The Cathedral

Posted on by Thor

 

By Thomas Thorspecken

Back in October, I visited Stella P. Arbelaez Tascon, a UCF Masters program art student in her studio where she quickly sketched out an idea of an installation titled, The Cathedral: Within and Without for me, while I watched. It was an idea that had been living in her head, rent free, for a very long time, and she now wanted to make it a reality. Hurricane Milton had ripped through Central Florida and knocked over several trees on her property. Huge root balls forced fence posts up into the sky. Large stalks of bamboo were scattered in the yard. After destruction, comes recovery and  creation.

I volunteered in my small way to help bring the vision to life. It was exciting getting to watch her problem solve at every step of the process. She knew exactly how she wanted it to turn out, and the engineering involved would be adjusted based on the demands of the naturally sourced materials. The Cathedral was constructed of heat treated bamboo, solar lights, natural rope, steel fence posts, rebar, wire and a motion sensor box. It was 8 feet in diameter by 22 feet high.

All the bamboo for the installation was sourced right from the artist’s yard. Many were already fallen and she cut the others down using a machete.  A few months later, while I sketched the work on the opening night of her MFA exhibit, I heard some students asking one another where where the artist had sourced so much bamboo. I wanted to shout out, but decided to remain the silent witness.

This is how she described the piece: “In this piece, I capture the experience of being enveloped by towering cathedral like trees, where the enormity of the natural world brings forth a profound awareness of one’s own smallness. The simplicity of the lines within the work invites the viewers  gaze upward, toward the heavens, offering a pathway to the transcendence beyond the physical self, without the distractions of earthly possessions. It encourages a deeper appreciation of life by prompting reflection on the fleeting nature of human existence, contrasted against the timeless and majestic  presence of the environment that surround us.”

It was a cold night as I sketched. I wanted to sketch the cathedral against the pitch black night sky. I deeply respected Alex, the undergrad student, who was on duty as docent to the piece. She was the only person wearing a mask protecting herself and others in the ongoing pandemic. She encouraged everyone who left the warmth of the UCF Art Gallery to enter the Cathedral. All were invited to lie on their backs and look upwards. Many did. Before sketching, I entered myself and looked upwards. The bold lines of the bamboo pointed to the stars. It felt like a more elegant, refined Stonehenge.

As I sketched I could hear  everyone’s comments. When people entered the structure they were greeted with the sounds of birds chirping. A motion sensor would play the audio when people were inside. Mostly people felt peace when they entered the Cathedral. One woman told her boyfriend that she would love to have one in her back yard. She could use it for reflection and meditation. Most people exiting the UCF Masters exhibition titled Haunt, made their way to the installation and experienced it first hand. It became a place where people congregated, adjusting to the cold evening and sparked excited conversations to warm up. It also became the place where people hugged for the last time as they went their separate ways. It was a portal back to reality.

Haunt was on display until March 7, 2025 at the UCF Art Gallery (12400 Aquarius Agora Drive Orlando Florida.) Unfortunately The Cathedral was only on display through February 25th. I will be helping the artist dismantle the piece that day. The logistics of moving such a large piece are incredible. The U-Haul Truck she rented to move it is just barely large enough for the tall bamboo poles. One pole in particular had to be put in the truck at just the right angle, corner to corner, for it to fit. She has been keeping the installation in a storage facility and once again the poles just manage to fit. The stalks were protected from Florida’s humidity by being heat treated with a flame thrower and covered in varnish to protect them. Fans were placed to keep the air moving. It would be nice if the installation found a more permanent home where others could experience the peace and wonder it inspires.

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Snow Globe: Blower Exchange

Posted on by Thor

In this shot from Snow Globe, Big Birdie (Carrie Lauren) stood in her driveway and Guy (Neil Parren) had parked in the street, smugly leaning against his car. The couple had separated or were divorced.

At first Gregory Mohn, behind the camera considered having the red car parked diagonally in the driveway, but when it was backed up into the street to be repositioned, he decided it made sense for Guy to not even bother to use the driveway. I liked the look of the circular cul-de-sac, the definition of which is: a route or course leading nowhere. It was fitting.

Birdie offered to give guy the leaf  blower. She after all was civilized and would not need such a loud obnoxious device. The closest they got to one another is when she handed it to him, extended at arms length. There is a painful moment that happens when you realize that you are never going to see a person who you spent decades of your life with. There had been some good times. But Guy’s girlfriend, Her (Crystal Hanley) was in the passenger seat. He had already started building a life together with someone new. When he put the blower in the back seat of his car he realized he had something to return to Birdie. It was the snow globe. He casually threw it to her. They were about 12 feet apart. Now, keep in mind, this is the only snow globe prop available. To keep it safe multiple shot were done where he acted like he was throwing it but kept it in his hand. Similar shots were done of Birdie acting like she was catching it.

