ODD at Elixer.

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The June Orlando Drink and Draw (ODD) was going to be held at another bar on Orange Avenue, but that bar was closed. At the last minute I sent out a message on Facebook letting artists know that we would have to go to Elixer (9 W Washington St, Orlando, FL 32801) right down the block. Pam Schwartz and I arrived first and I started working on the panoramic view of the bar right away.

I got a text from Stella Arbelaez saying she would be there soon with her daughter Laura. Laura is taking a summer theater class and so they were right nearby. She spent the duration of the ODD event going over her lines at the next table. I tried to arrange a chance to sketch a rehearsal but the schedule never worked out.

Anna Ast also managed to find our group. She recently moved here from Russia and according to her, my book is used as a text book there for a group of artists who gather to do Urban Sketches. This is pretty exciting news, and I am hoping to see a copy of the book in Russian at a future ODD outing. Anna founded a cake decoration business here in Central Florida and her husband is a pilot.

We all just drew the bar for the first hour, and then I decided we all needed to sketch each other. I timed the drawings at 5 minutes, and artists had to face off to sketch one another. The artist being drawn, would sign the sketch made of them which makes for a simple way to learn the names of everyone at the table. One of my sketches was done blind, which means that I never looked at the sketch as I put lines on the page, only at the person’s face. These sketches are always fun since you never know what you are going to get.

All sketches are available for sale as a print or original. Contact the artist for details.

The Great Florida Road Trip Tacky Tourist Party.

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The Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, Florida 32801) held an evening of historic proportions as they saluted the Tacky Tourist in Florida. The event was free for History Center members and a $10 suggested donation for others. Rain certainly did its part to thin the crowd and it was pouring when I arrived.

There was a book talk with Cathy Salustri, author of Backroads of Paradise: A Journey to Rediscover Old Florida. After the slide presentation the audience could test their Florida knowledge with trivia.  I was invited to be one of three judges for the Tacky Tourist Costume Contest. The winner wore every conceivable piece of tacky tourist paraphernalia, shopping bags were full of Disney plush toys and trinkets. Shuffleboard was offered in the lobby. I managed to win a round thus reclaiming my dignity as a shuffle board champion.

The I-4 Band at La Maschera Parisian.

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The Downtown Arts District hosted a fundraising event at The Abbey (100 S Eola Dr #100, Orlando, FL 32801). Patrons enjoyed a journey back to Paris in the 1890s, when impressionist artistist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec created his most famous works of art. The birthplace of modern can-can dance, the Montmartre neighborhood is the symbol of creativity, pleasure, beauty, and celebration.

The I-4 Band was performing on stage when I arrived, so I set up immediately to sketch. The lead singer had on a gorgeous black dress that was quite reminiscent of the can-can era. Guests did a great job of dressing up in their Parisian best. I did a second sketch near the bar and was considering a third sketch of the dance floor, when friends invited me to their table. It is sometimes frustrating to only have time to do one or two sketches, when this event clearly had inspiration for dozens of them. It is important to learn, however, that sometimes it is nice to let go and just enjoy the moment.

The First of 10 Orlando Urban Sketching Workshops.

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The first of 10 X 10 Orlando Urban Sketching Workshops was held at the Orlando Public Library (101 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801) in the Magnolia Room. The brutalist style architecture of the building makes it feel like it belongs in a futuristic non-Utopian society as in George Orwell’s 1984. Classical music is pumped into the lobby and when the automatic doors open, you can feel a rush of inviting cold air hit you as you walk by.

Urban Sketchers is celebrating 10 years by inviting sketchers from
around the world to attend ten on location workshops with an Urban
Sketching official instructor! The 10 workshops will cover three themes:

1. Little Stories.

2. Medium Stories.

3. Great Stories.

The Goals of the progressive workshops are to:
1. Show stories from Orlando, one drawing at a time

2. Improve drawing skills

3. Learn how to select, frame and design visual stories on a page

4. Learn how writing and drawing can work together to communicate more to your audience

5. Experience the advantages of group learning and seeing the many paths to success

For the first workshop I started with simple shapes like squares, circles, and triangles. We sketched the simple shapes and then sketched them as dimensional objects on the page. The most important building block to understand for me is the cube and we sketched it from all different angles as if it were dice on a roulette table. We then softened the edges of the cube and stretched, bent and twisted the shapes on the page. Being able to sketch that form from any angle is critical.

