Restaurant Demo

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This was a quick demo done for one of my online students. My goal is to convince students that carrying a sketchbook or iPad to a restaurant or any venue is preferable to scrolling through a phone.

The people are drawn a bit sloppier that what I might usually do when sketching on location.

Brush strikes were put down quickly to encourage the student to loosen up.

Having caught COVID, despite being masked, on flight 1652 between Detroit and Orlando, I am isolating myself in my studio. I have been sleeping on the couch, and I might do a self portrait of my couch sick bed today.

Middletown New York

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I have been house hunting for quite some time. My goal has been to find a place at the end of a bus or train line out of NYC.

This place in Middletown, New York was super appealing. The interior was intricately decorated with matching creamy colors. Rugs furniture and the walls all matched.

The place is honestly bigger than what I need as a single guy, and it would be intimidating to try and find just the right antiques to fit the decor. The house left the marked and it is just as well. I need a place that is a bit more utilitarian. The first thing I look for is northern facing windows for the studio. The yearly taxes for this home were also insane. I think it was in the ballpark of over $7,000 each year for the property taxes. Yikes!

My hope is to find a place with history and a working fireplace.

H5N1 killing California Cattle

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The H5N1 virus has been infecting America chickens. Over 90 million chickens have been killed because of the infection. There is some concern that the virus might be in eggs sold at the supermarket. Cooking eggs at a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit should kill the virus. It is best not to make runny eggs.  Chicken dropping are added to cattle feed and that might be how the virus spread to cows.

In Tulare, County California, cow carcasses are piling up on the roadsides. Farmers and veterinarians are surprised by the high mortality rates from H5N1 infections. Overt 600 cow herds have been infected. There are now 31 confirmed human cases in California. The virus has been found in raw milk which is still being sold cross America.

Since a 1970 outbreak in Hongcong, there have been 970 Human cases of H5N1. Of those cases 470 people died. That is a case fatality rate of about 48%. COVID -19 had a mortality rate of about 0.8% which resulted in well over a million Americans dying. More than 100 million birds have died due to the virus since 2022. It is hard to imagine the human devastation if the numbers are right and it starts spreading between people.

H5N1 has being detected in wastewater across America. It has been detected in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Tests being done on Ferrets are not promising. Ferrets closely resemble humans in the way they react to influenza infections. The virus has causing very severe disease in the lab animals. Media has been reporting mild cases in humans so far, except the teen in Canada who is in intensive care. One of the symptoms is conjunctivitis, or bloody eyes.

COVID -19 had a mortality rate of about 0.8% which resulted in well over a million seven hundred thousand Americans dying. more than 100 million birds have died due to the virus since 2022.

There have been over 55 confirmed cases of H5N1 in humans. Many work in the dairy industry, but there are some cases that are a mystery. A child in Canada is in critical condition and the cause of infection a complete mystery. The virus infecting this child has shown an ability for its binding receptors to infect humans. That fact alone is concerning. The possibility that H5N1 is airborne is a very real possibility.  If the virus starts to spread from human to human the outbreak will ignite.

My biggest concern is that the incoming administration will make all the same mistakes it made with the COVID-19 pandemic. The easiest action for any politician to take in a public health emergency is to deny, deflect and minimize the outcome. The stakes are much higher if H5N1 becomes a pandemic. People have decided that any form of mitigation is an infringement on the or personal freedom. They yearn  to be infected and to infect others.

Student Demo

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I always try to encourage my online students to sketch and paint everyday objects. Youngest students are often engrossed in sketching video game characters. My hope is to help them realize that those characters are made possible thanks to direct observations from life. In one class I ask the students to simply sketch and paint what is on or next to the desk they are seated at.  I sketch and paint along with then so they get to see my process in blocking in a composition. In this case I just painted the cup of water I had on my desk. I kind of took a few sips of water changing the water level in the cup.

This was created at the golden hour of sunset, which accounts for the orange glow on the illuminated wood. Indoor light was a bit cooler but the desk lamp gave my other mug a warm glow as well. Convincing students that the detail and values inside of objects is as important if not more important that the outline of the object is the greatest  challenge.  It takes time for students to see and start finding ways to recreate the values and textures needed to make everyday objected believable.

I am integrating digital into my everyday sketches more often now. Doing traditional watercolors in sketchbooks feels good when I finished the sketchbook and file it away on the bookshelf, but digital gives richer colors without any worry of making a mess. My heart may be analog, but the work continues to shift towards the digital. What I fear about digital is finding work getting lost on old hard drives or the work shared online may one day just disappear. I prefer a paper trail with art and finance.