Then the critical shot had to be done where Birdie actually caught the snow globe and reacted. She was moved onto the grass and someone with serious baseball experience stood a few feet from her to lobe the snow globe to her. He coached her saying she should use her body to catch the globe and just cradle it with her hands. Multiple shots were done and I gasped every time. Then the fatal toss happened. The globe slipped through her hands and fell to the ground. There was absolute silence on the set. In slow motion, the globe bounced multiple times and settled between the Saint Augustine blades, unharmed. There was one toss which was a bit too high and Crystal reacted in absolute terror that the globe might fall again. I am certain that will be the shot that ends up in the final cut of the film.

In the next shot the hatchback of the red car was opened and cameraman Gregory sat looking back at Birdie. I had to quickly pack up my art supplies since I would have been visible in the long dolly shot. I hid in the garage with director, Tracey Jane and the mechanical garage door rolled shut. As the car slowly pulled away Birdie got small in the distance. The monitor was set up in the garage and the shot looked beautiful. Tracey was glowing.

There was another scene that was to be shot this day in the pool area after lunch, but I had to drive back to Lake County to teach virtual classes. There were delicious empanadas for the crew. I slipped one into a napkin for the road. This was the moment where I got to share my sketches with Tracey. Her excitement left me overjoyed. She called members of the crew over to look. Gregory kept saying he could not understand how I did what I do. But I have just as much respect for the entire crews mad skills.

This would be the final sketch of the three day short film shooting marathon. It was certainly an adventure for me and I am so grateful I was allowed into the creative fold. When the film premiers I plan to sketch the red carpet while cleaned up in a fresh tuxedo.

Snow Globe: Director’s Chair

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The film shoot for Snow Globe at the Semoran Skateway was going until late in the night. It would be past 5am before equipment would be packed back up.

At this point in the shoot, the two actresses, Grace Violla as Teen Birdie and Payton Hubert as Liv, Birdie’s best friend, were being shot skating around the rink.

Writer and director Tracey Jane was in the concessions area watching the shots on a monitor. Rather than a luxurious directors seat with a megaphone, she sat on  a humble packing crate. Most of the extras were also seated in the concessions area. These were die hard skaters who were itching to get back out on the rink. The rink house music was no longer playing and they just sat chatting at the tables. Interest waned since they couldn’t sit passively, and they started heading for the door. Each walked over the Step Down warning tape and past the Power Roll machine on their way to the exit. Tracey realized she was loosing her extras who wanted music and the rush of skating. There were other shots that required skaters in the background. There was no way stop the exodus.

The next shot that required extras had teen birdie fall and skaters rolled past her as if she didn’t exist. To accomplish this shot the few remaining extras simply roller skated in a tight circle around birdie and the camera. This kept the few remaining extras in the tight shots on birdie. The rink felt crowded on the monitor. That is movie magic right there.

Tracey Jane had two of her other short films at the Love Your Shorts Film Festival in Sanford, Florida. Those films are Life is Torture ( A Simply Medieval Musical) and The Heatbreak.  This was the Florida Premiere for both of those films. It seems to me Tracey Jane is on fire, and I am so happy I got to witness some of the creative magic first hand. I loved making my animated short film, but that was a solitary effort. Tracey works with a creative army and manages to keep all the demands and emotions of everyone involved in check. That is no small task.

Impotent or Important

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Today I went in for a Cystoscopy which involved shoving a camera up my penis to view my giant prostrate. The camera is in this sketch on the lower left, It was hooked up to an iPad so the doc could show me the incredible journey to the obstruction.

A nurse walked me back to the room and asked me questions with a sing song voice. At first it seemed condescending, but then it became reassuring since clearly this all was just procedure and had been done many times before. Her job was to ask a few questions and then ask me to undress. My 3 layers of jackets had to come off to get my blood pressure which was normal. It was freezing cold outside. Then she asked me to take off my pants, underwear and wrap a white paper gown around my waste. I kept my warm socks on. There was another strip of white paper with a hole in it for my meat puppet to poke through. She left to let me undress in private. Once on the mechanical throne I started sketching. I knew most everything would change position, so I worked in pencil.

Two female nurses entered the room. As I suspected, their job was to numb me downstairs. The chair I was in began to tilt waaaay back with a mechanical moan. I bunched up the little pillow under my head so I could keep looking down towards my feet. I wanted to see my shy member uncovered, and numbed, but all the crumpled paper gown in my lap blocked my view. One nurse said, I am going to touch you now. She grabbed the head and shaft poking through the hole in the paper gown, and immediately began injecting Lanacane into the mouth of the beast. HOLY SHIT! It BURNED! I curled my toes and restrained myself from slapping her hand away from Sam wise. The pain just kept coming in waves, as she kept injecting the fluid deep into the orifice. When the two nursed left, I regained some composure and started sketching again in ink. My thighs were wet with Lanacane.

