Weekend Top 6 Picks for April 4th and 5th.

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Saturday April 4, 2015

9am to 3pm Free. Orlando Elks Vintage Faire. Elk Lodge 1079 12 N Primrose Drive Orlando FL.

6pm to 8pm Free. Brewery Tour. Orlando Brewing, 1301 Atlanta Ave, Orlando, FL.

9:30pm to 11:30pm Free but order food and drink. Son Flamenco. Ceviche Tapas Orlando, 125 W Church St, Orlando, FL.

Easter Sunday April 5, 2015

10am to 4pm Free. Farmers Market. South East corner of Lake Eola

1pm to 3pm Free. Yoga. East lawn of Lake Eola Park, 195 N Rosalind Ave, Orlando, FL.

9pm to 11pm Free. Comedy Open Mic. Austin’s Coffee, 929 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL. Free comedy show! Come out & laugh, or give it a try yourself.

At Eagle Heights still looking for whales.

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When the whale watching catamaran pulled into Eden Australia‘s dock, I rushed down the gangway, thankful to have solid ground under my feet. I sat on a park bench and my wife Terry went to talk to the crew of the whale watching boat. The ground still swayed under my feet. I put my head in my hands and sighed. It would take a while to recover. Amazingly, Terry wanted to go out on the boat again for their second cruise of the day. The boat wasn’t full and she wanted a closer view. They didn’t charge her for her second time on board.

I was thankful for the time to recover. I thought of sketching the boats in the dock but I wasn’t up to the task. After maybe an hour of sitting like a zombie, I stood up and decided to walk over to a small cafe to get something back in my stomach. Locals gossiped with their dogs at their feet. After lunch I returned to the bench and waited for Terry to return. She got off the boat excited to have seen another whale, or perhaps the same one at another location on his route.

That night back at Eagle Heights, Terry sat vigil watching for whales in the bay. I had no desire to look out over the water, so I sat on the couch and sketched. Dusk turned to night and the stars came out. I imagine the stars must be different in the southern hemisphere but I never took the time to identify the constellations. I needed rest. The room still swayed slightly.

Whale watching off the coast of Eden Australia.

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We got up at the break of dawn in Australia to get ready for a whale watching tour. I had a bowl of Cheerios and just as we left our Eagle Heights apartment, I took a Dramamine so it would soak into my system before we got on the boat. Cat-Balou Cruise leaves Eden‘s port every morning and in season, they guarantee a whale sighting. Before we walked the gang plank, everyone was warned that there were pretty high seas out there which made spotting whales challenging. If anyone wanted to turn back, this was their chance.

Inside, I sketched what I thought was the steering controls.  No one ever touched the steering wheel however, so I assume the catamaran was actually being steered from upstairs. Terry immediately sat up front at the bow and I included her in the sketch. Once we left the harbor, the seas got worse and the boat pitched violently. My drawing hand started to go numb so I slapped it on my calf to try and wake it up. A crew member asked me to go back to the bar to sign some documents. I lost my balance multiple times as I walked the short distance to the stern of the boat. After signing, I couldn’t bring Myself to walk back to my seat. I clutched a metal pillar for support. I’ve heard, that if you start to feel sea sick, you shouldn’t stay inside. Instead you should get out and stare at the horizon. I stumbled out a door and stood at a railing. Then my knees gave out and I knelled at the railing as if in prayer. “Dear God, please let this pass.” I stayed like that for the longest time. A crew member approached and told me that sniffing eucalyptus oil would settle my stomach. She gave me a napkin soaked in oil and I held it up to my nose. I took a sniff. The sharp smell immediately caused me to wretch, sending Cheerios over the railing into the churning sea. eucalyptus wasn’t a cure, it was the cause. Terry had bragged about how good a patch was for avoiding sea sickness. Where was she? I could use that darn patch. I wasn’t able to walk up to the bow to find her. My knees no longer worked.

