FAVO Motel Art Studios First Friday Art Show and Exhibition

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Mark your calendars. On the first Friday of each month, Faith Arts Village Orlando
(FAVO) 221 E Colonial Dr, Orlando, Florida, hosts its First Friday Art Show. There are 36 open studios, childrens
activities, live music, food trucks, and more. The weather is
cooling and the holidays are coming. Stock up on locally created gifts
for loved ones, family and friends.The next FAVO is Friday November 6th starting at 5:30pm. 

I love making a monthly pilgrimage to this event to see artists at work and to quickly check out the latest local art. There is a wide variety of art showcased and I almost always discover something new. The motel room studios are all rather small so I seldom sketch inside, but all the large glass windows appeal to the voyeur in me. I m always shocked at how early the Christmas decorations go up at retail stores, but at Faro you will find local art which can be a very thoughtful seasons gift. 

While artists are being evicted from studio spaces in Winter Park an Ivanhoe Village, FAVO is a rare case of renovating an old motel for artists. Not many of the rooms are full time studios yet, but every month the place lights up with activity. At this Friday’ FAVO, there is a Living Room Theater Preview in room 236. Banks Helfrich and Tisse Mallon present 10 minute previews of Living Room Theater throughout the evening.  Living Room Theater is a unique, experiential show which focuses on fun, connection and authenticity.
A few things for you to know:
– While not lewd or vulgar, this show is recommended for ages 18 and up
– The preview lasts 10 minutes
– There will be 4 different version of the preview which will be on rotation throughout the evening. See just one or all four!
– No charge for preview and donations will be accepted.

National Dance Day with a Hip Hop flair.

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At National Dance Day, most of my sketches were done in the main rehearsal hall in the Orlando Ballet Central Campus. The room was always packed. Local artist and arts organizer Cole Nesmith was in the back row trying on the hip hop moves for size. The instructor slowly taught a entire dance routine by giving the participants new moves that built onto what they already had learned. I had already sketched an establishing shot that showed | entire rehearsal space, and now [ was loosening up and trying l catch the energy of the dancers gestures.

The woman right in front of me was having g blast learning the moves. She not only we learning the routine, but she gave it her own personal flair. This is what separates great dancers from goo dancers. They demand attention because they are loving an at they do. I’m sure that. true of any art form. In these looser sketches, I switched to using a pencil which gave the lines more life_

Bring theater to your living room.

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Banks Helfrich, Jack Graham and Tisse Mallon present experiential performances in living rooms.
This unique 50 minute show consists of short segments focused on fun, connection and authenticity. I went to a performance at Tisse Mallon’s home in the quiet College Park neighborhood. Daylight savings time meant that it was dark when I arrived. A table was set up on the walkway to her front door and there was a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine along with wine glasses. For a suggested donation of $5 I had a cup of red to loosen up my line work.

I was a bit anxious since I knew that there would only be 50 minutes to sketch the show and I’m used to having two hours to complete most sketches. The living room was only about 12 by 12 feet. I sat on one of the two couches and about 18 people squeezed in. Folding chairs were set up until everyone had a seat. There were familiar smiles and some people I had never met before. In Victorian times long before TV invaded our living rooms, people would perform for each other for entertainment. These improvisational performances harkens back to those simpler and more creative times.  


Tisse is a talented photographer and life coach and Banks is an independent film producer and director. I had never met Jack but quickly learned that he is a talented acoustic guitar player and actor. The separate acts were tied together by a common thread of connectivity built from honest incidents from the actors lives. In one particularly powerful  scene, Tisse sat alone on stage and silently looked at each of the audience members. I paused my sketch as she looked at me and I felt her smile widen as we looked at each other. She addressed everyone letting then know she felt they we beautiful and she acknowledged how we tried to always get it right. “Darn right” l thought. “This sketch isn’t turning out like I’d expected.” Perhaps always struggling to capture the moment keeps me from appreciating the true warmth of being in the moment.