We then focused on contour drawing by doing blind contours before more controlled contour drawing of Abe Lincoln statues and buffalo statues. We then focused on producing a more finished still life of our art supplies. We used watercolor for the first time and I offered sketch suggestions to each student as their work was in progress.

 The library sketch with all the computers shown above was broken down into simple shapes. We left the classroom and found small intimate things to sketch throughout the library. The goal of each sketch was that the object chosen should have a story. As part of the workshop each student is encouraged to write about their experience and post those articles on the Urban Sketch Workshop Group page on Facebook. I am excited about the line up of venues that is coming up. We will be sketching exhibits and historic building models at the Orange County Regional History Center, the Ticonderoga Museum which is devoted to the humble pencil, a Celebrity Impersonators Convention, Zombietoberfest, the Creative City Project and Skeletons at The Museum of Osteology. By the end of the 10 workshops, I hope to have helped inspire some new Urban Sketch Correspondents.

Daddy Issues at the Parliament House.Footlight Theater in

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Coming direct from its Off Broadway premiere, Daddy Issues written and directed by David Goldyn is coming to the Footlight Theater in the Parliament House (410 North Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando FL). Pam Schwartz and I went to a dress rehearsal. Walking in, we passed a drag queen bingo session going on at the bar. The cast sat in the audience for the first hour or so since Blue Estrella was working power nailing baseboards to the walls, framed show posters were hung on the wall with care. We all waited with anticipation for a white door to arrive which went stage left. I had to resist drawing any furniture since it had been pushed around the stage to make room for set construction. An air compressor that looked like a cross between a Roomba and R2D2 was eventually removed.

Donald Moscowitz (Wes Miles) has overbearing parents. Don’t we all? He is trying to live his life as a gay man in 1980s New York as a
struggling actor no less. Of course his parents are in denial about his
lifestyle, disapprove of his career choice, and question his flair for
decoration. To get his family to stop kvetching, Donald needs a son. With the help of his ballsy best friend Henrietta (Darby Ballard) and rising drag
queen Levi (Tim Garnham), Donald hires the ten-year-old kid (Rhysee Silvestro) from downstairs to play
his son. What could go wrong?

This fast-paced new comedy, takes
audiences on a fun ride to remind us just how far we’ll go
for family.  Both Henrietta and Levi want to play the part of Donald’s long lost girlfriend that he dated in college, before he realized he was gay. When his grandmother (Jack LeDoux) brings home the real college girlfriend, Mary Ellen (Melanie Leon) who happens to be the mom of the 10-year-old son Donald has hired. Melanie was always thick into the drink, having named her son Johnnie Walker. Her off kilter performance certainly added humor to the third act.

Donald’s father Sid (Joe Zimmer) and grandmother approach the boy to find out if he has been circumcised, only to be pulled away by Donald. The show was a fun romp. It was just as fun to watch the actors who performed with selfless abandon since there was no audience. For instance, rehearsing the bows for the first time brought out some over the top styles.

Daddy Issues opens Friday August 4th at Footlight Theater.

Tickets are $20  7:30PM to 10:30PM

Show Dates are

Friday August 4

Saturday August 5

Friday August 11

Saturday August 12

Friday August 18

Saturday August 19

Monday August 21 (Industry Night)

Saturday August 26

Weekend Top 6 Picks for August 5th and 6th.

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Saturday August 5, 2017

8 AM to 5 PM – $100-$399 Widow Empowerment Weekend. Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel, 5445 Forbes Pl, Orlando, FL 32812. Registration is OPEN. 200 ladies will come together for a very special weekend! #Orlando #Florida #TeamCompassion #ModernWidowsClub #2017WEW

3 PM to 6 PM – $35-$300 1st of 10 Orlando Urban Sketch Workshops. Orlando Public Library 101 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801. The
first Orlando Urban Sketch Workshop will cover Little Stories (Microcosm,
Small Objects). I encourage artists to bring a small personal object
that has personal meaning. We will discuss how everyday
objects can tell a story. 


We will warm up doing contour
drawings in which more time is spent looking at objects rather than
looking at the sketch page. The fact that a sketch isn’t perfect is an
excuse to loosen up and have fun with the process. I will do quick
sketches for each student to drive home ideas that could help with each
sketch in progress. Each sketch is a step towards slower and more
deliberate observation.