After wrenching I felt better for a while and I stood. I held ceiling beams and imagined myself surfing the high seas. There was no way I could get back inside to my sketch. Eventually my extremities went numb again. All the other passengers had crowded onto the bow of the boat since a whale had been spotted. I stood at the stern with my head out over the railing. I wretched but there was nothing inside me. Then, a few feet from me, a whales eye appeared and he stared at me. Time slowed down. I swear I saw concern in that eye. Every nerve of my body snapped to attention. All my misery passed. The eye submerged followed by the immense length of body, and then the tale fluke. Wow! For the rest of the trip I stood up watching the ocean for another appearance. We basically tracked that one whale the entire trip. Spotting whales in the distance was impossible in the high seas. A Japanese man was as bad off as I was. He kept his eyes closed the entire trip. Developing my sea legs became a game. I let go of the ceiling beams once in a while to see if I could surf the pitching deck without getting thrown overboard.

For much of the trip I was so miserable, I wished I were dead, and then there were moments where I never felt so alive. If I had an opportunity to do it again, I would jump at the chance. Next time there will be no Cheerios, and I’ll wear a patch behind my ear. Sea sickness is largely psychological it is a confusion in which fluids in the inner ear send different signals than what the eyes perceive. Since I’m such a visual person, I guess I’m more susceptible. Terry told me that sketching is what caused the sea sickness, but I refuse to believe that.

We spend our wedding anniversary in Eden Australia.

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Our wedding anniversary was on October 19th and we spent the day making domestic preparations. We found the town supermarket and got essentials like Cheerios and milk for breakfast. We picked up some pre baked barbeque as well for dinner that night. The Eagle Heights apartment  in Eden, Australia had a full kitchen along with a microwave, so we cooked our food in minutes. I sat on the couch and used my tablet to sketch Terry making plans for the next day. We planned to go out on a charter boat to finally see some whales up close.

We were both still jet lagged and the drive down from Sydney had taken all day, so we were exhausted. On social media, hundreds of people might wish you happy birthday, but wedding anniversary’s are quiet introspective mile stones. There was a TV and an assortment of movies but it was never turned on. The apartment had two bedrooms and we used them both. I fell asleep in seconds.

Eden is the place to go for whale watching.

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From Sydney Australia, Terry and I rented a car and drove south to Eden. It was a full days drive. Australia is deceptively large. We stayed at Eagle Heights (2 Yule Street, Eden NSW 2551, Australia) which is perched right on the edge of cliffs over looking the bay. From our little patio you could look out over the expanse of water. I love the twisted ways that trees grow when they are affected by salty winds. A gazebo offered a telescope in case whales were spotted. Terry becomes incredibly patient when wild life viewing. We never did spot whales from our cliff perch but we might have spotted blow spouts which are the fine mists created when whales exhale. The spouts were so far out that they might have just been sea mist.

At the foot of the hill there was a place where we ordered fish and chips for our first dinner. It was the best fish and chips I had ever tasted. Exhausted we immediately drifted off to sleep. I believe this sketch was done the next day, very early in the morning as the sun rose. Just beyond that fence is a steep drop to the bay. Waves crashed the rocks that had spilled into the water. We had come to Eden to see whales and come hell or high water we would find them. The town has a siren that fires off any time whales are spotted in the bay. It was a rare instance where we hoped to hear a siren blaze. From October 31 to November 2 this quaint fishing village is home to the annual Eden Whale Festival. The festival is celebrating its 19th year in 2015 and will combine art, street
theatre, film, music, exploration, seafood and local produce along with
good old fashioned festival fun. Terry and I missed the festival by a week, but it sounds like a good reason to go back. Our time was divided between bird watching, whale watching and the occasional sketch.

Jesus Christ Superstar rehearses on the front porch of a Maitland Law Firm.

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Sylvia Katherine Viles is directing Jesus Christ Superstar. I met Sylvia at a casting call for the Petrified Forest this last year. She insisted I get in costume and get ghoulish make up so that I blended in with the cast. As I arrivedat the Jesus Christ Superstar rehearsal, the cast was on the porch stretching. Sylvia was her warm bubbly self and gave me a warm hug. She explained that, “JCS has been a bucket list show since I was a child. Since my singing
voice and gender have combined forces against me and the role of Judas
will alas never be mine, directing the show is my dream come true. Add
to the mix being able to do it at Bay Street Players, my home theater
and the excitement is literally bursting out of me.  For you
younger performers this was my “RENT” or “Spring Awakening”, “BARE”
etc., it was a show that spoke to me. It still speaks today.” As a child Sylvia grew up loving this show. Judas is portrayed as a caring person Who tried to save Jesus. It is a roll reversal similar to what you see in “Wicked”.