In another scene the living room went pitch black. l stopped sketching. The actors were warming up their voices and started setting a beat by pounding the floor. I joined in by pounding my unfinished sketch. Everyone in the audience joined in. There was a primal, playful joy in that moment. Scenes were separated by the sounds of birds singing the trees. It felt like seasonal separations that marked the moments of our common experiences. Scenes addressed love, compromise and betrayal.  In a rather dark scene, Banks lay on the floor claiming that his spine was severed. Jack, as his brother reassured him. In an unexpected turn he offered his fallen brother fresh pancakes. Back in the kitchen, off stage, we all heard him moan and then fall to the floor. Banks called on to his brother but never rose. Once again the birds chirped as the room went black.


In the talk back after the show, Tisse explained that rehearsals had established how long each scene was but how each scene unfolded was different every time they performed. Tisse came up with the concept of Living Room Theater and they hope to bring the show to everyone and anyone’s living rooms. There is no cost to book your living room as one of their venues. They also hope to someday take performances on the road. It is a great idea. The intimate setting makes you feel like you are on stage, very much a part of the action. The fourth wall is broken. There were a few moments when I felt an awkward pause as an actor searched, trying to decide how to react and where to take the  scene. What was never lost however was how fearless and honestly connected they were to each other. Mark Your Calendar, the next Living Room performance is Saturday November 7th.

A Digital Artist in a Digital World?

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On October 22, I  went to Parker Sketch‘s monthly Artist Critique at the Barefoot Spa, 801 Virginia Dr, Orlando, Florida. This group of artists and art appreciators gathering to help each other grow as artists. You don’t have to be an artist, or show art to participate in the discussion, and meet the artists! It is a supportive and constructive discussion group about art. We look at the work of about 12 artists in the evening and talk about it. The opportunity to show art is first-come-first served. If you are interested in art and want to meet other people who also enjoy art, this is the event for you. The art can range from the purely abstract to representational. I always learn something new each time I go.

The reason I wanted to show art this night was to see what other artists felt about m using a tablet to start creating my sketches done on location. I’m excited a bow the possibilities in the digital medium but Terry says she cringes every time she sees a digital sketch on this site. I decided to show one of my sketchbooks and the sketch [ did on the tablet of the critique. sketching digitally is still difficult because [ waste so much time looking for tools and menus. Recently I’ve bee streamlining my work flow by learning how to use my tablets keys to select the most common tools. I asked everyone if it made sense to try and recreate my watercolor sketches in the digital medium. Most artists felt that the traditions sketch had more spontaneity and they could clearly see that a digital sketch has z different look. Parker suggested that I take an entire different approach to the digital work, accepting the difference. He even suggest using the tablets camera as the starting point and built the sketch over that. When I confided that the tablet seems too small, Bethany Taylor Meyers suggested I do a traditional sketch on paper, then shoot that with the camera and start painting digitally. I love that idea since I can us a bigger sketch pad and maintain the traditional feel of pencil on paper.

Other artists critiques also inspired me to push in new directions. One artist is trying to pull away from dark line work. Although I love line, the digital medium seems to favor blocking in colors as if building up an oil painting. I’m convinced that the digital work will inspire change in the traditional sketches and vise a versa. Someone suggested that I start using gouache on my traditional sketches and ironically the is something I’ve been considering for  some time.

There was so much amazing art shown that night, and having feedback from fellow artists is indispensable. Parker showed a large “Falling Man” painting. I’ve seen other paintings from the series and they are usually monochromatic. This falling man was fractured into vertical strips and had intense bright colors like cadmium yellow and bright pink. The image is a haunting reminder of 9-11 for me and the bright Peter Max inspired colors seemed a stark contrast. Parker did the painting live at Artlando with constant interruptions as people asked questions.  He said the colors were happy accidents because they just happened to be the colors he packed that day.

If you click the subscribe button over in the right column, I will keep you informed next time there is  an artist Critique.  The subscription is for a weekly AADW e-mail newsletter.

Tenafly High School 35 year reunion.

