Thanks to Arts Fest and United Arts, the Mennello Museum was able to host a full day of folk performers at its annual Folk Festival. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a festival with blue skies and a cool breeze. Terry and I attended last year and we both decided it is one of our favorite events of the year. There are plenty of tents set up with artists of all kinds displaying their wares. We first stopped at the Kerouac House table where Kim Buchheit and Summer Rodman were having a lively discussion. I became infatuated with a book by Kerouac called “Sketches”. This is an amazing book in which Kerouac describes scenes and places in bold poetic broad strokes. All of the sketches were lifted from small moleskin notebooks in which he jotted down his notes on the spot. With words he recreates scenes very much the way I sketch every day. It is an inspiring read. I am maybe half way through the book now.
Dawn Schreiner had a tent set up with all her wonderful portraits and doodles. She was sitting in the grass with her children and sketching. Next to her tent was an artist who makes elaborate cigar boxes which are encrusted with glued on objects. I stood and watches as he made a space ship themed box with day glow paint a space shuttle and plenty of beads as planets. I wanted to sketch him, but this was Valentines day, and I had decided to stay focused on my wife and maybe sneak in a sketch of the stage if time allowed.
We had lawn chairs and set them up in front of the stage. As Sarah Purser performed, I felt myself become fully relaxed and at peace. I sat back and enjoyed the sun and view overlooking the lake. It was time to sketch. Travis Blaise who is dating Sarah explained that she is classically trained and in fact performs for the opera. Her voice is stunning and she has a lighthearted humor that is infectious. In the foreground I sketched Gordon Spears who was wearing a distinctive red hat and leaning back talking to a friend. Someone told me that Gordon booked all the acts for the event. Later that night I had to take down my display of sketchbooks at the Cameo Theater and Gordon was there helping Louise Bova as she took down her work. I had never met Gordon before, but here I was bumping into him twice in one day. This town just keeps getting smaller.
Scotish Highland Games – Caber Toss
Now this is a manly sport! Heavy men in kilts competed to see who could toss this heavy pole end over end. A perfect score is achieved if the end of the pole the handler is throwing ends up furthest away from the thrower at 12:00 on the hands of a clock. For the duration of this sketch, not a single contestant managed to toss this caber end over end. There were a few agonizingly close attempts, but the fact remains that no one ever flipped the caber. I missed the finer points of judging but the winner would have been the man who got his pole to face closest to 12:00. A judge always follows closely behind the thrower and once, a contestant was off balance and the huge log almost clobbered the judge. His reflexes saved him. Another contestant lost control and somehow he found himself straddling the end of the caber as it hit the ground and then it bounced up and hit him between the legs. There were a number of jokes told for the rest of the afternoon in high squeaky voices.
After the days events were over, we were allowed to walk on the field and test out some of the equipment. I could barely lift the end of the caber off the ground. There is no way I would be able to lift the darn thing and throw it.
The Swan Boat Talks
At the start of the new year, Brian Feldman set about meeting with ten different artists to discuss ways in which they could collaborate in the new year. These meeting were held on Lake Eola’s swan boats over the course of a month. I finally had an opportunity to go out and try and sketch one of these meetings when Brian met with Anna McCambridge. I had sketched Anna before when she was working with three other women on an artistic collaboration called “A Confluence” where all of the artists worked on the same paintings together.
It was a cold, brisk day when I got down to Lake Eola. I watched the pigeons cooing and bobbing their heads. If someone walked by, the whole flock would take off and swoop out over the lake and then return once they realized it was safe to do so. A squirrel boldly approached me on the park bench, twitching his nose in annoyance when he realized I had no food. I saw Anna over by a swan’s nest. She was taking photos of the little newly hatched swans that looked like little fur balls with beaks. I hadn’t even noticed the nest, so I walked over to take a look and say hello to Anna. Anna always offers a warm hug, and on a cold day it certainly was appreciated. The small lakeside bar was just opening and Anna asked if they had hot chocolate. We ordered two. Brian, as usual, was late for his own meeting. When we were just about done with our hot chocolates, he wandered over to the dock and put down his miniature marquee.
