Shut Up & Play Sketch Marathon

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Music was being performed constantly for 12 hours at 11/12 Lounge. Artist, Dawn Schreiner had to move her easel and art supplies off stage two as all the musical equipment was changed out. The next band brought in another drum set so there was plenty of activity on the stage. I was still adding watercolor washes to a sketch as all the sound equipment was being carted away. Lynn Halter Birdsall told me to inform Dawn that she could set up on the stage across the room since the other artist was done with his painting. When I sketched the Forefathers, she was at her new post. With all the activity, I abandoned inking in my drawings and just scribbled away with my pencil. I started to love the freedom the blunt pencil offered.

The Forefathers performed in the red glow of stage one. Their music had a mystic lyricism. Jupiter Groove on stage two was the last act that I sketched. Their driving riffs had elements of Progressive Fusion and Jazz. The seemingly improvisational performance influenced every line I drew. I kept beat with the flow of every line. I had arranged to get Terry into the concert. She finally texted me saying she was on her way. After my sketch was done I contemplated getting a beer and relaxing a bit. But Jeremy Birdsall was on stage playing keyboard and guitar at the same time. He was jamming with two other musicians he had just met. They improvised with absolute joy and abandon. I stood at a table and swayed to the beat. People at the bar were clapping and shouting encouragement. The place was buzzing and vibrant. I just soaked it in.

When Terry arrived she wanted to immediately go out to get a bite to eat. I left on my wrist band figuring I could return to the festival which continued until 2am. After dinner at Dexter’s we went to Karen Russell’s opening at Mother Falcon. Quite a few of her pieces were sold. Terry talked to Karen about possibly getting a tattoo. We went home. It was a good day.

Fireworks

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Fireworks were for sale all over Charleston. This modified 18 wheeler cargo bin did a booming business the day before July 4th. Terry suggested I sketch early in the morning before we left to visit her relatives. The tree I leaned up against had a line of ants crawling up and down the trunk. I discovered this when they decided to crawl down my neck and bite me on the neck. My niece and her husband were going to shoot off fireworks on the 4th but we went to visit Terry’s cousins at Isle of Palms beach. The military flew five jets over the beach at 1:15pm. Terry has so many southern cousins. It was impossible to keep all their names straight.

Charleston S.C. Fountain

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Terry and I drove to Charleston, South Carolina for the July 4th weekend. The city was jam packed full of tourists probably because there was a Carnival Cruise ship docked on the riverfront. We sat on a park bench and watched the ship pull out while hundreds of people on the dock waved. Terry suggested I sketch the fountain while she strolled around and looked at the riverfront architecture. This fountain was constantly filled with screaming children. It was like having 20 fire hydrants turned on all of them pointing towards a central platform.

Cocktails & Cosmos

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Terry had purchased tickets to Cocktails and Cosmos at the Orlando Science Center. After we got our arm bands we wandered into the main room on the second floor. Terry made a bee-line to a table that offered clothing for sale and I was immediately intrigued by a mural that was in progress. A guitarist played all night near the mural as guests took red plastic cups of paint and brushed their chosen color onto the canvas. The canvas had two guitars painted in vibrant warm colors and an all seeing eye dead center. The company that organized this community painting was Harmonious Universe. The company’s motto is “Be it Share it.” They say the motto is alive in the moment. So whatever “it” is to you, then that is what you are to “be.” To fully “be it” you must “share it.” I identify with the motto since each sketch is incomplete until I share it’s story.

There was a fashion show which featured men and women’s fashions from the 60’s to the present. Peter Murphy introduced the show by telling everyone in the audience to put their hands in the air. He then said hug your neighbor to your left. I was at the end of the row so I had no one to hug but Nikki Mier gave me a warm hug. It was a fun and lively show with each model walking in character from demure 60’s flower child to surly rock and rollers. I spoke to Nikki between fashion decades and it turns out she is a store manager for Fairvilla Megastore. I informed her that I once planned to sketch in this adult mega store when a porn star was in town offering autographs. I chickened out or didn’t consider it blog worthy at the time. Nikki and Wendy Wallenberg were texting important information throughout the fashion show. I asked if her store contributed items for the fashion show. Unfortunately they didn’t, but some of the fashion items in her store are similar. She suggested I sketch Fairvilla before Halloween because the store gets crowded with people trying on costumes. I enjoyed telling her about how I earned money to get myself through college by working as the art director for Oui magazine. I was perhaps the only virgin to ever art direct a Men’s magazine. I never discussed this darker side of my career when I worked for Disney.

Carl Knickerbocker was at the event and he wanted to see the iMax movie “The Ultimate Wave Tahiti.” I joined him downstairs as the women chatted upstairs. Jelly fish sculptures made from found objects were suspended from the ceiling. They were the work of local artist Doug Rhodehamel. I bet they glow in black light but unfortunately only florescent lights were on. The movie in the three story high theater was mind blowing. I got dizzy a few times as helicopter shots flew over the ocean. I was constantly twisting my neck trying to see everything in my peripheral vision.