It took quite a while for the doctor to enter, I managed to get most of the line work done on the sketch. When he did enter, the real adventure of pain began. The evil scope was immediately shoved up into my penis. My penis was numb, but deep inside I felt everything. Every muscle inside my body clamped down tight. As I writhed in pain he told me to breath deep and imagine that I was peeing. That advice helped. Through out this process I could not sketch. My eyelids were clamped down hard in pain. He joked about how large the prostrate was, as if he had never seen one quite so large. He said, the Cystoscope was shoved in right up to the hilt.  He tilted the iPad towards me so I could see the small slit that was the only egress for urine from my bladder. He said any time I went to the bathroom only half of the liquid in my bladder could make its way out. A reading of 128 meant that 95% of people had a healthier urinary system than me. When he pulled the camera out of me, Lanacane and other fluids gushed out. There was a small portable toilet behind the throne of torture and he let me dismount and pee.

Then came the back door entrance. A Vaseline covered finger thrust up towards my prostrate and then more imaging was done with an ultrasound device. My prostrate is supposed to be the size of a small chestnut but now it is bigger than a softball. That huge growth reduces the size of my bladder by half. The doctor’s plan is to remove all of the prostate with a laser which will once again be shoved up inside my penis. After that operation, I will no longer be able to have children. Sex and orgasm will be possible but I will never again ejaculate. I actually opened myself up to the possibility of having a child in January of last year. That was a fleeting moment. Now, it is more important that I can hold my bladder for several hours while I finish a sketch.

For the big operation I will be out cold under general anesthesia. I will have to stay in the hospital overnight with who knows what hanging out of the mouth of Shrunken Sam. I was told a nurse would call me and give me exercises that I should do before the operation. Perhaps my penis will need to do Jumping Jacks or Push Ups. What ever is needed, he will be trained and ready. Though I joke about the operation, it is terrifying to imagine a laser disintegrating a softball sized growth from inside my bladder. Is that even possible? It seems like my body and all aspects of my life are struggling to regain balance as I search for a new life moving forward.

Committing to Cremation

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Some junk mail arrived at the Lake County Studio that offered a free Italian meal to attend a seminar hosted by the National Cremation Society.

I arrived a few minuted late and everyone else had ordered. I had expected a crowded room with a large screen Power Point presentation, but instead I found the presenter George and two women from The Villages. George had the 3 audience members across from him, so it wasn’t an ideal situation to sketch everyone. I focused on George. I had just learned about the “Loofah Code” at the Villages and desperately wanted to ask the women about it but the topic was death and ashes, so I held my tongue.

George was pleasant and informative. He once worked at Meryll Lynch in the twin towers in NYC. A friend of his was supposed to be in the Twin Towers on the day of the terrorist attack. The meeting was held at a nearby building instead and because of that his friend survived.

Did you know that 57% of burials these days are cremations? Cremation is a more affordable option since there are no expensive hearses or large brick and mortar funeral homes, the upkeep is just to keep a furnace running. From the start I was offered a form where I could commit to cremation which would lock in the price and save any loved ones from having to make plans about what to do with my body. If there is no will and no plans in place, then the body becomes the property of the state and is held in cold storage for months before becoming part of a mass cremation. None of this should of course concern me, since I would be dead. I loved that the woman seated next to me referred to herself in the third person as, “the body.”

Also offered was “the freedom to go with confidence.” This plan cost about $600. If I were to die while traveling in a foreign country, my remains would have to be repatriated back to America which could cost $11,000 and would involve lots of red tape for family. The Cremation Society would handle all documentation and diplomatic issues in getting the body back home. Local Cremation services would run about $2,800, and that includes an alternative cardboard container, packaging, and the shipping of ashes!

This was a lot to think about as I ate my ham and cheese hoagie with onion rings. Everyone else had ordered together and they all had salads. They finished well before me since my right hand was busy sketching. They left and I remained behind alone to finish the sketch in progress and half of my sandwich.

The Mount Dora Corn Festival

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The Zellwood Sweetcorn Festival has gone the way of the dodo. However Mount Dora held its inaugural sweet corn festival starting in 2024, featuring Zellwood Sweet Corn.

The Mount Dora Corn Festival happens in Elizabeth Evans Park, 100 North Donnelly Street, Mount Dora Florida. The dates will be sometime in May 2025. Blankets and chairs are encouraged and service dogs are welcome. Children 3 and under are free. The festival books country singers to perform on the outdoor stage.