The cast was going to practice choreography on the steps to the porch. The final set will have a series of ascending steps so this was a perfect opportunity. They usually rehearse inside the building but there was some sort of open house going on.  Jesus was late. He thought the rehearsal was at 3pm. They needed to rehearse a musical number called “what’s the buzz“. Sylvia stepped in for Jesus and descended the steps as the cast knelt down beside her. Her shirt said “Bite me” on one of those candied hearts. She improvised her lines about how great her dad was and then the cast danced, doing hand slaps and then circling Jesus singing and clapping. Steven Johnson (aka Tim Gunn) did the choreography. New movements were worked in with each run through of the scene. A car leaving the parking lot broke up the action. I shouted “Car on stage!” and everyone scrambled up the steps to get out of the way. I think they should leave the car in the final stage production.

The cast then broke into groups and sang “When will we ride into Jerusalem?”  “What’s the buzz, tell me whats a happening.” They sang to each other as they sought gossip. The final run through was flawless and they cheered for having nailed down the blocking while maintaining spontaneity. The Sun had burst through the the trees heating up the porch steps, so Sylvia called a break and the next guerrilla rehearsal spot was on the driveway beside the house in the shade. I stayed behind and finished putting washes on the sketch. It was a gorgeous house and a beautiful, if hot day. I saw on a Facebook post later in the week a group photo of the cast that said, “The Cast of Jesus Christ Superstar doesn’t sweat, we sparkle!” You have to love such youthful exuberance. I’m a bit sad that I can’t see the final production because in a week ill be in Istanbul in Turkey which is a Middle Eastern country much like where these gospel stories first began.


Mark Your Calendars! Jesus Christ Superstar with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice will be performed at Bay Street Players (109 North Bay Street

Eustis, FL)  from April 10 to May 3, 2015. Get your tickets now.

Rimma Bergeron-Langlois rehearsed a stunning Sibelius Violin Concerto.

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As part of the Music Director Candidate search, Leslie B. Dunner, conducted the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. I sketched an open rehearsal on March 20th at the Bob Carr Theatre. The Bob Carr used to be a Theatre but new orange letters were put up announcing it as a theater. Theater is the English spelling while Theatre is used everywhere else. There is no difference in meaning. Some Americans make distinctions, for instance, that a theater is a
venue while theatre is an art form, or that a theater is a movie theater
while a theatre is a drama venue. If that is the case, the Bob Carr had been demoted since the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center opened, from an art form to a venue.

When solo violinist Rimma Bergeron-Langlois walked on stage, she smiled at the Director and took her place standing in front of the violin section. I knew immediately that this would be an amazing rehearsal. She was relaxed and ready. Leslie B. Dunner is the final Music Director Candidate to conduct the Philharmonic. The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra’s international search for a new
Music Director was announced in the spring of 2013. Over 12 months, a
committee comprised of orchestra musicians and community members spent
over 2000+ hours to screen a slate over more than 275 candidates from
around the world to  choose five finalists, who each conducted a
classical program during the 2014-2015 season. The orchestra plans to
announce its new Music Director in Spring 2015. The finalists were, Alondra de la Parra, Steven Jarvi, Eric Jacobsen, Dirk Meyer, and Leslie B. Dunner.

After the first half of the rehearsal was over and the orchestra was taking a break, Michael McLeod came over to say hello. He joked with me that Denise Sudler had noticed that I had sketched her at my art opening at Maxine’s and that she hadn’t granted consent allowing me to sketch her visage. I countered that there was plausible deniabitity. She is just 1/2 inch high in the sketch, it could very well be Wendy Wallenberg who had posed several times to try and get in the sketch. I first met Wendy when I sat on stage in the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre and sketched the audience. She was in the front row. I’m surprised she didn’t get up and stand on stage in front of me to block my view of the audience. She missed that opportunity.

