Robert Johnson tears it up on the Mushroom Stage.

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0n November 29th, Terry and I went to Kim Bucheit‘s 24 hour “Old Sport” or “Black Friday Boycott” party. When it got dark, Robert Johnson set up his equipment on the Mushroom Stage. Blue Christmas lights were strung out on the stage and larger warm bulbs were hung around the periphery of the tent. Solar bulbs illuminated each of the 4 corner supports. About 15 feet from the tent a large bonfire snapped and glowed. For several songs Robert was joined by drummers who set the primal beat.

Robert has two original songs that I absolutely love. One is about an artist painting his masterpiece and the other is an ode to Orlando. Robert draws most of his influence from the road. He is a poet, writer,
producer, and visual artist. For the past 3 years, he has spent his
time recording demos for upcoming projects, and touring through America
and parts of Europe. His solo sound is that of a gypsy-pop folk singer
heavily influenced by American music of the 50’s; soul singers; and Euro
gypsy music. Between sets, Robert offered me some of the good stuff to help me loosen up my line work. When the music died, everyone gathered around the fire to tell stories.

Some partiers had their tents. Terry and I had our sleeping bags and Kim was kind enough to find us some floor space.  The younger crowd stayed up all night keeping the fire burning. In the morning the fire kept us warm as we enjoyed mimosas and muffins By next year this stage will have been taken over by bulldozers to make way for a new parkway. Old Sport and Old Florida are slowly becoming things of the past.

Weekend Top 6 Pick for September 12th and 13th.

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Saturday September 12, 2015

10am to Noon Free. Understanding the Quilts of Gee’s Bend. Winter Park Public Library, 460 E New England Ave, Winter Park, FL. As part of the opening weekend celebration for two new quilt exhibitions, there will be a public talk with featured quilt artist Louisiana Bendolph of the Gee’s Bend Quilt Collective. Bendolph will be joined by her mother, Rita Mae Pettway, also an acclaimed Gee’s Bend quilter.

Atlanta-based Matt Arnett of Tinwood Media, a photographer, filmmaker and researcher, also will join the presentation.

2pm to 7pm  $50 Imagination ~ A Creative Workshop with Artist Toni Taylor. Gods and Monsters 5250 International Drive; Suite E8, Orlando, Florida. Toni’s first workshop at Gods & Monsters! In this workshop, she will guide you to exercise your imagination by turning an inanimate object into a living creature. This project will help you to step out of the box as you explore the possibilities. Once you’re comfortable with your design, you’ll transfer and paint it on a 16×20 canvas which will be provided along with water base paints and brushes. It’s great for beginners, intermediates and experienced artists as well!

Gods & Monsters offers water, juice, wine and craft beer at their concession if you’d like to have a sip while you create. So have some fun while you bring something cool to life with Toni!

Fee: $50 covers 5 hr workshop, canvas and paint

List of materials to bring:

Sketch pad or drawing paper

Pencils, eraser

Your preferred brushes or paint

This takes place during the last week of Toni’s ‘Starchild’s Odyssey’ exhibit so it will be a great opportunity to view before it closes!

6:30pm to 10pm $20 VIP/ $15 General Admission/$10 Students. Play-In-A-Day 2015. Lake Howell High School, 4200 Dike Road, Winter Park, FL (Next to big Silver Hawk Statue) Enter thru Cafeteria). Kick-Off the 2015-16 Beth Marshall Presents season with our annual community favorite theatrical event, Play-In-A-Day. Over 100 artists work together to create short plays that are fully presented within the course of a 24-hours. (Partial Proceeds benefit the Beth Marshall Presents District 3 High School Scholarship Fund).