I explained to him that I planned to paddle out on a second swan boat and follow them around while I sketched. Brian was quick to point out that if I paddled a swan boat alone I would just spin in circles. I needed a co-pilot. Brian and Anna made a few cell phone calls to see if there was anyone nearby who might be willing to paddle. They came up with nothing. Brian then decided to run to the far side of the lake along the path hoping to find someone at the Farmer’s Market who might be up for the task. It was easy to follow his progress since he was wearing his bright orange life vest. On the walk back he found Mark Hackaba, who looked just like a longshoreman with his blue coat, skull cap and gray beard. I suspect Mark was homeless, but what the heck he seemed up to the adventure.
Brian and Anna’s boat seemed to paddle much faster than ours did. It was a constant struggle to stay on the same side of them as they moved around the lake. The wind was blowing hard and would cause our boats to float off course. Mark was a trooper doing his best to keep us on course. I was sketching the whole time while paddling in an attempt to keep up with Brian and Anna. There are plenty of smudges and fingerprints on this sketch as I kept sticking my fingers in the wet paint. Anna was taking video the whole time with her iPhone and Brian stood up once, almost falling overboard to get a shot of me and my deck hand. The sketch might not be worthy of a major museum, but the experience required to get it? Priceless. This may be the most difficult sketch I have ever had to do!
McRae Art Studios Open House
I always love to sketch artists at work in their studios. So when I found out McRae Artist Studios in Winter Park was having an open house, I headed right on over. The first artist I visited was Dina Mack who is an abstract painter who also teaches a course called Destination Journal. Dina had a set of colored pencils that were made from tree branches and we debated for some time how they got the leads inside the pencils. It made sense for them to have drilled out the center then shoved the leads in, but the branches sere gently curved to a straight drill bit would have been useless. I decided they might have grafted the leads onto the sides of trees and let the branches grow around the leads, but that would take too much time. Another studio visitor wandered in and conjectured that the colored pencil leads might have been molten or liquid and allowed to dry, but that still doesn’t account for the hollow space needed to pour the liquid into. Quite simply, it is an unexplainable miracle.
After wandering around a bit I found that there was always a group of people standing outside the studio of Susan Bach. Susan is a potter who makes wonderfully ornate funeral urns and vases. She was demonstrating how she throws a pot on her potters wheel and she sometimes invited passers by to try the wheel for themselves. Hal Stringer, who I had met a few weeks before when he hosted an artists gathering at his home, decided he would give the potting wheel a try. He struggled with the clay at first, using a bit to much brute force to try and keep it centered on the wheel. Susan encouraged his to relax and close his eyes. Then with just his sense of touch he gently began to build the form. He did a fine job, and Susan placed his piece aside so she could fire it and glaze it later.
A crusty old fisherman who used to be a captain of a fishing boat on the Bearing Sea near Alaska stopped to watch Susan work for a while. He told her about how he was the only captain who had an all woman crew in the cold arctic waters. This is a fine example of artists and patrons sharing and learning from each other. This was a fabulous event where it was possible to see artists as they work. I hope the McRae Studios continues this tradition.
Yow Dance
Shortly after getting back from Pennsylvania, I went to a performance by Yow Dance at Seminole State College of Florida. Yow dance is Orlando’s “Traditional modern dance company”, which sets it apart from the other dance companies in the area. The company tends to gravitate more towards dance elements that were seen in the early 20th century when Modern Dance was first founded as a rebellion against traditional ballet. Eric Yow pulls his inspiration from this era in his choreography, which often will echo the influence of the founding pioneers of Modern Dance, such as Martha Graham and Paul Taylor. He also looks to one of his favorite choreographers of present day, Mark Morris. The style of Yow Dance has been described as “classical” and “traditional” in comparison to other companies.
Throughout his career, Eric has performed with various companies around the country. Including; the Martha Graham Ensemble, David Hochoy’s Dance Kaleidoscope and Pascal Rioult. He takes stock in what he has learned and melds it with the stories he is compelled to tell through dance.
Seminole State College of Florida’s presentation of Spring Into Dance was a very special opportunity for Eric to showcase his work with Yow Dance. Seven pieces were showcased during this run of performances. They included the premieres of Summer Suite and Tango of Ember, along with a personal and moving solo performed by Eric, himself, entitled, The Fisherman. And though Yow Dance is only in the middle of its second season, audience favorites have emerged from previous performances. Compromising Raven and Tabula Rasa are back after receiving rave reviews during Yow Dance! and the Thang Dao Contemporary Dance Festival in New York City. Other new works will be performed as well that will depict Eric’s light-hearted and humorous side.
