Walking on a Glacier

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On a third trip to the Columbia Glacier, Terry and I decided to go to the lodge at the base of the Glacier to sign up for a Glacier Adventure. Brewster, the company that runs these glacier adventures has been taking tourists onto the ice since before the area was made into a National Park. Inside the lodge was chaos as busloads of tourists purchased tickets for several adventure packages. Several miles up the road, a large glass overhang was built on the edge of an overlook which gave tourists a panoramic view while seeming to be standing on air above a steep drop. Terry and I didn’t see the point of that view when there are amazing views and vistas anywhere you look.

The $55 Glacier Adventure involved a bus ride from the lodge across the highway to another parking lot at the base of the Ice. Here, everyone switched over to the huge Ice Rover which had immense tires worthy of a monster truck. Actually the tire were much larger than any monster trucks tires. This rover moved very slowly going uphill or downhill. The drive to get onto the ice field was perhaps half an hour. We drove to a spot on the ice that had been mechanically leveled. There we were allowed to get out and take photos for about 5 minutes. You heard me right, we were given just 5 minutes to take a few photos and then pile back on the bus.

The leveled ice filed clearing was perhaps 50 yards square. The edges of the field had the piles of blue shaved ice in 5 foot high piles. Walking on the ice field unsupervised is advisable since there are deep hidden caves and chasms that can kill an inexperienced hiker. Terry said she spotted several hikers wandering across the ice field as we were being driven back to the lodge. Guided hikes could be arranged with guides. Terry had hiked to the base of the glacier twice, so I’m sure she would have liked to climb up and wander across the expansive ice field. We both agreed that the Brewster adventure tour wasn’t worth the money but it did get us up on the ice field for a quick glance around.

The Orlando Philharmonic Series Program 1 Featured Music Director Finalist Alondra de la Parra

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I went to a rehearsal at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Music Director Alondra de la Parra was conducting. I sat a few rows back from the stage and started sketching. As the orchestra warmed up with the usual cacophony of unrelated instrumentation, I blocked in the stage and seating arrangement. Since Conductor Christopher Wilkins left, the orchestra has been looking for a new conductor. Apparently it is a buyers market since so many orchestras have had to fold or cut back after the financial crisis in 2008. Ten people make up the selection panel. Half of the panel are musicians from the Orchestra and half are civilians. There were many applicants for the conductor’s position. If any one person on the selection committee voted no, then that conductor was removed from the list. Five conductors remain after that process.

Alondra is in her 30’s and brought an undeniable energy to the rehearsal. The first piece rehearsed was Symphony Number 1 by Gustav Mahler. The music moved along lyrically and then built in energy and drive. There were moments of absolute magic that could lift you up to defy gravity.  Because it was a rehearsal, there were moments where the music stopped and Allondra asked a single section of the orchestra to perform their part and she helped them become more unified or crisp in their parts. “It’s all about placement and color.” she said. She could have been talking about a sketch.

The next piece was Danzon Number 2 by Arturo Manquez from her native Mexico. At times the music was brash with a high spirited exuberance. My foot was tapping to the off beat and I couldn’t stop my body from moving to the beat. This had to be the first time I felt like I should get up and dance in the isles as the orchestra performed. “Keep it fresh and spirited.” Alondra said. Then suddenly much of the orchestra grew quiet as a core group of players performed with a slow authority. She explained that these were the old timers who knew how to keep a performance simple and real. When the piece was over, Alondra complimented the soloist saying, “Great solo, you may not know it, but you are part Cuban.” She brought an amazing new energy to the orchestra and Orlando would be lucky to have her if she is selected as the new Music Director. She has a few commitments with an orchestra in Mexico and Japan, but hopefully that wouldn’t interfere if she were to be selected as the orchestra’s new Music Director. Each of the four other finalists will be featured conductors in the coming months. I hope to watch to see what each brings to the table.

Melbourne Civic Theatre

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One June 20th I got an invitation to sketch at the Melbourne Civic Theatre (817 E Strawbridge Ave, Melbourne, FL). The Theatre is Bevard County’s longest running arts organization. I was invited by actress Nellie Brannan who is also an artist and she found out about my work from the Urban Sketcher’s site. It was an adventurous drive to the East coast to catch the show which was Edward Albee‘s “A Delicate Balance.”

The sky opened up and it poured for the entire trip East.  Thankfully as I arrived in Melbourne, the rain stopped. The Theatre has recently been renovated and expanded. The front lobby was recently purchased from another establishment. La Galerie is a walkway lined with stores. The Theatre entrance used to be in the back but now there is a large lobby where patrons can mingle before finding their seats.

