The Winter Park Paint Out takes over Park Avenue.

Posted on by Thor

The Albin Polasek Museum and Sculp­ture Gar­dens will host its eighth Annual Win­ter Park Paint Out dur­ing the last full week of April 2016. Twenty-five pro­fes­sion­ally acclaimed Plein Air artists will roam across the city cap­tur­ing many of your favorite land­scapes and land­marks with oils, water­col­ors and pas­tels. Plein Air, a French term mean­ing “in the open air”, describes art works painted out­doors with the sub­ject directly in view rather than in a stu­dio. Plein air artists cap­ture the spirit and essence of a landscape or sub­ject by incor­po­rat­ing nat­ural light, color and move­ment into their works.

 If you’re an art lover, a patron, or just curi­ous to see what the buzz
is about, stop by the Polasek Museum to see the lat­est from the 25
artists in action! The museum, sculp­ture gar­dens and gallery will be
open free to the pub­lic through this excit­ing week-long event.
Com­pleted paint­ings will be hung in the gallery’s ‘Wet Room’
imme­di­ately. As the week pro­gressesthe gallery will fill with Plein Air art­work. Be sure to visit often to watch the artists work
and to pur­chase these one-of-a kind paint­ings the moment they are hung
on the wall.

On Monday, the first day of the Paint Out, I met Robert Ross who was set up near Writer’s Block Bookstore just East of Park Avenue on Welborne Avenue. Since Winter Park has just recently passed an ordinance making it illegal to create art or Perform on Park Avenue, I wanted to observe artists who where were immune from the $500 fine and or 60 days in jail for creating art in the forbidden zone. Each painter I saw on that day to had a Winter Park Paint Out sign which was a visual hint to police that they were sanctioned by the Museum. Several Russian women stopped to watch Rob a work, and shoot some photos. I passed four Plein Air painters hard at work as I walked back to my car. Odd that a city that just recently outlawed art should suddenly be over run by 25 artists from around the country for a week. why not allow free expression all year?

Mark Your Calendar for the free Paint Out demonstrations and workshops. Tonight April 26th, there is the “Dynamic Shadows Oil Painting Demonstration” by John Guernsey.  Bring a blanket or lawn chair and join us in Central Park by the Rose Garden. On Wednesday April 2tth, there is a Sunset “Paint-In” at the Winter Park Racquet Club, (2111 Via Tuscany, Winter Park). Paint Out Artists gather on the shore of Lake Mait­land at the Win­ter Park Rac­quet Club to cap­ture a beau­ti­ful Florida sun­set, then take a break from the week’s activ­i­ties. Come share the vista with us and watch as these out­stand­ing artists cre­ate a sun­set mem­ory on can­vas.  A cash-only bar and buf­fet will be avail­able to non-members, so please make an evening of it! April 30th from 6pm to 9pm is the Paint Out Garden Party.  Tickets to this event are, $100 in advance, and $125 at the door

Move It or Loose It

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On Saturday September 14th there was a rally for The Capen House in Winter Park’s Central Park, adjacent to the rose garden. The citizens responsibly for trying to save the Capen house have a short window to make this happen, and they need the community behind this effort.This is a BIG , monumental,task  to move a home built in 1885 across Lake Osceola to the grounds of the Albin Polasek Museum and Gardens where it can be enjoyed by Winter Park residents and visitors for years to come! 

As of the date of the rally, $200,000 had been raised towards the project. An additional $450,000 would need to be raised by the end of November to save the house from demolition and reserve the contractors for the move. The house will have to be cut in half and then the parts will be floated across the lake on barges. The committee is hoping that the actual transport would happen on December 14th to coincide with the Winter Park Boat Parade.

In the tent, past Winter Park mayors voiced their support for the project. If funds aren’t raised, then the home will face demolition as it is replaced with a much larger McMansion. If it finds it’s way to the Polasec, it will be used for celebrations like wedding receptions and community fundraisers. It would become a place of celebration for many future generations. Relocating the Capen House to the Museum property is a mutually
beneficial solution for the current owners, Winter Park residents, and
the greater Central Florida community,” says Debbie Komanski, Executive
Director of The Polasek. The Polasek Museum property, with a sweeping
lawn to the water, can easily accommodate the 6,000 sq. ft. house which
will be used for public events and education offices for the Museum.
Moving the home by barge, not an unusual event in Florida simplifies the
relocation effort and significantly reduces project costs.