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I flew up to New Jersey over the weekend for my 35th High school reunion. It was held at an expensive restaurant called La Jardin  (1257 River Rd, Edgewater, N.J.)  just south of the George Washington Bridge. The best thing about the restaurant was its view of upper Manhattan which sparkled at night. Something about the place made it feel like a mob run establishment. Perhaps the equestrian theme hinted at race bets that had been rigged. Classmates gathered in the bar area to welcome people as they arrived. I recognized a few faces but was lost as to who people were most of the time. I might have insulted Barbara Kim Silber when I couldn’t recognize her. I tried faking recognition, but that got old fast. We each got a name tag with the yearbook photo but even that left me a bit confused. A classmate bragged about how much money he was spending since life is short. I lost interest and went to sketch.

Another unique thing about the restaurant was that it had menus that glowed when you opened them up. I’m not sure how that was done. The reunion food was fairly decent but certainly over priced and it is in no way authentic French cuisine. Dinner at this place will set you back 65 to 75 dollars. The party gradually migrated from the bar into the reception room. Mylar balloons in the school colors, orange and black were over the fireplace along with elementary and middle school class photos. I wasn’t in any of the photos. Near the entrance door there were photos of the 5 classmates who had died since graduation.

I blocked in the sketch as people chatted. About six different classmates told me that they had just driven past my childhood home at 363 Knickerbocker Road. My family used to carve over 200 pumpkins which mere illuminated on the front yard. I constructed a coffin with a Dracula puppet that would rise up and a dancing skeleton for the porch. This Halloween display used to stop traffic and police often came out to keep the chaos under control. A ghost was rigged up to fly down towards passing cars. It was constructed with a volleyball and a sheet. A brick was taped inside the ball to get the ghost to fly down the line faster. When the brick broke free, we decided that a more leisurely flight would have to do.

The invitation asked that we refrain from wearing jeans and I packed some nice shoes and pants for the occasion. Jefferson Boone Williams was the most unique classmate at the reunion. He ignored any dress code, and wore a tattered old hat, jeans and had shoulder length hair. I wish I had hair that long, hell, I wish I had that much hair. Anyway Jefferson is a fossil collector and he runs a business called Super Sonic Geophysical. He is one of the geologists who investigated the 4,000-year chronology of earthquake
disturbances within the uppermost 19 feet of laminated sediment of the
Dead Sea to determine the exact date of Jesus’ crucifixion. He discovered that Jesus, as described in the New Testament, was crucified on Friday April 3, 33 A.D. Jefferson’s daughter is an artist and is dreaming of becoming an animator. Jefferson gave me a fossilized Sand Dollar. I tried to refuse it, but he insisted.

The great thing about sketching is that people approached me, so every few minutes I’d chat with classmates one on one. In a large group , I can’t even hear individual conversations especially with the loud background music. Some people, I did recognize, like Cari Kelly and Susan Hemberger who lived a block away from me in Tenafly. Elizabeth Lee said the sweetest things claiming I was always good natured kid in high school.  John Keohane ran a raffle for swag bags. My number didn’t come up, but it would have been a pain packing that stuff for the flight back.

Just like a wedding reception, the dance floor heated up after everyone had eaten. Susan Hemberger was  on fire on the dance floor. Organizer Debbie Thompson had her niece taking pictures. I can’t wait to see the group photo so I can figure out who I had met that night. Don Holmes who had been my friend from middle school through high school sat next to me. He had also been my best man at my wedding at the National Arts Club in NYC twenty four years ago. Once when he visited me in Orlando he showed me a photo of a woman he was dating. The photo was of him and my nephew’s wife. He claimed that she met him at clandestine locations. My wife got quite upset and called family to find out what was happening. After Don left to go back to New Jersey, he called me on April 1st. The photo had been an elaborate April fools joke executed a week early.  After that, I didn’t talk to Don again. He was at the reunion however and as I left he asked for forgiveness. He didn’t recall what he had done but he knew he must be to blame. I said I’d “friend’ him on Facebook, but I haven’t done that yet.  I’m not sure if I should. Is a reunion a place where retribution and forgiveness are mandatory, or is it a brief look back at a time I coasted through under the radar.

A walk in the dark at Petrified Forest.