I arrived early, got my ticket at the box office and then sat across the street in front of City Hall to sketch the Theatre. The building to the right was all boarded up. As I noticed people entering the Theatre, I started sketching faster, because I knew it was show time…

World Cup at Hollerbach’s

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On June 17th, I went up to Sanford to visit Hollerbach’s Willow Tree Deli to watch the World Cup. Hollerbach’s is a traditional German restaurant with the goal of providing you with a memorable meal and to experience German Gemuetlichkeit, which is a sense of
well-being and happiness that comes from enjoying the company of friends
and family while savoring good food and drink. Claudia Mundlos who runs a blog called Sanford 365 gave me a tip that the restaurant is a popular meeting place to watch World Cup Soccer. Apparently the place goes crazy when the German team is playing. Unfortunately I couldn’t get to Hollerbach’s on the day Germany was playing. 

Brazil was playing Mexico and the game resulted in not a single goal being scored. I’m used to watching basketball where hundreds of points are scores. In comparison, soccer seems slow but I’ve played and know it is damn fun when you are on the field. Hollerbach’s was only mildly full. Most patrons didn’t even notice the game. They focused on good food instead. I ordered some schnitzel and it was an amazing meal washed down with a cold beer.

John Rife and his wife Kamrin were in the crowd. He stopped over to say hello. They were on a date night and they stopped at Hollerbach’s as a rest stop. Such a small world. My work was on display at John’s, East End Market for many months. I just took down the show yesterday. The proprietor of the restaurant recognized my style because an illustration I did for Orlando Life, has been hanging on the wall near the restrooms for several years. The waitress in traditional garb also stopped by several times to check on my progress. I found out that there is one of those drink and paint events at Hollerbach’s once a week. For the price of admission people get a canvas and paint and they are walked through every step of creating a painting. I might return to sketch that someday. Even better are the German musicians who rock the place with German music. Check the restaurant’s calendar and get out to experience Glemuchlichkeit  for yourself.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for September 20 and 21

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Saturday September 20, 2013

9am to 7pm FLBlogCon 2014. Last chance tickets $85. Full Sail University, 3300 University Blvd, Winter Park, FL. Educating and Empowering Bloggers Across the State of Florida. http://www.flblogcon.com/ 

 7:30pm to 11pm Free. Potluck Kerouac House. 1418 Clouser Ave, Orlando, FL. Meet Kerouak Project resident writer, Ann Marie Ni Chureain.

8:30pm to 10:30pm $9.43 Global Peace Film Festival screening, Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard.  Bush Auditorium Rollins College. A collection of
surprisingly joyful drawings created by school children living among the
ruins of Hiroshima in 1947 becomes the heart and soul of this true,
inspiring story about an exchange of gifts between Americans and
Japanese after a devastating war. This powerful documentary about
reconciliation and the power of gift, introduces the children artists
(now in their late 70s) who reflect on their early lives amidst the
rubble of their decimated city and the hope they shared through their
art. In 2010, the newly restored drawings, buried for decades deep
inside a church in Washington DC, are taken back to Japan where they are
reunited with the artists and exhibited in the very building where they
were created.

Sunday September 21, 2014

10am to Noon Free. Ciciovia. E Robinson St, Orlando, FL. Robinson street is shut down to feature all things cycle related.  rethinkyourcommute.com

 Noon to 5pm Free but get a drink or two. Sunday’s with Smiling Dan. The Falcon Bar & Gallery, 819 East Washington Street, Orlando, FL. DJ Smiling Dan will liven up your Sunday.

6pm to Midnight Free. Full screening of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Cloak and Dagger 875 Woodbury Road  Orlando FL. Costumes encouraged.  Cloak and Dagger.com Get out and meet some Hobbits and Dwarfs.


The Orlando Shakespeare Theater Presents Les Miserables

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 I went to the Orlando Shakespeare Theater to sketch work being done on the set for Les Miserables. The key element of this stage is a large rotating lazy Susan that will allow different stage sets to rotate into view. A second level is where some of the fighting will be staged. Stage hands joked that the raw backdrop looked a bit like a Koala. To me it looks like a loudmouthed carved pumpkin. I’m sure that when the set is complete that it will look like the squalid streets of Paris at the turn of the century. For some reason the rotating stage required quite a few stage hands to turn. They worked to remove the friction. New gels had to be added to all the lights in the theater, so a ladder and moving scaffolding were used to get up high enough to reach the lights.

WHAT:

Les Misérables

Book by Alain Boublil | Music by Claude-Michel Schӧnberg | Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer

Directed by DJ Salisbury | Musical Direction by Ken Clifton 

SUMMARY:

Set in the early 19th-century, a French peasant named Jean Valjean (played by Michael Hunsaker) is on a quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for stealing a loaf of bread. When a compassionate bishop inspires him with a tremendous act of mercy, Valjean decides to start his life anew, but is relentlessly tracked down by Police Inspector Javert (played by Davis Gaines). Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into France’s revolution, where a group of young visionaries make their last stand at a street barricade.

WHEN:

September 10 – October 12, 2014

Tuesday through Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

WHERE:

Orlando Shakespeare Theater in the Margeson Theater

John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center, 812 East Rollins Street, Orlando, FL 32803

TICKET INFORMATION: Previews and Senior Matinees $27, $22, $15

All other Performances $55, $45, $30

Many performances are already sold out, so act fast.