A small model of the home floated in a small plastic pool. Kids were encouraged to save the home by scooping up small balls with a net. Kids won prizes for scooping up the most balls. The Winter Park Owl wandered around like a Disney theme park character. He leaned over a small girl in a stroller and she began to cry. Orange infused water parched hot lips. The speeches continued and the homes future still remains uncertain.

Molding a Classical Sculpture

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On Saturday August 3rd, I went to the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens (633 Osceola Avenue, Winter Park, FL) to watch sculptor Peter Forester create a mold from the classical portrait bust he had sculpted in clay using a live model in just six hours several weeks prior.

The clay sculpt was transitioned into a “waste mold,”  Plastic shims were shoved into the clay sculpture dividing the bust in half. Peter then mixed plaster in a bowl and he flung it by hand onto half of the sculpture. Plaster spattered everywhere in the process, even onto my boots and sketch pad as I worked, Once a plaster layer had hardened, he then build  re-bar supports around the sculpture to make sure that the plaster mold he was building would not break apart. Then he kept building up the plaster mold gradually with many messy layers of plaster.

Peter said: “The clay model is only a means to an end; it represents the concept that the artist is striving towards. For this purpose I think it is essential to employ an intermediary step that is no longer used, to put the clay into plaster. The plaster will embolden mistakes not seen in clay, which the artist may correct before attempting to complete the master; hence the final product is the ‘master piece’.”

Once half the sculpture covered in a thick solid mass of plaster, the process was repeated on the opposite side. When dry, the two halves were split apart. Then the gorgeous clay sculpture was destroyed as it was scooped out from the molds. That has to be nerve wracking to destroy a sculpture that had taken six hours to create. The insides and seams of the mold were then coated with a non-stick surface. The halves were then bound together and  a thin layer of plaster was poured inside. Peter kept the mold in motion being sure plaster filled all the negative voids. This hollow plaster piece was the masterpiece which a foundry would use to create a final bronze pour.

What followed was insanely difficult work. The mold couldn’t just be pulled apart. Peter had to destroy the mold, chipping down and trying to uncover the plaster master he had just created. Only a thin layer of blue plaster warned him when he was close. This was back breaking work and chips flew everywhere. The model for the sculpture, Byron Walker, is also a sculptor and he happened to have an air powered chisel in his truck. Peter let Byron chisel his way down to his own face. The air chisel was insanely loud like a jack hammer. A small gouge was taken out of the nose but such minor dings could be repaired. It took several hours to chisel away all of the plaster mold.

“The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.”

―
Pablo Picasso

Casselberry House

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The Florida Painters Group had their annual exhibition at the Casselberry House (125 Quail Pond Circle in Casselberry, Fl) in June. The show included paintings from 15 artists, who are mostly landscape painters. I went to the opening reception to see the work.

Show participants were: Ann Gale Holstein, Robert Ross, Carol Platt, Cathy Hempel, Cori Garret, Diane Walters, Gary Rupp, Gary Sisco, Karen Minnigan, Kim Ashby, Laura Bates, Lynn Tolar, Lynne Polley, Mary Martin, Orit Reuben, Rosa Bujali and Seemi Usmani.

The paintings that most caught my eye were by Robert Ross. He did a painting inside the  Capen House. This historic Winter Park home was slated for demolition, but locals are raising funds to save the house and float it across the lake Osceola to the Albin Polasek Museum where it would be lovingly preserved.

After viewing the paintings I decided to sketch Louis Alfredo playing guitar. He was quite good and several people actually danced as he played. For the most part however people shouted at one another in the crowded space and didn’t notice the incredible talent in the corner.

Cami Smith who is an industry outreach liaison at Full Sail introduced herself. When she found out I had worked at Disney Feature Animation, she asked me if I knew Aaron Blaise. Of course I knew Aaron who had co-directed “Brother Bear“. He had taken a research trip to Alaska for that film and his sketchbook from that trip was absolutely inspiring. Aaron had gone on to work at Digital Domain in South Florida but that company went bankrupt before they could finish an animated film about an elephant. I heard Aaron was returning to Orlando. Cami informed me that he is hoping to produce a Computer Animated film called “Art Story” about a boy and his grandfather who travel into the worlds of famous paintings. She showed me the Kickstarter page and Aaron has successfully raised the $350,000 needed to further develop the story. I like the story’s message, “Life is a blank canvas, now go paint your masterpiece.”