Terry, Wendy and a group of women kept laughing as staff rushed around folding chairs and putting away tables. We were the last to leave. I felt like I was watching an episode of Sex in the City. I snapped a photo of them in front of the mural that everyone at the party had helped paint. I take that back, Carl and I never lifted a brush.

The Verdict

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It was the start of a highly contested battle. In the morning I went for a run. I ran to close to a mail box and its metallic handle caught my T-shirt sleeve, ripping it. After writing several blog posts I decided to go downtown and surprise Terry by stopping by her office. Walking downtown I noticed the constant sound of helicopters. They were hovering by the courthouse and I realized that the Casey Anthony trial must have come to a close. I walked towards the courthouse. I knew that Brian Feldman had gotten into the courtroom so I texted him to find out what was going on inside. I didn’t know this at the time, but the verdict had been read several hours earlier. When I didn’t hear back from Brian, I turned off my cell phone.

A hot dog vendor next to the courthouse was arguing with a costomer at his stand. He said, “I can’t believe they found her not guilty of child neglect!” That was the moment when I knew the verdict. I saw a crowd of people outside the Bank of America building and I wondered what was up. News anchor Geraldo Rivera shuffled out of the crowd onto the street. A man rushed up to him and asked for a photo.

Across the street from the courthouse there was an empty lot full of news vans. I sat in the shadow of a fence and started sketching the channel 13 news crew. A female newscaster practiced for her report. Crowds of people rushed around shooting photos and home movies with their iPhones. A man walked by holding a sign that said “Murderer!” He raised it over his head pointing it towards the circus of news vans in the empty lot. The woman with him shouted out with a drawl, “Come out of there Geraldo!” She must have been angry about the verdict and blamed the messenger. Two bystanders shouted out “Hey Casey’s parents just got in that Black SUV!” The SUV drove off and they waved. The windows were tinted so I couldn’t see inside. An ant bit my hand and I flicked it off.

Terry and Amanda were meeting for Margaritas at Paxia. I decided to join them. As I walked away the sounds of the helicopters slowly dimmed. Here one day, gone one night.

Shut Up & Play Instrumental Music Festival

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Shut Up & Play was an all day music festival held at 11/12 Lounge (843 Lee Road Orlando). There were three stages with music being performed non-stop. As one group broke down their equipment on one stage musicians would be set up and ready to go at the stage on the opposite end of the room. People seated in the center of the room only had to rotate their chairs. The first performer I saw was Dominic Gaudious who had an amazing branching Didgeridoo which had a deep mesmerizing tone that complimented his guitar playing. I had seen him perform once before at Downtown Disney. Bruce Bentner was the artist on stage. He used a projector to transfer the Shut Up & play poster onto canvas. He used black light paints to give the painting some added punch.

Lindy Romez, a fabulous trumpet player was seated right in front of me as I sketched. She and her Sol Y Mar band jumped on the stage once Dominic was finished with his performance. I had sketched Lindy Romez & Sol Y Mar once before at the White House.

Across the room Decoy Beat performed. Jeremy Birdsall who organized the whole event was on guitar. Jeremy was a consummate performer, arching his body to the flow of the music. He was fun to sketch. When he introduced the group he thanked his wife Lynn Halter Birdsall who had worked so hard to make the event possible. There was plenty of applause. I glanced over at Lynn who was busy getting a band checked in. Lynn had given me a slick Shut Up and Play lanyard that proudly announced that I was an artist. It was such an awesome design that I wouldn’t mind wearing it all the time. If anyone were to ask if I were an artist, I could just point to the lanyard. Come to think of it, mo one ever asked if I was an artist at this event.

Dawn Schreiner was the artist hard at work as Decoy Beat played. She finished a quick portrait she had started of Martin Luthar King by adding radiating lines around his head. Then she started a whimsical piece with a turn of the century couple and birds. I loved the way she boldly drew in the faces with a brush. Her lines danced.

Tranquility Garden

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I read that there was going to be an open house celebration for a new cremation garden complete with free family portraits. I drove to Oaklawn Park Cemetery to sketch the festivities. Part of me hoped there would be lines of zombie families waiting to have their decaying corpses photographed. I drove into the cemetery searching for the “Tranquility Garden.” I found a “Garden of Eternity” but no tranquility. I figured I might be in the wrong cemetery so I pulled back onto CR46-A and started driving. That is when I noticed the Baldwin-Fairchild Funeral Home across the street. I did a u-turn and pulled in the parking lot. Two hearses and a limo were parked in the car port. I was greeted at the front door by a very old gentleman in a black suit. There were a dozen people dressed in black in the entryway. When I asked to see “Tranquility Garden” I was introduced to Ed Johnson.

Ed walked me past the room where the free family portraits were being taken. I asked how many people they were expecting to photograph and he estimated 300 people would show up. We walked through offices, a kitchenette and a break room before going outside to hop on a golf cart. He drove me back into the cemetery and we stopped near a beautiful fountain. Behind every gray tile on the fountain there was a cavity for cremated remains. There was a row of small grass plots for interments. Several plots had large granite headstones. A huge dark granite rocking chair could hold a couple’s ashes in two square canisters at the base of the chair. No, the chair did not rock.