The Columbia Icefields Overwhelm in the Jasper National Park

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Terry and I stopped at the expansive Columbia Ice fields twice to take in the view. The first time it was rather cold and overcast. Terry decided she wanted to hike to the base of the glacier. I was content to stay near the parking lot and paint the view. As I sketched, the mountains became shrouded in clouds. When the sun disappeared, the temperature plummeted. When it started to rain, I ran to a lean to that was a shelter for some maps of the area. The rain made it hard to complete the watercolor, so I put my supplies away and put on my rain gear. Then I waited in the shelter trying to avoid the cold winds.

Terry seemed to be gone forever. I started to worry that she might have wandered off the trail and gotten lost. There was no cell phone reception, so I couldn’t call or text. It turns out that it is a much longer hike to the foot of the glacier than Terry expected. When she did get there, she asked a family with a car if they could drive her back to our car. She played the Disney animator card to get the family excited to meet the artist. It worked and the tourists asked me all about the films I had worked on and then they asked for an autograph.  I was just thankful that Terry was alright. The weather changes quickly at these high altitudes and Terry wasn’t really ready for the sudden ice cold rains.

On our second visit we parked at the lot much closer to the receding edge of the glacier. Once again, Terry went off to hike while I did a second sketch of the ice field. Markers on the drive out show how the glacier has receded since the turn of the century.

A Hike Up to Johnston Canyon

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Terry and I flew to Alberta Canada for a week away in the Rocky mountains. On the flight across America I looked out the plane window and watched the grid of the country slip by. It was clear that we were flying North West because the grid was always at an angle. We landed in Calgary and rented a car for our trip up into the Rockies. The airport hotel we stayed in the first night was located right next to a junkyard. It would have made a scenic sketch, but I never had the time to catch the clutter.

When we drove north west out of Calgary the landscape was surprisingly flat with suburban monotony. When we got to Baniff the mountains finally jutted upward. Our first stop was Johnston Canyon.

In 1910, Johnston Canyon was named after a prospector who discovered gold in the creek. The work that went into building the trails up to the waterfalls is quite impressive. Walkways were built right into the canyon walls. The bridge in the sketch crosses over the canyon and then enters a cave that opens up right at the base of the waterfall letting people experience the full force of the water and it’s spray.

Terry decided to walk further up the trail to the top falls and I took the time to get this quick sketch done. Terry tends to get vertigo when on bridges, so it was surprising that she ventured further up on these walkways. It is a testament to the engineers who made the trail vertigo proof. When she got to the top, she took a photo to prove she had made it to the top.

Walter Phillips, a renowned artist and namesake of the Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff, Alberta, said, “Water is the most
expressive element in nature. It responds to every mood, from
tranquility to turbulence.”He was born in England, and  travelled the world before settling down in
Canada, specifically Banff, where he fell in love with Johnston Canyon. He spent much of his career sketching and painting the canyon’s beauty. I can understand how it could captivate an artist.

Heading to the Canadian Rockies

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In high school and college, Terry traveled the world extensively. That wanderlust is back and sometimes I go along for the ride. Our latest trip was to the Canadian Rockies. The Orlando International Airport involved the usual bustle of checking baggage and getting boarding passes. Then there was the long line through security. Shoes came off along with belts and my hat. There was the struggle to juggle bins for electronics and pocket items. Then the full body scan so they could check my junk.

Flight 1407 was a direct flight between Orlando and Calgary Canada. As I sketched my fellow passengers, I had to wonder why they were headed to the North West.  The young girl seated in front of me double fisted her cell phone and laptop. Most people glanced at some digital device at some point to kill the time. One woman however was reading a newspaper. Yes she held real paper in her hands glancing at the headlines.

Terry went to the women’s room to take care of business so she would be calm for take off. We all crushed onto the plane and then we were off to the Rockies. I spent the entire flight watching the grid of America slipping by below.

The Muse in Langford Park

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I did a second sketch as scenes were shot for “The Muse” in Langford Park by Ragtag Troupe Productions. The director Mathew Carroll was always behind the cameraman to see how the scene was being shot. Actress Kelly Wilson who plays Rose was asking Theodore the Magnificent if she could help. She kept asking until Theodore blew up and started shouting at her. In the distance several other actors stumbled into the scene.

Just outside this staging area, Kelly’s mom noticed a pile of dog droppings. To help the cast and crew, she decided to mark the spot by pressing a stick nearby as a marker. When she put her weight into pressing the stick down, it snapped and she almost fell face first into the landmine.

While the establishing shot was being filmed for this scene, a mother and her children wandered into the shot. The cast and crew waited but she stayed in the shot. Finally the stage manager walked over to the family to ask them to move. They did, but the mom must have decided she had every right to be in the shot and she was back five minutes later. Any time a car drove by, the shot had to be redone as well. That is one small advantage of a sketch, if I don’t want something in the sketch, I can just ignore it.