Festival activities include…

  • Admission to BOTH days of the festival 
  • Corn shucking contest 
  • Corn on the cob eating contest (All  you can eat and hot corn.
  • Battle of the businesses corn bread cook-off
  • Corn hole 
  • Signature corn food vendors
  • Kids area
  • Crowning of the corn King and Queen
  • Hay ride
  • Petting zoo (Saturday 3-6pm)
  • Fireworks (Saturday at 9pm)
  • Free shuttle parking (Saturday Only)

Crealde Table Cloth Sketching

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6 months into the pandemic I was teaching an Urban Sketching course at Crealde School of Art on Sundays. Tables in the room were arranged in tight rows, but I would spread then out into an open circular layout just before class to allow for some social distancing. Masks were required at this point.

My mantra from the very first class is to “fill the page.”  I also want to encourage the students to draw from the hips, trough the shoulders and then to the hand rather than dainty lines put down with wrist or finger movement. To encourage this, I covered each table with white paper tablecloths which become the sketch that needed to be completed. The sketch above was also done on one of these large sheets of paper. You can see the ripped edges on the left and right. I painted the scene much later digitally.

The Crealde Urban Sketching course will start up again in the Spring. I am teaching 6 days a week for Elite Animation Academy and they have a course called “Sketching People Places and Things” which very much like the Urban Sketching course. There are virtual classes for adults now and I have students from as far away ad Borneo!

Crealde Urban Sketching Tent

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One of the first assignments my Urban Sketching students get at Crealde School of Art is trying to sketch this outdoor tent. The day starts with a lesson in 1 point and two point perspective and then we go outside and sketch the tent.

There is a lake behind Crealde and the far shore gives a clear indication of where the horizon line would be in a sketch. Before students get too far into their sketches, I visit each one individually and give them a thumbnail sketch to indicate what features I would look for if I were to attempt the sketch from their angle.

Sometimes we just work in pen and ink and sometimes we push further and use watercolor. It depends on the vibe of the students. Each class tends to focus on one premise which is rolled into what we learned the previous week.

This is the perfect time of year to attend the Urban Sketching Class since the weather is so cool. In most classes we are outside exploring the camp us or heading out to a location to sketch. Past locations have included, a dog park, bowling alley, Panera’s, and antique car meet ups. The possibilities on a Sunday morning could be endless with enough research.

If you are interested in improving your skills and joining an international movement of like minded artists you should come on out. We meet for 3 hours and the goal is always to push the sketches to a level of completion with line, value and color. These are sketches not something for a museum wall. When you stop worrying about the final result you tend to take more chances and surprisingly the sloppy experiments are what works best. In my work the sketches are almost always populated with people, so in one class students sketch one another.

I just got an email from Crealde and unfortunately the January 19 series of classes have been canceled but you should think about signing up of the next series of sessions starting in the spring. I can’t figure out why sketching on location is not more popular in Orlando. I have been sketching everyday on location since 2009. I just did the math, that is 16 years. It is a habit that keeps me motivated and inspired each and every day.

Today I will be unpacking all the sketchbooks I have filled over the past 16 years. They take up a shelf and a half on my handmade bookcase. I also discovered I have tons of wood stretchers and raw canvas. It might be a good time to start working on larger paintings on location. I am now in a rural Lake County Florida, so I will soon be hiking into the woods to sketch and perhaps work on larger paintings. This is an exciting time, much like a residency. This new location should inspire me to take more chances moving forward while still working on the COVID Dystopia book.

Cabaret: Third Pass

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With this pass at the Cabaret poster for the Orlando Shakes, the MC, or puppet master was added. The title was also changed to distress it as you might see in  run down seaside signage with illuminated bulbs. We considered the same image without the strings.

The revised title treatment was rejected and we went back to the brighter colors which popped more. The odd this about this version is that the title was moved down to cover the heads of the dancers. This was an unexpected change but I ran with it.

Notes I got on this version resulted in the final poster image.

The Orlando Shakes will take you back to Berlin in the late 1920’s where, inside the Kit Kat Club, a spotlight shines on the colorful, gritty, and hedonistic lives found inside. Don’t miss this landmark musical that is filled with iconic songs and electrifying dance, including Wilkommen, Don’t Tell Mama, Maybe This Time, Money and the title number Cabaret. It’s an astonishing and eye-popping tale that has renewed resonance in today’s political climate. Tickets are online.

Cabaret: Second Pass

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A request was made to have the central dancer look out at the viewer.It feels awkward. It could be made to work if I adjuster her entire gesture. This breaking of the 4th wall was rejected.

At this point a decision was made to incorporate the MC as a puppet master. The title would have to be lowered to make room for him. I embrace big changes and assume they will improve the final result.

The Orlando Shakes will take you back to Berlin in the late 1920’s inside the Kit Kat Club, where a spotlight shines on the colorful, gritty, and hedonistic lives found inside. Don’t miss this landmark musical that is filled with iconic songs and electrifying dance, including Wilkommen, Don’t Tell Mama, Maybe This Time, Money and the title number Cabaret. The show runs from February 5 to March 2, 2025. Tickets are online.