After classroom discussion and sketches, we will branch out
and sketch small isolated scenes in the library. You could sketch
someone reading, or focus on some small items in the library
collection. The idea is to find something small and intimate to sketch.
The library closes as 6 PM and we will meet in the classroom just before
closing to look at all the sketches done and compare notes.


Thomas Thorspecken (Thor) has been an official Urban Sketching
instructor for two years. For 8 years he has been documenting arts and
culture throughout Central Florida with one sketch a day for his online
news site analogartistdigitalworld.com
Thor was an animation artist for Disney Feature Animation for 10 years
and has taught courses at Full Sail University and Elie Animation
Academy.
If there are any questions, contact Thor at analogartistdigitalworld@gmail.com

7:30 PM to 9:30 AM – $20.  Daddy Issues.  Footlight Theatre at the Parliament House Resort (410 N Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, FL 32805)  Donald Moscowitz has overbearing parents.  Don’t we ALL?


Sunday August 6, 2017

10 AM to 4 PM – Free. Lake Eola Farmers Market. South East corner of Lake Eola Park. Weekly.


10 AM to Noon – Free. Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation Class. University, 5200 Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL 32811. The Method of Heartfulness A simple and practical way to experience the heart’s unlimited resources. 


Noon to 1 PM – Free. Yoga. Lake Eola near the red gazebo.

Artlando in Lock Haven Park.

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In 2016 I was asked to participate in Artlando at Loch Haven Park (900 E Princeton St, Orlando, Florida). Over 80 artists cover the lawn with their displays, selling and creating art. Art created on-site was to be entered into a competition with thousands of dollars offered as awards. 100% of revenue from art sales went directly to the artists. I set up my tent the night before. The next day I had to teach classes all day, so I asked Bonnie Sprung to help man the tent for the duration of the event. She did a great job selling quite a few t-shirts. She offered her own art as well which gave some variety to the work offered. I am starting to realize that small ticket items are the only things that move at an outdoor festival like this.

There was a Toyota ‘paint by numbers’ exhibit which asked the community to paint in a mural by local artists, which covered an entire Toyota with art. Local artists also painted Juice Bike racks to be used at Juice Bike locations, which is a way to display art year-round in Orlando. I haven’t seen these painted bike racks yet, if you spot one, please let me know.

The outdoor performing arts stage featured
Orlando’s most prominent performing arts organizations showcased throughout the day and into the night. From Orlando Ballet to Orlando Fringe, programming transitions from kid-friendly in the morning, to general audience in the afternoon, and acts for mature audiences in the evening at Artlando After Dark.

As the host sponsor, the Orlando Museum of Art is an integral part of Artlando. The museum provided an air conditioned environment and housed exhibits from participating galleries.When I got to the park late in the afternoon, it immediately started to rain. Loud speakers announced that a strong storm was heading to Central Florida and that there would be high winds and tons of lightning. We were all warned to get off the lawn. When there was a lull in the downpour, I packed up my tent early. Just as I loaded it into the car, it started to pour again. I returned to Loch Haven Park later that night to pick up my empty tent. Many tents had been mangled in the high winds and looked like umbrellas that had been turned inside out and put in a blender. Oddly my old tent sat serenely alone among the carnage as if a cyclone had decided to stop and spin around it, hitting everything else in its path.

Mark your calendar, Artlando will return to Loch Haven Park on September 30, 2017 from 11 AM to 11 PM.

The Creative City Project’s VIP Night of Global Influence.

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This night featured some compelling performances by several Central Florida artists organizations, some of the 2017 partnerships, and an exclusive look at the exciting future of Creative City Project.  The biggest announcement by founder, Cole Nesmith, was the unveiling of the new identity of the annual Creative City Project, to IMMERSE The evening showcased the next steps in fulfilling the mission to “shape the
global perception of Orlando as a city known for innovation and
creativity.”

More than 1,000 artists and performers bring the heart of the
city to life! This year, you will find yourself surrounded with inspiration. Just one example is a
performance by the 100 piece CFCArts Symphony Orchestra on 5 stages, surrounding
the audience with an immersive orchestral experience. Artists will invite you in to become part of the experience. The fusion
of performance and technology extend beyond the stage. The artists of IMMERSE will inspire you to live creatively everyday.