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Sylvia Katherine Viles is the cast director at Petrified Forest (S.R. 436, just 1/4 mile West of 17-92 1360 E Altamonte Dr, Altamonte Springs, FL) . She invited me to come up to play with the ghouls this year which is the 8th year the attraction has been running. This is one of Central Florida’s best haunted trails. If you want to be frightened out of your wits on Halloween night then this is the place to go.

The casting call was at 5:30 pm and the trail opens at 7 :30pmish. Rush hour traffic resulted in my arriving an hour late, but thankfully I still had time to sketch some of the cast as the haunting hour arrived. Sylvia was dressed as a demonic joker with a touch of steam punk. She immediately escorted me back to the costuming trailer to find me a hick costume so I could blend in on the trail. She explained that she wanted to put me in the meat market.  In the costume shop, she searched for a simple flannel shirt to throw on me. There were none to be found. She settled on a white shirt with touches of blood. A makeup artist quickly spray painted my face with a muddy mess. I tried to keep from inhaling the aerosol fumes.

Before the gates open, the cast gets a pep talk. They were reminded to “scare forward” which means frightening guests from behind to keep them moving down the trail. The meeting ended with a lusty shout. “Who’s house!” “Our House!” “Whoo Rahh!” An actress in a ghostly white gown and jet black hair walked me back to the meat market. This was her first time haunting the trail. I was set up behind her on the dock, which meant that guests couldn’t approach me. The staging wasn’t perfect and as it grew dark I couldn’t see a thing, but I made the best of it. A black light supplied the only illumination. A pea soup watery sludge glowed green. Usually when I sketch in the dark I can’t see what I’m working on. With the tablet the problem was reversed. Even at 0% brightness it was too bright. Which meant my eyes had to adjust to the dark each time I looked up. Hopefully I looked a bit menacing as I scowled at the faint hints of people that shuffled nervous by. The actress would loudly slam shut a wooden partition and shout out that “you better get a move on. Grandma’s  been expecting you!’ Between crowds Grandma walked over and shouted to me, “Are you sketching my girl’s butt? You better pay for that privilege mister!” I laughed.

With the dark sketch done, I walked through the trail for the first hand experience. I joined a group of four victims and entered the Abyss, which is a ghost ship of lost souls, I entered the haunted ship first. This allowed me to see what was coming up with an unobstructed view. One member of our group had a glow stick. Having a glow stick guaranteed extra frights because ghouls were enticed to try and steal it away, A haunted movie theater had dismembered bodies in the seats. We exited the movie theater through the movie screen, There were under sea scenes and a ramp of mysterious green light that enveloped us as we pushed forward. It wasn’t always  clear how to proceed. I pushed open a door that scrapped against the floor. I lead my group onto a dark foot bridge surrounded by pitch black darkness. Someone said, “I think we took a wrong turn.” Sure enough a cast member shouted at us,”You are going the wrong my.” From that point forward the guy in back took the lead. I was startled more than a few times. A figure burst to life at a banquette table. Near the end, two guys with chain saws chased us and the saws nipped at our ankles.

 Tickets are $15 for one trail and $25 for both trails. There is also a $12 back stage tour. This is the best fright for your dollar in Central Florida. Sure Universal has it’s Horror Nights, but that costs a fortune and you end up standing in lines all night. The Petrified Forest delivers just as many frights, and some of the effects are just stunning.

National Dance Day does Improvisation

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National Dance Day was a full day of free dance courses. The day began at Cultural  Park (lawn in front of the Loch Haven Neighborhood Center) y and then moved into the Orlando Ballet Rehearsal halls. Participants were encouraged to participate in exercises, dance routines, and performances by Central Florida dance professionals. In the Orlando Ballet Central Campus 30 free specialized dance classes were offered throughout the day to ages 3-100,  including special needs movement classes.  Central Florida dance company directors, choreographers, and fitness instructors shared different styles of dance through body conditioning, dance technique, and choreography at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.  NDDO strove to bring educational, community-driven dance opportunities to non-dancers and dancers alike!

