pointed out the grey panels that were used to cover each end of the barn. Those panels were asbestos.

I was staying with KC Cali and Bob Szafranski, north of this property. They had moved to New York State two months ago from Orlando Florida. Bob worked in construction for years and he pointed out that removing the asbestos was a very  expensive proposition. He also said that if there was asbestos, you could bet that there would be lead paint inside. Another down side to the property was that there was no cell phone service. When I tried to bring up Google maps to find my way back to KC and Bob’s, the signal didn’t kick in again until I had driven a mile away from the property. Another down side is that the drive to NYC is almost 3 hours which is much further than I am hoping for. Although the property seems perfect in so many ways, I had to let it slide.

Flames / Gesture

Posted on by Thor

I did this sketch for a student to demonstrate how gesture might be considered. We were looking at a dancer and I was explaining how gesture isn’t about finding the outside edge of a pose.

I threw linrs on the page that only vaguely relate to the pose we were looking at and encouraged the student to put many lines outside the figure and inside the figure.\

I also encouraged the student to make a mess. I made a mess myself in spades working with wild abandon. Looking at the sketch now, I have no idea what the pose was and that is part of the point.

I often work this way before I tie down or clean up a sketch. I use a pencil to dash off very light lines that are just a suggestion and then I commit to the final line work. My work might seem detailed but it is at first chaotic and fluid.

I do an exercise like this wit every student I am trying to loosen up. being careful and overly concerned with how the final drawing will look kills so many beginning attempts by students. Getting them to work with abandon and then some slower care is my goal.

This approach isn’t always understood. The outside hard edged shape dominates most students mind set. That rock hard perception is difficult for most to abandon.

Nothing about this sketch is accurate. It is vaguely based on what I saw but also wildly different that the outside shape. One limb flows effortlessly into another and the overall form shoots upward from the ground licking outward like a flame. Even if the student isn’t ready to understand. I enjoy demonstrating the idea as best I can.

Fountain Demonstration

Posted on by Thor

One of my online Elite Animation Academy students loves to draw horses. For one class we looked at statues of horses to see how sculptors interpreted the musculature. We had already done anatomical sketches that showed insertion points of muscles and I wanted to show how different artists interpreted the musculature.

I stressed the importance of drawing on the inside of the horse even more that drawing the outside edges. This sculptor used many flowing S Curves which I threw down with quick abandon. My student took longer to put down the line wk, so I played with color and value as well.

I have fun doing these quick studies because they are not part of any important final work. I can just play and hopefully inspire the student to do the same.

What I often see from students are what I call Cookie cutter drawings, which stiffly interpret the outer edge of a subject with a single hard edged line.

I exaggerate the flowing lines in my drawings to try and inspire the students to add more flow to their work as well. This isn’t something that is learned in one lesson, I stress the point over and over until it starts to take root.

First Lesson

Posted on by Thor

My friend Stella P. Arbelaéz Tascón, got out a lesson book and started taking piano lessons. First came shaking out the hands and stretching them. Like any creative endeavor, you begin on page one and progress slowly. Being alone allows the freedom to do whatever you want, so why not tickle the ivories.

A metronome was set up to keep the beat. It ticked with mechanical precision and the hope was to play the notes along with the set beat.

Since it was the first lesson there were quite a few hiccups, but in the end there was music. I found it quite thrilling to sit back and hear the progress being made in the first lesson.

All the first lessons were for the right hand. The next set of lessons will be for the left hand and then ultimately both hands. I still type by pecking a the keys with an assortment of fingers. My pinkies are only used to enter passwords by tapping the enter key. If the pinky isn’t used the password is never accepted.

Once I get a home studio of my own, I might want to get a small piano as well. I am learning Spanish slowly with Duolingo so why not also learn to become a concert pianist? I am looking for homes in New York State right now and it would be nice to find a place where I cold park a Steinway and set up a large studio. So far the places feel claustrophobic. I keep hitting my head on light fixtures and top floor ceilings.

 

Crealde Urban Sketching Class

Posted on by Thor

When teaching the Crealde Urban Sketching class, I would always do a quick sketch as my students worked. This is a rare case where I dashed out a quick digital sketch. I would always sharer the sketch with everyone at each stage, ruff block in, clean line work, and final color.

We always do a sketch in the class where the students draw the room and as many other students as possible. I demonstrate how to get all the students in a sketch. It always involves book ends, drawing the student furthest to left and then drawing the student furthest to the right. Like an accordion, the middle of the sketch can be stretched or squished to adjust. I am always encouraging students to change things if needed.

The Vessel

Posted on by Thor

A pregnant woman in Georgia was declared brain dead after a failed medical procedure. She was on life support for months. Due to a strict abortion ban, in Georgia the woman, who is only living because of the machines hooked up to her body, must be kept alive until the fetus be “born” with a c-section.

Georgia’s “Heartbeat Law” is one of the most strict abortion statues put in place since the supreme court overturned Roe V. Wade.

The woman who was a nurse, was declared brain dead has 3 more month before the forced birth.

The family, who is shocked by the state stepping in, was hoping the woman could die in peace. There is no law saying a woman must be kept on life support after brain death. Removing breathing tubes is not the same as an abortion.