While sketching this performance, I noticed a dancer collapse in the wings. A stage hand went over to her to see if she was OK. As other dancers exited the stage they clustered around the fallen dancer to offer their support. No one in the audience could see this scene unfold, but I was up in a balcony seat which looked straight into the wings. I got an e-mail from David Mooney that night informing me that, although there was some concern, the dancer was alright.
The performances were at times light hearted and sometimes lyrical and mystical. I stopped sketching to watch the dance I had seen rehearsed several weeks ago. With the addition of strong orange lighting against the dark stage, the scene became mesmerizing. I feel so privileged to watch a performance like this develop over time.
Scranton PA – Drawing Social
In the evening I arrived at the Afa Gallery where the Drawing Social was to be held. I helped Angelica put out some chairs and slowly artists began to arrive. The sketch shows Jason Smeltzer playing an instrument called the Theremin. You would have heard this instrument in any 1950’s science fiction film it had a haunting otherworldly sound. Chris Gratz is playing the piano. When Ted walked over to me and introduced me to the group of artists, Chris started playing an accompaniment and the introduction turned into something of a show tune. I joined in adding lyrics as they popped into my head. This was a fun start to the evening.
The point of the Drawing Social is that musicians are bought to the artists who have a front row seat to sketch at will. It is a fantastic idea that results in plenty of lively and spontaneous sketches. In the second half of the Social, Steve Kurilla showed up and set up his drum set. I never worked him into my sketch since he sat directly in front of me and would have blocked out some areas that were already established in my sketch. Steve began his performance playing the triangle and walking around the room. On the drums Steve threw himself into the performance like a man obsessed. As the energy built he would let symbols and cow bells fall to the floor. A musical earthquake. All this energy affected every line as it was thrown down. This was art inspiring art at it’s best.
During a break I walked around and looked at what other artists were working on. Ted can be seen in the sketch right behind Chris working away with his ink dropper. Everyone went out for dinner after the Social. There was plenty of laughter and ted continued drawing on his place mat catching the artists seated around him. I had decided that I would drive south as far as I could to make my way back home. As I got up to pay my bill, Angelica shouted out something complimentary and everyone clapped. I said my good byes and was soon back on the road. I wanted to get south of Washington DC to avoid any morning traffic and so I drove till 5AM. I finally pulled off the highway exhausted and found a quiet suburban street and parked my truck in front of someones home. I unfurled my sleeping bag and curled up in the back of the truck. I woke up several hours later and then drove the rest of the day till I got to Orlando that night.
Scranton PA – Mini Crawl
When I was in Honesdale, I checked my Facebook page at my sister in laws house and got a message from Ted Michalowvski. Ted is an amazing artist who like me is constantly observing and sketching life around him. He invited me to an art opening at Marywood University. It was about a forty five minute drive to Scranton and the final mile or so I called Ted and he talked me in to a friends house where they were having some wine before the opening. Teds friend is an art collector and had several of Teds drawings in a back room. Ted pointed out that he uses an eye dropper to drip paint on the drawings instead of using a pen. This is what gives his line work such unexpected vitality. At the opening Ted introduced me around to a bunch of people. He really knows how to work a room. By then end of the evening he had introduced me to several of his students (He teaches drawing) and they all convinced me that I should stay in Scranton for one more day to experience what Ted Calls a “Drawing Social”. I had studied pictures of past socials from Ted’s Facebook page and this was an idea that I want to bring to Orlando so I decided to stay.
The next day we met for a mini sketch crawl at Border’s. Ted scouted out several comfortable leather chairs and then went to talk to someone. As I got out my art supplies, a large man shuffled over and sat in Ted’s seat sitting on his sketch pad. I pipped in and said the seat was being saved for a friend. The man then moved over to the other chair ted was hoping to save and once again sat on the art supplies. At this point Ted was back and he grabbed his art supplies. Kelsey Winterbottom, a student of Ted’s joined us as did Angelica Cordero. I let Angelica use my tablet PC since I wasn’t using it and she took to it like a fish to water. She did a sketch of Kelsey and then e-mailed it to herself. Dominique Kozuck joined us later but she never did sketch.