Tickets on sale now at BethMarshallPresents.com

Or at Box Office on the night of event at Lake Howell beginning at 6pm.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Noon to 4pm Free. Educator Open House and Book Fair. Bookmark It 3201 Corrine Drive, Suite 109, Orlando, Florida. At Bookmark It we believe that creating a personal connection to books is one of the best ways to instill a love of reading in a child. So to kick off the school year, and provide educators an opportunity create programming that brings local, accomplished writers into the school or classroom, we have invited over 20 Central Florida authors/illustrators to join us for a special Central Florida Educators Open House/Book Fair on Sunday, September 13th from noon-4pm in East End Market’s beautiful APEX meeting space.

The casual open house setting will allow teachers to meet authors in person, preview (and purchase) their titles, collect school visit information, and review any specially designed curriculum or teaching tools that accompany their books. Rounding out the event will be a special pop-up ‘bookstore’ for school purchases offering a 20% educators discount and free school delivery for special orders.

Additionally, representatives from local, award-winning non-profit Page15.org will be available for questions regarding their free after school programming for at-risk kids and annual creative writing teen anthology contest.

1pm to 3pm Free. Script Reading Workshop. Sleuths Mystery Dinner Show, 8267 International Drive, Orlando, FL. Read and workshop plays.

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.

A 24 Hour “Old Sport Party” in Sorrento FL.

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The Old Sport party was also known as the Black Friday Boycott Party. The Wekiva Parkway is due to come through Kim Bucheit‘s property by this time next year, so friends went to enjoy Wise Acre Farm while they were able. It was time to make plans to chill out and share fun at Wise Acre Farm Thanksgiving weekend!
Many of you “card carrying” party goers know the drill.
If you have been meaning to come out to the farm, this is an ideal opportunity to enjoy it while it lasts (before the Wekiva Parkway goes through).
It’s a 24 hour extravaganza with something for everyone. Friends dropped in whenever it suited them, while others started early and went the distance.

In my sketch, friends were just beginning to gather on the porch. A propane heater and a bunch of solar lights had been purchased for the party. The solar lamps leaned toward the sun to catch the rays. There was a corn hole tournament and after the sun set, a bonfire was built for everyone to gather around. The open garage was where the bar was set up.

Black Friday Vendor Sale at Fashion Square Mall.

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On November 28th, 2014 there was a Black Friday Artist Vendor Sale at Fashion Square Mall hosted by The Culture Xchange Gallery And Marketplace 3201 E Colonial Dr, Orlando, Florida. The sale was open to all Local Vendors of Arts and Crafts, Local Fashion Brands and Local Bands and Musicians.

I searched the Mall hoping to get a sketch of this vibrant local marked. What I found was a small assortment of artists at maybe 10 tables. Some canvases were simply leaning against a wall. None of the art interested me. I decided to leave but from the second level I found this great view of this bungee trampoline. The kids lined up to use it. The assistant would buckle all the harnesses and then she would press a button which would slowly tighten the bungee chords using a truck winch which would launch the child higher. As parents waited nervously, he would scream for more until fear overtook joy and then she would ease up, bringing the child back down to earth with progressively smaller jumps.

The art market vendors can be seen in the background of the sketch so I can say that I found what I was looking for. I found the Art Market a bit depressing, but Orlando will always find ways to trill and excite as long as you keep looking.

The Falcon and Gallery is a haven for local artists.

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The Falcon Bar and Gallery (819 E Washington St, Orlando, FL) always has local art to see. The shows usually have a theme. There was recently a Bill Murry themed show and I sketched a local actress and dancer for a show titled Porn. I went to the first social media Round table hosted by Mark Baratelli at IZEA and Melissa Marie, the Falcons owner was there. As a local business owner, she realized early on that social media is the way to promote business. Her bartenders are encouraged to use Snap Chat to share happenings at the bar with friends. I didn’t even realize snap chat existed. Social Media keeps changing so fast, I need to keep up.