A staircase followed a nice flowing waterway they added to the landscape. There was a putting green set up and a sculpture of a golf bag was there to house a happy golfer’s remains. There was a scoreboard to keep track of the eternal game. There was a fish sculpture for a fisherman and a chess piece for a chess master. There was an area dedicated to war veterans, with simple stone monoliths where individuals would each have their own tile. There was a wishing well where it would be possible to have your ashes co-mingled with other peoples ashes. Perhaps in this age of social networks that is an attractive sales point.

I told Ed I would like to do a sketch. He seemed perplexed. As I worked a black sedan pulled up next to me and the two men inside watched me intently. They must have been sent to make sure I wasn’t a vandal. I sketched faster thinking I might be asked to leave. It started to rain. I ran up to a gazebo and continued to add water color washes there. When it stopped raining I returned to my original spot to finish the sketch. On a distant hill the Virgin Mary held her hands open in supplication. The sun blasted through the clouds baking my black wet shirt.

Gallery at Avalon Island

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On the Third Thursday of every month the downtown galleries have openings for new art on display. I tried to sketch the gorgeous architecture of the Gallery at Avalon Island once before but it was winter and I couldn’t finish the drawing with my cold hands. The green building is covered with intricate metalwork. The Rogers building was built in 1886 by architect William Mullins. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

As I sketched the sun slipped to the horizon creating a golden glow. When I finished I went inside to look at the art. On display were photo real paintings by Doug Bloodworth. Many of the slick glossy paintings were done with airbrush. Classic black and white movies seemed to be the predominant theme. If I had a home theater I wanted to decorate, then I suppose they would do the trick.

Terry Olson saw me working and said hello. He was off to see the Red Chairs which were being displayed in City Arts Factory. I had watched Genevieve Bernard as she decorated the Mennello Museum Red Chair with hundreds of red and gold buttons. There was a bustling crowd inspecting red chairs which were decorated by each of the arts organizations in town. Terry wanted me to join her for an Orlando Philharmonic event so I didn’t stick around to do another sketch. I quickly glanced at the artwork at Blank Space as I walked back to my truck.

DJ Big Makk

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The closest place to grab a bite near “Stick Em’ Up” was a MacDonalds. Starving, I had eaten a Big Mac for the first time in years. The taste lingered all night. I found it ironic that the DJ was known as Big Makk. I was fascinated by his small features nestled in the open expanse of his face. His small hands gracefully worked the knobs, dials, digital turntable and Makk computer. He played a combination of hip hop and rap. Several mics allowed people to shout out their own rap. The mics didn’t work very well and they were abandoned.

I sat at a central table where people were making their own stickers using colorful markers. Most stickers looked like graffiti from a NYC subway. It was suggested that I make a sticker but I’m not sure my sketches are appropriate to be stuck. Maisy wanted to get some Monster stickers but the $10 price tag seemed steep. She was asking just $1 for her radioactive snail stickers. I liked the large JR Tolkenish Ent painting on the wall next to the DJ. Smoke billowed out of the tree’s nostrils and it cradled a flame in its knobby fingers.

Stick Em’ Up

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The Stick Em’ Up event was going to happen at the Cameo Theater, but the Cameo was shut down due to fire code violations. The event was moved to an urban warehouse on John Young Parkway just south of Lee Road. The warehouse is used as a graffiti sweat shop. In the front room rows of spray paint cans were for sale. A robot designed by an infamous NYC graffiti artist named Chico was on display. In the back of the warehouse preparations were underway for a mad party. The large loading dock door was rolled open. The walls were painted black while some old graffiti peaked out above the darkness. In the corner of the room this couple lay comatose in the 69 position. Noel, a hug bear of a man, said, “I just threw them in the corner. That is how they happened to fall.” I didn’t know if I should believe him. Since I had arrived early, I couldn’t resist sketching the couple. They are sculpted from found objects. For instance the women’s pants are sofa cushions.

The bright magenta and yellow painting above the couple spells out something. I recruited several other people to try and read it for me but no one could. Other colorful urban art covered the walls. After the sketch was done, I drove up the street to a MacDonald’s to get something to eat. I ordered a big Mac and fries but I didn’t super size the meal. I rushed back to the warehouse just as it started to get crowded. People who entered the event got “Hello my name is…” stickers. Maisy May Mars and Travis Smith were outside behind a card table with their stickers on display. Stickers are quick, meaningful temporary works of street art that are designed to be seen by the masses. At this event stickers could be bought or traded. Maisy had “Radioactive Snail” stickers. Her stickers are found in cities around the world thanks to the Internet and an active artist community that has helped this artistic craze go viral. Maisy and Travis were selling stickers for just $1. Travis drew a hammer on a “Hello my name is…” sticker. I put it on my bag. I was tagged.

Artists spread out in the parking lot and started making art. I sat next to Maisy’s table and sketched an artist as he spray painted intricate yellow circular patterns on a large sheet of canvas. People stood around and watched him as he worked. Inside the DJ started cranking up the volume on the rap and hip hop music…