I couldn’t resist sketching the rather rotund, crumples and rude man that had taken the seat next to Ted. My view of him was straight on and thus rather flat, but I rather enjoyed sketching him since he was clueless to everyone around him. He actually fell asleep behind the magazine he was holding so he stayed nice and still for the longest time. You can see Teds sketch pad over to the right in my sketch. Ted was just as infatuated with this man and was glad to get a sketch of him.
Once we finished the first sketch, Ted and I agreed to have a sketch off where we sketched each other at the same time. Ted’s sketch is wonderfully expressive. He did a very rough watercolor to start and then used the eye dropper to lay down some thick lines. I worked faster than usual trying to catch Ted’s frenetic energy as he worked. Kelsey at the same time began to sketch us both as we faced off and worked. There was plenty of creative energy flowing.
Someone that Ted knew, a few seats away got a cell phone call and he started laughing. This man had a booming laugh and soon Ted started to imitate him. Kelsey angelica and myself then followed suite with out own bellowing laughs. The laughter was infectious and soon other people in the coffee shop were joining in. By the time I stopped laughing, I was in tears. A few minutes later the man laughed into his cell phone and the echoing laughter resounded once again.
Soon it was time to head out to the Drawing Social. Ted left first since he had some planning to do and then I followed Dominique and Angelica so I could find the place…
There Goes Swifty!
February 27th was the 26th Worldwide SketchCrawl and I put out an invitation on Facebook for artists to spend a day sketching the betting establishments in town. The first stop was the Dog Track in Longwood. The morning of the Crawl it was pouring outside and I wondered if the dogs would be allowed to run under such conditions but I had made the commitment, and so I packed my art supplies in the truck and headed out in the rain. I also realized that I was running a bit late and as I got closer to the track I worried that I might miss the post time. The entrance to the dog track has cheesy white dog sculptures perched above the doorways so I knew I was in the right spot.
The ground floor of the facility had large plate glass windows that all face out on the now muddy track. I wandered around trying to decide where to sketch. There were multiple areas where fans could watch a wall of televisions all broadcasting different races. I finally made my way back to the bar where I knew patrons would most likely perch for an extended period. As I worked a woman walked up to every person at the bar and offered them “The Luck of the Irish”. She was selling Irish themed candy to help raise funds to help find homes for retired greyhounds. When she approached me she became infatuated with the sketch and asked if I drew dogs. I of course said I have drawn dogs in the past. Mary LoBianco introduced herself to me and I offered her a seat. Her organization consists of 6 volunteers and they are responsible for helping the dogs find loving homes. She said 30 dogs were to be sent to Canada and each dog requires a $75 fee. Using any means possible these volunteers help raise the money needed. I gave Mary my card and told her to contact me so I can follow up and see more of the work they are doing for these dogs.
When I finished my sketch, I decided to go outside to watch one more race before heading back to the studio where I had work waiting. The dogs were walked out to the holding gate and then one of the handlers waved his hand in a circular motion and the announcer said, “There goes Swifty!” The yellow stuffed rabbit on the end of a metal pole accelerated and flew around the track. The metal wheels of the contraption were louder than I expected. When Swifty rounded the curve and went past the holding gate, there was a metallic thunk but the starting gate didn’t raise as expected. All of the spectators groaned. The dogs thrashed around inside in a frenzy yelping, screaming and crying out. The announcer let everyone know about the mechanical failure of the starting gate. Handlers started taking the dogs out of the starting gate enclosure while the rabbit decelerated around the far bend. One dog managed to shake free of his handler and in a moment of glory he dashed out onto the empty and muddy track. One spectator shouted out, “Hey that is my dog!” With no competition the dog ecstatically ran towards the rabbit, finally guaranteed to catch his elusive prize. When he rounded the bend, the rabbit was dead still. He leaped forward and went to snatch his prize. His head hit the metal support pole at over 40 miles an hour and his limp body splayed out in the mud spinning to a stop. A handler slowly walked out on the messy track and lifted the limp form. Inside at the bar, men were saying that the dog had been a real champion, cut down in his prime. A fallen gladiator.