Mondays at the Falcon is for the men. Tuesdays are for locals, there is trivia, Uberbahn, open mics and DJs on most days of the week. On Sunday nights at 9pm there are the “Fear the Walking Dead” watch parties. You have to love a bar that caters to zombie loving patrons like myself.  If there is a zombie apocolipse, I’ll be ready with a sharp sword and a sketchbook. Once a month, Mystery Sketch Theater, now hosted by Plinio Pinto, is a great way to loosen up and sketch cos-play models for $5. If you are a voyeur like me, the Falcon will satiate that guilty pleasure and your thirst. Now that I’m hosting Orlando Drink and Draw (ODD) on the first Monday of each month, I need to find out if the Falcon will host the growing band of vagabond artists one month.

Mark your calendar! The next event at the Falcon is DJ Lavidicus on Sunday September 11th starting at 9pm. Come out to hear the very best in Industrial, Goth, EBM, Synthpop and Darkwave. Everyone knows where they were on September 11th of 2009. If you drink enough this night, you might not remember as clearly. Never a cover, always a good time! (21+) If you check my AADW calendar, you will always find Falcon events in the mix.

Spamaot costumes get some loving care.

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I went to the Orlando Shakespeare Theater (12 E Rollins St, Orlando, Florida), to sketch the preparations for the upcoming production of Spamalot. At the entrance to the theater, the giant Trojan Rabbit held a Spamalot banner. Jeff Ferree who built the bunny, works in the scene shop and advised me on the sketch options. He was working on a series of four inch deep wooden clouds that will illuminate thanks to a string of old fashioned big bulbed Christmas lights. It was a daunting job with the all the graceful jig saw cuts needed. He showed me the set which was insanely colorful and over the top like a Las Vegas production. The entire proscenium was surrounded by large bulbs like a marquee.

Jeff told me that all the costumes were rented from the national tour of the show. He walked me to the costume shop and that is where I settled. All the costumes suffered from constant wear and tear and close to a dozen seamstresses were at work repairing the damage. Each costume had to also be adjusted to fit the actors. Twice actors came in to have their measurements taken. I was graciously set up at a table near the air conditioning unit and I was warned that when it kicks on it can be quite loud. I was deep into the sketch when it burst to life. I almost jumped out of my skin.

Jeff searched the costume shop on a quest to find the golden crown worn by Tim Curry in the original Broadway production of the show. Unlike King Arthur, his quest was a success. With some coaxing he got me to wear the sacred coronet. The original  Broadway show opened in 2005. The book and lyrics are by Eric Idle and the music is by John Du Prez and Eric Idle The production won the Tony Award for Best Musical
and was nominated for 14 Tony Awards. The final
performance was in January of 2009. After 35 previews and 1,575 performances;
it was seen by more than two million people and grossed over $175
million, recouping its initial production costs in under six months.

The Lady of the Lakes wears the gorgeous green gown with the sea shell shaped bustier.  An artificial leg sat on a table encased in armor. This clearly must be the leg of the dark knight who looses his leg in a sword fight only to claim it as a flesh wound. An armored breast plate stood next to the leg. A hole was later plumped to some flexible PVC tubing which I suspect will be used to spew blood. On the table next to me, an artificial head wore a knights helmet. A bulky shoulder piece had loose tubing and meaty viscera in the gaping neck wound. I believe this knight fell pray to a killer rabbit attack.

A delicate white gown was covered in sequins requiring hours of intricate repair. A multi layered garment with a rainbow of ruffly frills turned out to be vivacious and bouncy sleeves worthy of Carmen Miranda. Clearly this is not a show about subtly. The title of the play comes from a line in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, “We eat ham, and jam, and Spam a lot.”

The Orlando production of Spamalot opens on September 9th and runs through October 11th.  Be sure to get your tickets now. I suspect many performances will sell out.

Jingle Eve offers gift options in Ivanhoe Village.

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Jingle Eve happen every December in Ivanhoe Village. All the shops on Virginia Avenue are open late and Mark Baratelli‘s Food Truck Bazaar supplies the food. I had to pick up a painting from Bare Foot Spa which is on Virginia so I got a sketch and an errand done with one trip. Artist John Glassman Gardner discussed a project he started in which he pays artists to fill a page in a sketchbook. I offered to fill a page, but the sketchbook is still making the rounds in some artists studio.You might notice that even in December, Orlandoens dress in T Shirts, shorts and sandals. You gotta love that.