Flight out of Pittsburgh

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Flying out of Pittsburgh there was a layover in Detroit. I knew I was heading home when I saw Mickey Mouse on someone’s luggage. One other person was masked in the waiting area. He was Japanese where there is no stigma against masking. I charged my iPhone so I would have juice to order a Lyft once I landed.

The flight to Orlando was the most crowded flight I took. I was glad that I was in an exit row and because of that I had plenty of leg room to stretch out and relax. My hope was to hunker down and sleep. I tried to sleep but really didn’t succeed. Two rows behind me, several people were coughing up their lungs. The risk of exposure rises on longer flights.

After getting back to the studio, the next morning my throat was scratchy and I started coughing. Of course my first thought was COVID, so I tested myself. Thankfully the pink Binax test came back negative. What I assumed was a cold however, knocked me on my butt for several days. I am still snuggled up on the couch under a blanket. I was experiencing shivers. I haven’t been sick for over 4 years. I forgot what it was like to be out of commission.

The days after the flight out of Pittsburgh, I felt like crap. I used an at home test kit and it came up negative, so I chalked it up to a bad cold. However after several days of hard work outside, with a friend. I returned to the studio and decided to test one more time just to be sure. That test came up positive for COVID-19. It was a strong solid red line. I was infected on Delta Flight 1652 flying back into Orlando fro Detroit. I  have to wonder how many others are spreading the virus around Orlando after that flight.

In the time I thought I had a cold, I managed to infect a friend which I feel horrible about. I now know I need to up my masking game when I travel by plane. The problem is that I have facial hair which breaks the seal of the mask. There are also small travel sized HEPA filters which I could pack in my travel bag and run during the flight. Though I take basic precautions, I now know they are not enough. When battling something as small an airborne virus, more precautions are needed. I need to buy new N-95 masks and I will have to shave my beard any time I travel. I may even decide to get goggles when I board a plane. More likely I will stop promoting my animated short film COVID Dystopia in person. Packing into a sardine can in the sky isn’t smart.

Since I am so sick, I decided to not go to FusionFest to sketch.  I still feel it is important to keep others safe, so I am social isolating at my  friend’s house. I was helping this friend with a huge outdoor sculpture, Since the first test came back negative, I continued to help. My friend however caught what I have, which is, as it turns out, COVID-19. I want to keep others safe but with my first infection I managed to fail horribly. I am social isolating in my studio now and will test myself again in 5 days.

So, is is safe to fly during an ongoing pandemic? F*ck NO. I managed to evade COVID for 5 years and now I have to up my game to evade it for the next 5 years.

We might be done with COVID, but COVID is not done with us.

Pittsburgh Shorts Script Competition

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After watching the first block of films there was a script reading competition in the building right next to the Harris Theater. The woman handling tickets and concessions was the only other person wearing a KN-95 mask. I gave her one of my COVID themed buttons figuring she might wear it someday as people become aware of the lasting damage being done by the virus. Probably thanks to her there was a small HEPA air filter in the lobby area outside the theater.

Actors were still rehearsing the scripts as the audience gathered in the lobby. There were groups of 4 or 5 actors to read each of the scripts. The part of the narrator often involved the most reading.

The script which won the competition had a champion boxing coach and a young woman. She was reluctant to hit the boxing bag hard but which his encouragement she bean weaving and hitting harder. The emotional core of this short was that she had an untold back story. That back story must have involved physical abuse because she started hitting the bag with every ounce of energy she had. Someone from her past deserved a beating.

The guy seated in front of me in the blue hoodie shot video footage of the reading of his girlfriend’s script reading. After the script readings everyone returned to the Harris Theater for the awards ceremony.

Honda Dealership

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Everything is automated these days. My little Toyota Prius gives me a warning sign then it is time to take the car to the dealership. The Prius sits in the garage most of the time and I just take her out for a spin once a week for groceries. The dealership is always a fun sketch opportunity. Everyone is always on their digital devices, myself included.

The sales team has started using these checkups as a way to push for new car sales. I was called over to a sales agents desk and he let me know that my old Prius with its low mileage would catch a heft price. He of course wanted to sell me a new car but I have never had a problem with my Prius other than a couple of flat tires.

This was a pretty uneventful visit. On the visit before I had to change out all the tires, which was very expensive. This time it was just an oil change and a few mark ups they threw in. They were probably not needed, but Indulged them. I know they installed a new air filter in the cabin. I know that because they didn’t lock it in place right and it fell out onto the floor mat. My Prius is pampered.