Back to the rehearsal. Rimma’s loose sweater flowed and her pony tail bobbed as she performed. The Sibelius concerto was complex crisp and uplifting. It is amazing how so many instruments can blend their sounds to express a universal joy that is greater than any single sound. Yet the violin rejoiced in it’s liberating sound. There is a magic in experiencing a live orchestration like this. There were some fits and stops as Leslie inspired subtleties from different instruments. He was all about precision and purity of performance. Michael felt that Leslie was doing an amazing job conducting. I haven’t seen all the conductors perform so I don’t feel qualified to judge. I did see Alondra de la Parra conduct and I was swept away with her playful vigor. Only the musicians truly know which conductor inspired them to give their all. If you want to see what audiences are saying, you can find #OPOsNewMaestro. Let the voting begin.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for March 28th and 29th.

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Saturday March 28, 2015

10am to 4pm Free. Hannibal Square Heritage Center Folk and Urban Art Festival. Hannibal Square Heritage Center 642 W New England Ave, Winter Park, Florida. The sixth annual festival celebrates the works of more than 25 artists, including members of the original Florida Highwaymen and the B-Side Artists collective. A highlight will be the demonstrations of life casting by Crealdé artist-in-residence Rigoberto Torres, who is creating a sculpture of Richard Hall Jr., a decorated Tuskegee Airman and Hannibal Square neighborhood hero. Featured music: the Porchdogs Cajun and Zydeco Band and Orisi Risi African Folklore. A “Kid-folk” workshop offers “The Aztec Encounter and Musical Parade.” Food trucks will be serving.

10am to 5pm Free. Scooters 4 Hooters and Ellen’s Walk With the Angels. Lake Eola Park, 195 N Rosalind Ave, Orlando, Florida. A day of fun including a 4k walk, 22 mile escorted scooter ride, live bands, silent auction, vendors, and much more!!!

3pm to 5pm Free.  ‘STRUCTURE & PERSPECTIVE’ Artist Panel Conversation. Snap! Orlando Snap! Space / Snap! Orlando 1013 E Colonial Dr, Orlando, Florida. Join us at Snap! Space 3-5 PM for an artist panel conversation with:

DAN L. HESS

JUAN TRAVIESO

CHRISTOPH MORLINGHAUS

RYAN BUYSSENS

Please RSVP here.

Their work is currently on display in our ‘STRUCTURE & PERSPECTIVE’ exhibit. Learn more about the artists at.

Sunday March 29, 2015

11am to 2pm No cover, order Brunch. Kaleigh Baker for Rejuvenation Brunch. Maxine’s on Shine 337 Shine Ave, Orlando, FL. Brunch is meant to be delicious, lighthearted and whenever possible
shared with friends and loved ones. What better way to enjoy the day
than with soothing and grooving sounds played live from some of the
area’s best soft rock and folk musicians from 11am to 2pm while we
rejuvenate the very essence of your well cocktailed souls? Full and
eclectic brunch menu, ginormous hand crafted bloody Mary’s, mimosas,
and sangria.

For brunch entertainment, one time Orlando
resident Kaleigh Baker returns to the stage. Truly one of our greatest
talents that now resides more on the road, then our humble abode…come
out and hear her voice full of blues and soul, as all things become
better within the fold, of her music, our food & drink, and an
atmosphere conducive to celebrating life is very good in the Greater
Orlando Neighborhood. Also see original art from Analog Artist Digital World on display.

11am to 4pm. Free. Bach Fest Musicians perform in the Maitland Art Museum. 231 Packwood Ave, Maitland, FL.

Noon to 2pm. Free. Letters of Love. Gather at Lake Eola at the green space near the corner of Eola and Central. We’ll write letters of encouragement and love to and for the people of Orlando. Then we’ll distribute them throughout the city.

Romantic eatery with regular live music, featuring an eclectic menu & whimsical ’40s-style decor.337 Shine Ave, Orlando, FL

Teaching Urban Sketching at China Garden.