I didn’t buy anything on this sketch outing but I discovered a glass shop that had all the tools and supplies needed to create stained glass windows. Bare Foot Spa (801 Virginia Dr, Orlando, Florida) always has exhibits of local artists in the front room. An exhibit curated by Parker Sketch will be opening this Saturday September 9th from 6pm to 9pm. The show is titled Television and it features art of television personalities, art of televisions, art of anything related to televisions. Here you will see classic television shows, cartoon characters, Atari, the evening news, and more. This show features 30 pieces of art by 17 different artists. I submitted one sketch done of Brian Feldman on the evening that all the analog signals were switched off. He had one analog TV for each station and one by one the sets switched to static. On that day if you had an analog TV, it became a relic and you had to go out and buy a digital TV. I wonder how much TV sales spiked around the country on that day. Anyway, stop on out to the opening if you are in Ivanhoe Village that day and say hi.

Reading Between the Wines was a hugely sucessful fundraiser for the Adult Literacy League.

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Reading Between the Wines was held at the Orlando Science Center on March 22nd. The evening began with wine samples so patrons could wet their palette. Joyce, the executive Director of the Adult Literary League gathered patrons to their seats to introduce the evening. The League teaches adults how to read. One of the students became curious about my sketch and he introduced himself. His name was Eugine Curtis and he grew up looking at comics that he couldn’t read. Heidi Cullen was another student who kept an eye on the future. Thanks to the Literary League she was able to pass her drivers test. Another 80 year old student is now able to stay fully connected being able to read in the digital age.

An auction was held in which people didn’t bid on items, but instead raised their hand to bit what they could afford. The bidding went up to $3500 and then someone offered a matching bid that would match what had been raised so far.  The author who was brought in to talk to the audience was Tim Dorsey. He writes quirky books that delve into the twisted mind of a serial killer.As he put it, “The difference between a genius and a a lunatic is that genius has its limits. He told a story about how it is easy to get distracted when public speaking. He was facing an audience and noticed one guy in the back of the room who was looking at porn on his computer. This of course distracted Tim’s train of thought. Luckily no one at Reading Between the Wines had a laptop open. The former Tampa Tribune reporter, originally
from Riviera Beach, writes humorous crime novels featuring recurring
character Serge A. Storms. Every story Tim told on stage Was hilarious, so I suspect his books must be a fun read.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for September 12th and 13th.

Posted on by Thor

Saturday September 12, 2015

 9am to 3pm Free. Sanford Farmers Market. Sanford on First & Magnolia. Weekly on Saturday.

6:30pm to 10:30pm $20 VIP/ $15 General Admission/$10 Students Play-In-A-Day 2015. Lake Howell High School, 4200 Dike Road, Winter Park, FL. Kick-Off the 2015-16 Beth Marshal Presents season with our annual community favorite theatrical event, Play-In-A-Day. Over 100 artists work together to create short plays that are fully presented within the course of a 24-hours.

9:30pm to 11:30pm Free but get some food and drink.  Son Flamenco. Hot blooded Spanish Flamenco dancing. Ceviche Tapas Orlando, 125 W Church St, Orlando, FL. Weekly on Saturday.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Noon to 4:30pm Free Family Day. The Mennello Museum of American Art, 900 East Princeton Street, Orlando, FL. The make-and-take craft table is open from noon-2:30 p.m., and docents are available to give mini-tours of the museum. Then it’s open house in the galleries until 4:30 p.m.