The woman’s family has no say in the matter. State law dictates that the brain dead body must remain a vessel for the full duration of the pregnancy. The brain dead woman will be kept alive for three more months. She is just a vessel and a test case of extreme anti abortion laws.

 

Diamond Dawgs vs. Leesburg Lighting

Posted on by Thor

I went to a baseball game at Buddy Lowe Field, Pat Thomas Stadium for a Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL) game. The Winter park Diamond Dawgs  were playing the Leesbug Lightning.

I sat in the back row of the stadium so I could capture the crowd in my sketch. As I blocked in the sketch the stadium filled up.

My Prius was parked just past the home run fence at the end of the first base foul line. I started to fear that it might be in line for getting hit by a foul ball. Any time there was a foul ball the announcer would play the sound of breaking glass.

I had parked my Prius next to a red pick up truck and a woman who might have been the boys mom was sitting in a lawn chair. Her distant first base line view of the game was unique. Admission free. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t go into the stadium.

Between innings there were small playful games between kids on the field. One such game had two young black boys put on large inflatable balls. The goal of the game was for them to run at each other gladiator style and the one who fell down the most would win. One boy was smaller than the other and he rolled around on his back most of the time. Any time he stood back up he was immediately was knocked back down again. I looked around the stands and saw that there were absolutely no black fans. The white fans were hooting and hollering. For me the moment took on a dark undertone. This was a twilight zone moment.

Another one of these between inning moments had the announcer shouting, here come the lightning bugs! Children of all ages and sizes ran around the bases. I am not sure if the two black boys were among the kids running the bases.

At the bottom of the 7th inning I felt my sketch was done. I decided to get a hot dog. You had to have a 9th inning hot dog. I went out to the concession stand and they were cleaning up the grill. A hot dog was not an option. The Leesburg Lighting was clearly going to win the game. People were filing out of the stadium. I decided to walk back to my Prius. final score of the game was  14-6. It was a clear blowout.

 

Oregon Lighthouse

Posted on by Thor

I made a trip to the coast of Oregon to watch wales as they migrated north. At the time I only did a quick pencil sketch of this lighthouse. I decided to go back and do a digital painting.

The scene reminds me of an Edward hopper painting, so I pulled up one of his paintings as a palette.

I am making no attempt at producing a finalized painting, instead preferring to keep the sketch intact.

This is the Heceta Head Lighthouse located on a rugged outcropping overlooking the ocean. It is one of the most popular and inspirational sites on the Oregon Coast.

The Heceta Head Lighthouse and Queen Ann style Light Keeper’s home, circa 1894, are both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It sits 205 feet above the ocean at the top of rugged cliffs.

Whale watchers with there binoculars in hand scanned the ocean hoping to see fine mist spouts from wales exhaling before they gathered another breath.

I never saw a whale but I am betting some if not all of the seasoned whale watchers caught a glimpse.

On this trip I also was looking for Kelp forests so I could see sea otters in their natural habitat. I was quite successful in seeing Otters. They would lie on their backs and smash shells on a stone they had lying on their stomach.

The otters were so far off shore that I didn’t try and catch a sketch of them. Now I have binocular opera glasses which I could use to get such a distant sketch.

Mount Dora Homestead

Posted on by Thor

On Sunday, several days after my birthday, I went to see the Mount Dora Homestead. I set up my art stool across the street and started sketching while I waited for my Real Estate Broker, Cheré Carr to arrive. She arrived right on time, so I interrupted my sketch to say hello. There was some technical difficulties with the codes for the key lock box, so I dashed back and completed the line work while she worked through the technical glitch.

The place feels so much like the Umatilla Homestead that slipped through my fingers several months ago. It was built in 1890 and has so many of the original touches while having been updates with modern appliances.

The living room is spacious and I have already begun planning where my Disney Desk, flat files and large art bookcases would go. I am in the process of drawing a map that shows the placement of studio furniture I have, and the  furniture I will need to get. In the Chatsworth Studio I had a couch right beside the Disney Desk so that I could relax after a long stint of animating, teaching or sketching. I hope to set up this new studio the same way as a living and creating space. There is a retractable movie screen on one wall and a notch in the opposite wall where the projector would go.

Upstairs there are two large bedrooms. Closet space is limited but I am just a single guy with a small pile of sweat shirts. With the last move, I threw out many pairs of pants ans shirts which had shrunk in the Florida humidity. They are called sweat shirts because the shirt gets dark with sweat any time I do yard work. There is plenty of space in the back yard for dreaming of planting a food forest. All the grass in front of the house would have to be replaced with ground cover and or wildflowers. Thankfully there is no grass behind the homestead or on the side yards.

All the walls are white clapboard which makes the rooms fill with light. There are long hallway rooms on the east and west side of the house. One I am planning to use as art storage and the other might be used for oil painting. I will be visiting former Disney Feature Animation Artist Ronnie Williford this weekend at his studio where he is doing very large paintings. I am hoping that seeing the space he has created will inspire me to start working larger.

The Mount Dora Homestead has been on the market for over 40 days and my broker feels that might be because the asking price is too high. I am taking a trip to New York State next week and hope to make a final decision about making an offer right after that trip. I hope the home is still on the market when I get back. So will I be moving onto the Mount Dora Homestead? A lot of stars would have to align for that to happen. But that doesn’t stop me from dreaming big.