Mark your calendar! The Creative City Project will present the annual event, IMMERSE, on October 21,
2017. Tickets this year range form $10 to $100. There are also a limited number of free tickets available.

Wekiva Paint Out Gala.

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The Orlando based Oak Hill Drifters span the rockabilly, country and early R&B genres
with ease, with nods to Janis Martin, Bob Wills, The Everly Brothers,
Little Willie John and Charlie Feathers. The high energy provided
by Craig Roy‘s upright bass and the kicking drums by Tom Pearce kept feet moving and heads nodding, and the dual vocals and
harmonies from Tom Cooper and Rachel Decker rounded out the band. They were on their own dock on the Wekiva river which acted as the stage.

A gala was going on for the yearly Wekiva Paint Out. There were food tents, beverages, and plenty of tables set up on the lawn. Rather than eat or hobnob, I set up behind a palmetto on a dock opposite the band. Since most folks ignored the music, I had a front row seat to enjoy and sketch the show. I was most attracted to the opposing warm and cool colors and I let them collide brightly on my digital tablet. After the sketch was done, I walked through the tent where all the wet plein air paintings were being exhibited. Close to 30 artists had been creating landscape paintings around Wekiva Island all week. You could see bugs caught in the paint, like in Neolithic Amber.

In the Artist’s Studio fundraiser at Mad Cow Theater.

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Mad Cow Theater’s In the Artist’s Studio fundraiser featured Merline Labissière, Lifetime’s “Project Runway” season 14 contestant as the guest artist for the Downtown Arts District’s visiting artist program. The program was moderated by television and radio personality, Marc McEwen, who is best known for his role on CBS This Morning and as an anchor for WKMG-TV, Local 6 News.

A VIP meet-and-greet began at 6 pm.

Labissière, a Miami-based designer, uses architecturally inspired design to create distinctive apparel for professional women. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Labissière is a frequent lecturer and advocate for teaching fashion design to inner-city youth. She sat next to me as I sketched the stage prior to her being interviewed. Being an artist herself she loved what I do.

Merline’s family came from Haiti in a very small makeshift boat. She remembers the very real thought that were the boat to sink, a decision would have to be made about who goes overboard. Her mom is illiterate and she always wanted a better life for her daughter. Merline was shy when she arrived, partly because she was just learning to speak English.

At Savannah College of Art and Design, she studied architecture. She took some art classes and remembers finding out that the opposite of orange is blue, “Say what?” Architecture is the mother of all art, and it offers the foundation on which other art forms are built, but she decided that fashion was her calling. To create her garments, she needed to focus on sketching. At first, her mom was less than thrilled with her desire to go into fashion.

She found out about auditions for Project Runway, a reality TV show about fashion, in Miami. She made it through the first audition, but on the callback, she needed to work on her craft. She needed a week to sulk. After her private pity party, she decided that she couldn’t wait for opportunity and instead she would create her own fashion collection. It seems that anytime something amazing happens in her life, it comes after everything has fallen apart. At her first fashion runway show she had butterflies to the third power, she totally understands why celebrities do drugs. Her fashion designs are edgy using architectural straight lines to break up forms. Dresses on display resembled jigsaw puzzles with intricate cut out designs.

At another audition for Project Runway, she was cast on the show. She pointed out that all the contestants were on the show because they were broke. Although not the final winner, the show made her a celebrity and her work seen by millions. Everyone wants people to see their work and say, “I get you.” The trouble with being an artist is that so much of your identity is wrapped up in what you create. If someone doesn’t like it, that can be devastating. She turned to Christ and her identity is held strong in her faith. When Merline’s mom saw her daughter’s success, she came around and fully supported her career choice.

Merline now teaches middle school and high school kids to get out of the studio for inspiration. She has shifted her focus to enterprise, business plans, and branding. Someone showed her how to crochet and she finds that a relaxing hobby. She is now planning to return to architecture. Life has different seasons and there is always room to grow. She specifically schedules one day off a week to rejuvenate and after hearing her speak , I decided to do the same. She loves going on walks, writing, drawing, going to museums, and galleries. She specifically schedules time for fun and, darn it, that is a great idea as well. God, there isn’t enough time in each day to do everything if you stay curious and inspired.