Noon to 4pm Free. Educator Open House & Book Fair. Bookmark It 3201 Corrine Drive, Suite 109, Orlando, Florida. At Bookmark It we believe that creating a personal connection to books is one of the best ways to instill a love of reading in a child. So to kick off the school year, and provide educators an opportunity create programming that brings local, accomplished writers into the school or classroom, we have invited over 20 Central Florida authors/illustrators to join us for a special Central Florida Educators Open House/Book Fair on Sunday, September 13th from noon-4pm in East End Market’s beautiful APEX meeting space.

The casual open house setting will allow teachers to meet authors in person, preview (and purchase) their titles, collect school visit information, and review any specially designed curriculum or teaching tools that accompany their books. Rounding out the event will be a special pop-up ‘bookstore’ for school purchases offering a 20% educators discount and free school delivery for special orders.

Additionally, representatives from local, award-winning non-profit Page15.org will be available for questions regarding their free after school programming for at-risk kids and annual creative writing teen anthology contest.

1pm to 3pm $5 Film Slam. Enzian Theater, South Orlando Avenue, Maitland, FL. Originally a project of University of Central Florida’s Downtown Media Arts Center, Enzian became the home of FilmSlam when DMAC closed in 2006. Now in its fifth year at Enzian, FilmSlam continues to be a popular outlet for indie and student filmmakers throughout the State of Florida.

FilmSlam will usually be held on the second Sunday of each month at 1PM at Enzian.

Come Celebrate Independents Day!

Artists explore Mummies of the World.

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Mummies of the World is now at the Orlando Science Center (777 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL).

Weeks before I had met a little girl who had been on a field trip to the Mummies exhibit. I asked her if any of the mummies were wrapped in bandages with their arms raised like in the movies. She explained that only one mummy was wrapped. Having seen the real thing, she thought it silly to think that mummies should roam the earth. From the gift shop she had purchased little pills that would turn into dinosaurs when moistened. I warned her that she should make sure she was outside when she dropped the pills into water since dinosaurs can be huge.

A mummy is the dead body of an animal or a human that been
preserved after death so that it does not decompose. To be
considered a mummy and not just a skeleton, the body must keep
some of its soft tissue, such as its hair, skin or muscles. The exhibit had shrunken heads, Egyptian mummies, Peruvian mummies, medical specimens and many mummies that were preserved naturally.

I walked the exhibit quickly in search of my sketch opportunities. Science Center staff who were also artists had been invited to sketch mummies on this day. They were in strategic locations throughout the
exhibit and each of them was sketching a different specimen. Their creations will ultimately become an original work of art that will be displayed in
the exhibit once it’s completed. In the Burns Collection room, I was fascinated by David Matteson who was hunched over his book doing erasure poetry inspired by the screaming mummy. He said that Edmund Munch created Der Schrei der Natur (“The Scream of Nature“) after observing a mummy similar to this one. I don’t know if this is fact or fiction, but this mummy with its bony fingers raised up to its face does indeed look like it is screaming. He was working in a book about mortality rather than a sketchbook. He darkened lines of copy or individual words to find hidden poems within the books copy. His piece will address our morbid fascination with death and how we all fear and then must ultimately accept this inescapable truth.

Adam Wade Lavigne, the Science Center’s facility assistant, introduced himself. I’m always surprised and pleased when another artist knows about my sketching obsession. He was doing an amazing sketch of a mummies upper torso that was very accurate and expressive. I admired how large he was working.

A third artist, Jake White, the development director for the Science Center, was sketching the prone mummy behind David, but he lost interest and decided to sketch a Peruvian child that had been found in a basket naturally preserved by the dry heat. The child’s skull had been elongated by being pressed between two boards. These elongated skulls were considered beautiful at the time. Royalty would employ a third board which would create a pointed skull. The brain ultimately adapts expanding into the heightened skull with no ill effects to reasoning or intelligence. The mummy had been CT scanned and a computer created the skeleton and the skull as 3D computer prints. The bones had markings that hinted that the child had experienced malnutrition and stress.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to stare death in the face and learn about ancient cultures. Mummies will be at the Science Center with a limited time engagement through the fall.