Pittsburgh City Rat

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I took a morning to explore Pittsburgh with my sketchbook. From the hotel I headed south where there is a park with a large fountain. I didn’t make it as far as the fountain. I decided the large Christmas tree display deserved a sketch. There was a large subway station to my right where several people sat outside to discuss religion. I was seated on a granite ledge that was perhaps 3 feet above the sidewalk.

Thankfully my trench coat blocked much of the cold from the granite seat. There was an evergreen bush planted in the center of the triangular shapes seating area. I noticed one of those black box rat baiting stations at the base of the bush. As I sketched I noticed some motion near the baiting station.

As I was sketching a rather large rat marched right up to me and he tried to leap up onto the granite ledge. I bet he had made that jump thousands of times before but this time he fell short with his front claws scratching the smooth surface. He tried a second and third time. It occurred to me that he might be trying to get another free poison meal from the baiting box. I felt bad for him and considered helping him make the final inch. I thought better of it, and scared him away instead by stomping my foot. As he scurried slowly away weaving a bit side to side, I noticed that his butt was bleeding. He was not going to survive another day. The poison was eating his insides.

Merry Christmas, not a creature was stirring.

Pittsburgh Shorts Q&A

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When I got to Pittsburgh I checked into the hotel and then got several sliced of pizza since I hadn’t eaten all morning. Then I slipped into the Harris Theater to pick up my lanyard. When I asked around one of the organizers asked, “Are you Thomas Thorspecken?” How on earth did she know that? This felt like my 30 seconds of fame. She explained however that I was the last filmmaker to pick up my lanyard. With shorts you can always slip into the theater since a new film will start up shortly. One film I really loved was Planet Walker. The film is about John Frances who began walking everywhere after an oil spill in San Francisco harbor. As an added sign of protest against the fossil fuel industry, he stopped speaking. If he had to communicate he used sign language.

At first John hiked around California but he eventually began waking east following the green areas on his map. He then decided to get a masters degree even though he didn’t speak. After the Exon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, He decided to get his doctorate by writing his thesis on how to prevent oil spills.

Paul Sloop helped curate the slate of short films. After each screening block, he would get on stage with the filmmakers in attendance and ask them a few questions. AS an animator it is amazing to me that many of these short only had a 3 day shooting schedule. For my film with it’s limited animation style, I had a year of animation to accomplish. I could still be animating if I made every character move in every scene. At some point I had to decided enough was enough.

I met the middle filmmaker in this sketch in the elevator on the way up to my room at the end of the day. I gave her my minute long elevator pitch about my film. I don’t know what is next for my film. I have about 6 submissions lined up for acceptance or rejection. I am convinced that COVID Dystopia is the most rejected film in America. No one wants to be reminded about a countries failed response to an ongoing pandemic.

Delta Layover

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COVID Dystopia was an official selection at the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival. Festival sponsors helped with the hotel and plane flights. I decided to go for the last day of the festival to attend the awards ceremony. You never know.

There were no direct Delta flights to Pittsburgh. To fly out I had to fly to Atlanta first and catch a connecting flight to Pittsburgh. Getting up at 4am wasn’t good enough. When I got to the gate, I discovered I was the last person to board along with a couple in front of me. As I was getting my ticket scanned I heard my name echo out all through the airport. My seat was crammed between two other people, but knowing I was the last person to board, I went past that row and found my own row since the plane wasn’t very crowded.

In Atalanta I had to make my way to anther terminal for the connecting flight. It was a long walk. When I got to gate B33, Kevin the boarding agent was letting several people into the boardwalk. I sat down for a moment to hear what zone was being boarded. I was in zone 8, maybe I would have time to go to the bathroom before getting on board. The next time I looked up, Kevin was gone. I walked over and discovered the door to board the plane had been closed.

I rushed to another boarding area to ask what I should do. I was told I would have to walk to boarding zone B17 to get my ticket adjusted. When I was walking back, I saw Kevin had returned to his desk. Another woman had the same problem as me. As I waited, I saw my plane backing out of the terminal. Had I not sat down and relaxed for a second, I might have been on that flight. Kevin told me I could use my ticket to board another flight to Pittsburgh in another hour. No harm done, I just needed to be in Pittsburgh by 7pm for the awards ceremony.

Another flight had t board before the plane to Pittsburgh could roll in. That flight was experiencing delays. I asked Kevin how the delays might affect my plane to Pittsburgh, His abrupt response was, “I have no idea.” I don’t think Kevin likes his job. After I went back to sit down Kevin announced that my flight to Pittsburgh would leave from another gate.

I ultimately made it to my destination, but felt that the ticketing agents have no clue or don’t care what is going on. They are just going through the motions.