My Truck gets New Tires
For my trip up north, I had to get a head lamp replaced since one had burned out. When I got to the Reed Nissan dealership, there was a long line of cars waiting to get into the repair shop, so I stepped out and walked up to a repair person to see if they had the parts and if so, how long it would take to repair. She was really nice, and had me pull my truck up to a third line which had no cars in it. When she drove my truck back to the shop, she told me that she had experienced a shudder and the truck lurched a bit. She also pointed out how bad the treads looked on my left front tire. I would be driving up into snow, and it was at this point that I decided I would have to get new tires for the trip.
The waiting area of the repair shop had a large plate glass window overlooking the garage where the work is done. In this sketch the mechanics are doing oil changes on the vehicles on the lifts. I never saw my truck, so it must have been in another garage. When the service advisor, Ellie Diaz, came back, she admired what I was working on. She said, “Now that is a nice way to pass the time.” I gave her my card and told her to check out my blog. She asked if I did portraits and I showed her the sketch I had just recently done of Hannah Miller. She wanted to know how much I would charge to do a sketch of her daughters and her. I gave her an affordable price and she seemed pleased, saying, “This would be a nice birthday present for myself.”
My next stop was the four wheel parts off road shop where I got my new tires. At this shop the mechanic was unable to figure out how to get at the spare tire so I had to go back and lower it myself. As I was sitting in the waiting area, I got a text from Hannah. She told me some stranger had asked to shoot a photo of her feet in her hip new shoes. He wanted to brag to friends that he had taken a photo of Cinderella’s sister’s feet. Hannah pointed out that my truck was getting new shoes, so it was a red letter day for shoes.
Adventures in Baby Sitting
I kept my first visit with Ruth short since I knew my sister, Carol, was waiting downstairs to come up. When I found myself alone with her two very energetic kids, ten and eight years old, I asked them if they would pose for a portrait. They agreed and then fought each other as they climbed into the same chair. They posed for maybe five minutes. Anna tried to keep a wide-mouthed smile on her face the whole time. She soon lost patience and decided she wanted to paint as well. I let her use my palette and one of my brushes and soon all three of us were busy painting. I continued to work on my painting as they worked. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of their eyes or the gentle curl of their hair and I would add it. Kristen did a silly drawing of me with an oval head and a big hooked nose.
Perhaps an hour later, Carol came back down thinking I would be at my wits’ end. Anna said, “Don’t worry mom, we are having fun. Why don’t you go back up?” Babysitting my nieces turned out to be quite fun, perhaps parenting isn’t the distracting challenge I always thought it would be.
The next day I watched my nieces at my stepmom’s place while Carol drove to the hospital to visit mom a second time. Once again, they took to painting like fish to water. I sketched Anna as she worked on a painting of Reeses, the family dog. She also did a painting of me, and from her sketch, I am one scary looking uncle.
We later decided to go for a hike around the small frozen lake my stepmom’s house is next to. I devised a way to keep Kristen’s sneakers from getting wet using grocery bags and two bungee cords from the back of my truck. The bungee chords acted as suspenders for the bags. I think she got a kick out of wearing them. The kids ran the whole time through the three inches of snow. Anna kept falling every time she ran. I kept warning her to slow down, but she just kept falling. I finally gave up telling her, since she never seemed to get hurt, and just got back up and started running again. Anna then did the one thing Carol had warned me not to let her so, she ran out onto the frozen lake. My heart stopped. I had no idea how thick the ice was, and it was warm out, with small puddles of slush all around her. I screamed for her to stop and walk right back the way she had gone out. I couldn’t go out after her since we might both crash through. She just giggled willfully, but then I told her we would have to all go back in the house if she didn’t get off the ice. I also told her that if the ice broke, I might not be able to get her out before she froze to death. She finally came back to the shore.
I decided we could continue the hike, but when we came to a small frozen stream that fed the lake, Anna once again stomped out onto the ice. Just as I caught up to her, and started to demand that she get off, her foot crashed through and her leg got wet up to her mid-calf. I think this lesson might stay with her. This time we all went straight back to the house, where I had Anna change out of her wet pants and we placed them near a radiator to dry off. Our walk ended with a rousing snowball fight. I don’t think I won since it was always two against one. I also think I will leave parenting to parents.