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At Elite Animation Academy (8933 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL), I have been teaching Urban Sketching to three very talented students. Megan has her own car, so she is in a perfect position to find places and events to fill her sketchbooks. Mathew absolutely loves the idea of going out into the community and sketching. He said, that he had waited his whole life for this chance. Samuel, who was usually accompanied by his father, tended to be uncertain when I suggested warm up sketch exercises in the class room. When we went out on location however, he was a natural. He would boldly sketch in a scene directly in ink, and I admired his approach.

On this day, we went to China Garden (8833 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL) to practice cafe sketching. Megen and Samuel sat in a booth and Mathew joined me at a center table. In this class I had introduced everyone to watercolors and I let them go for a solid hour and a half as they focused on completing a sketch. At Elite we use office paper that has been three hole punched to fit on animation peg bars. This keeps the sheets of paper flush to each other so the animation stays in place. Unfortunately, office paper is very thin which makes it less than ideal for watercolor washes. I kept advising students to invest in nice sketchbooks with at least 100 pound paper. Samuel was the first to get his own set of Urban Sketching supplies while Mathew and Megan limped by on the office paper. I decided to do a sketch on the animation paper to see how it wrinkled.

I ordered a General Tao’s chicken as a late lunch to eat as I sketched. The order took forever to arrive. People sitting at a table next to us had been sitting there since our class arrived and they were grumbling about how long they had been waiting. The woman noticed Mathew sketching and she said, “Be sure to catch my good side.” Students had to borrow my water brushes which are a bit dried out it  hard to squeeze the water out of them.   I saw Megan squeezing her brush like she was trying to strangle it death. I gave her more water, which helped. She joked with me that she expected to see herself strangling the brush in my sketch. She is right, I missed a golden sketch opportunity there. I offered Mathew my fortune cookie, and he popped it into his mouth without cracking it open to check his fortune. He ate his fortune! I don’t know if he will ever know what it was.

I’m proud of each of these new Urban Sketchers. Megan came up with a strong composition in which the details in the figures she drew were offset by large open spaces of the booth backs. Samuel is like a focused machine when he works on location and Mathew has a strong eye for gesture and composition. If they each develop the habit of sketching daily, they will be grow in leaps and bounds outside the confines of a studio or classroom. Unfortunately there were no enrollments for the next 10 Urban Sketching classes, but that is just as well since I will be sketching in Turkey for three weeks as Terry and I explore this ancient country.

Glancing inside my skull and neck.

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I’ve started seeing doctors again about finding a solution to constant head aches and neck pain. This has resulted in constant blood tents and getting MRI’s of my skull and neck. It also results in testing my patience in waiting rooms. This fellow across from me was able to nod off while he waited.

An MRI is an adventure. You lay down on a white plank and a face and neck clamp is hinged over your head to keep your head still, much like in a roller coaster. Then you are rolled back into a tight cylinder to wait. Their is one tiny mirror inside which allows you to glance at the technician behind the controls. Sketching would have been impossible. The metal on the pencil and the spiral binding on the sketchbook would have caused havoc because of the huge magnets that must spin around inside the machine.

What followed was a loud series of screeches, clicks and beeps. I imagined they set the beat to music and I danced to the tones inside my head. I didn’t move a muscle. If there was something wrong in there, I wanted them to find it.

At the headache doctors office, I listened as Dr. Scharfman listed a series of symptoms of the patient in the room next to me in his sing song voice. Maybe some of the symptoms are just in the patients head rather than being caused by an incurable pinched nerve. No doctor has ever offered a solution to pain. It is far too mercurial. They only offer increasing dosages of drugs. I had a doctor try to burn the nerve that might be causing the problems at the 5th disk of my vertebrae, but he prayed to God to guide his hands and I suspect god didn’t listen.

I’ve decided to start running again each morning at 7am. Having a more active lifestyle isn’t a cure but it couldn’t hurt. Well, I take that back. It has been several years since I ran a 5k and my legs feel like lead. I’m just jogging maybe a quarter mile around my neighborhood, but I’m pleased that I can still go the distance. I’m also going to start researching neck exercises online. I stretch my neck each morning in the shower but I need to strengthen those muscles which might help. At least I am taking steps to find my own cure.