This sketch was done in the Improvisational Dance Class. After stretches and warm ups, participants were encouraged to move freely and abstractly. No one moved the same way. Some of the exercises simply involved moving from one side of the room to the other. It looked like z whole lot of fun since the re were no fancy moves to memorize. This was one of the last classes of the day, so people were already warmed up, limber and ready for anything.

I was hosting a sketch crawl. There were about 6 artists to start, but by the en of the day, there were just four of us left. Being able to sit in and sketch so many dance classes meant that we got limbered up and loose by sketching so many gestures all day

National Dance Day was bigger than ever.

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National Dance Day fell on the same day as the World Wide Sketch Crawl.  I contacted Dance Day organizer Holly Harris and she was gracious enough to let host the Orlando Sketch Crawl, conjunction with National Dance Day. About 5 or 6 artists joined me and we documented the all day event with our sketches. This sketch was done in one of the Orlando Ballet dance studios. This free dance class was all about Latin Dance moves and the drummer set the heated beat. I’m certain the many of the people taking the class had never moved like the before. The instructor would demonstrate a move and then each dancer would had to follow his moves in turn. It was a hot and passionate class.

A few dancers relaxed while leaning against the mirrored wall but most dancers lined the room and were constantly on the move. I had filled a sketchpad already and so this sketch wheat on the back of a sketch page. This was a great day of catch in dance gestures, but I also insisted on completing finished compositions. It was fun to see how different artists captured the non stop action.

Waiting to get blood taken.

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I see two different doctors about trying to alienate chronic neck pain. Anytime I see on or the other, they order blood work.  It seems like I’m always driving to Quest Diagnostics to give blood. j don’t mind the process, I’m getting used to the small prick as the needle goes in. I just can’t look as the pipettes fill with an blood. Far worse is to wait before getting in. Like an emergency wait in room there always seems to be a crowd. Once you get past the first waiting room there is a second waiting room. Both have insipid TV programs blaring, so I’m glad I escape into a sketch.

The present cocktail of pain killers and muscle relaxants seem to keep me functioning, Anytime the prescriptions run out, and they always do, I am reminded that I very much need them. I need to follow up with chiropractors and physical therapists, all of which didn’t work in the past, but maybe I just saw an incompetent practitioner. Meanwhile the drug dealers keep me functioning until I find more holistic solution.

The Wedding of Rachel and Bruce McMillen.

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Rachel Leona Kapitan and Bruce Bowers McMillan were married on October 3rd of 2015 at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Orlando. Rachel’s son, Jackson Elliot Donald lead Terry down the isle and we were seated about four rows back. I considered moving closer to sketch but then decided to focus my attention on the wide expanse of the chapel. Weddings seem so rushed when you are trying to sketch them. the program asked guests to be truly present at the ceremony.  Everyone was respectfully requested that all cameras and phones remain unused during the ceremony. There was no mention of sketchbooks, either traditional, or digital, so I went to work documenting the fleeting moment. I’m only truly present when I’m sketching. I was still sketching as the photographer lined people up for the family group shots. Terry wanted to get to the reception, so I cut the sketch short. We bummed a ride with Karen Price and Naomi Butteffield to the reception.

The reception was at the Courtyard at Lake Lucerne which used to be part of Dr. Phillip House, a few blocks from the Center for the Performing Arts which bears his name. There was macaroni so I carbo loaded and got some soda. Bruce’s kids, Ryan and Katherine McMullin offered a toast and welcomed Rachel to the family with  warmth and humor. After a sumptuous fish dinner all the women hit the dance floor. Like me, Ryan wasn’t in the mood for dancing. Kim Buchheit introduced us and I learned that Ryan was an artist. He decided to learn sign language and that has become a full time job. Later in the evening, his sister Katherine came over and asked him to dance. He refused, so she turned to me and asked, “stranger will you dance with me?” Since I hadn’t danced with my wife all night, I didn’t think that would be a good idea. Instead I pressured Ryan to dance just once with his sister. The evening was almost over. He gave in to pier pressure and they danced. I clapped my approval, always the voyeur.