Sculpting a Classical Portrait

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On Saturday July 13th, Exhibiting sculptor Peter Forster presented a six-hour art demo at the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens (633 Osceola Ave. Winter Park FL). The five dollar special demonstration was titled: “Sculpting a Classical Portrait“. I arrived right at 10am and Peter was packing white clay onto the armature. He is one of the exhibiting artists in the “Start to Finish” Florida Sculptor’s Guild exhibit at the museum through July 21st..

I had made this the first stop on the Orlando World Wide SketchCrawl. There was a second floor balcony looking down on the sculptor and I decided that this “God’s eye view” would work best for a sketch. Perhaps ten to fifteen people sat around the room watching Peter work. Pete’s daughter pointed out that there were pencils and paper should anyone want to take notes or sketch.

When Peter opened the floor for questions, I shouted out, “Is it possible to finish a bust in six hours?” Peter replied that if the muses were willing it would be possible. If he started thinking about needing to impress someone then the process would get bogged down. He has a friend who is a conductor, and anytime the orchestra goes off tempo, the conductor would raise his hand to his heart. This would bring everything back on tempo.

To start Peter was concerned with the large masses, not details. He stuck a wire through the mass of clay to find the placement of the ears. On a pad nearby he showed us how measurements from that central ear placement helped define the profile of the sculpture. The model was a sculptor himself named Byron Walker. Peter likes when the model’s turn their head. This creates interesting shapes in the neck do to the twisting of muscle and fat. He focused on a “keystone ridge” above and between the eyes. With that defined a likeness was already imminent. One person asked why he didn’t have the hair in place yet. He responded that the hair was only the icing on the cake. The journey is what matters not the final destination. He likened a sculpture to a sketch and said he had to wait for that, “Ah ha!” moment when the model’s true natural gesture shined through. I’ve felt this moment sketching people on location so I knew what he was relating.

Since there were other stops on the SketchCrawl, I had to leave before the sculpture was done.  When I got downtown however, I realized that I had left my artist stool in the sculptor’s studio. I had to go back. I was shocked at the progress when I returned.

Banished from Sketching Polasek’s Eden

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In the Orlando Weekly, I read about a free oil painting demonstration at the Albin Polasek Museum as part of the Winter Park Paint Out. I talked to a docent inside and checked to be sure it would be alright for me to sketch the demonstration. He said it was fine. I had met him once before at an art critique at Barefoot Spa. He does paintings in the style of Frank Frazetta. It was good to catch up with him. Last year I had been asked to do a series of sketches during the Paint Out for Winter Park Magazine, being given full access, but Terry scheduled a vacation to Panama that week and I had to back out. It was a good trip.

I still hadn’t done a single sketch of any Paint Out festivities, so I was excited to finally get an opportunity to sketch and promote the event. I was just beginning to ink in this sketch when the docent came out and said that someone higher up had decided I couldn’t sketch. I politely packed up my sketchbook and left, fuming. The artist demonstrating hadn’t even started to put paint on the canvas yet.

Back at the studio, I quickly finished the sketch I had started. Since the sketch lacked detail, I decided to play with it in Photoshop. I suppose this sketch now makes me a Digital Artist in a Digital World. If the “No Sketch Policy” was put in place to protect the identities of people attending the workshop, then this  image solved that issue. I always finish a sketch once it is started. Had I posted the sketch and article the next day like I wanted to, more people would be aware of all the wonderful artists gathered in Winter Park. I suppose I should have arranged a press pass beforehand, but I didn’t think it was needed since the workshop was free. I only found out about the Paint Out the day before.

Terry said that the Polasek staff might have had Boston Marathon bomb jitters. I suppose my sketch supply bag can look quite ominous but it never left my side. I was profiled as a deviant artist even though no one could have seen what I was doing. I had my back to a hedge to be sure there were no curious bystanders. It is odd to feel like a criminal for taking notes with interest and putting lines on a page. I can’t imagine sitting through a workshop without keeping my fidgety fingers active. I learn better that way.

The next day, I contacted the event co-chair Hal Stringer, and he he wrote, ” We have a very strong policy that the gardens are reserved exclusively
for paint out artists during this week. Our staff was not aware of the
nature of your sketching and the relationship it has to your blog. We
would welcome being featured in one of your articles. Feel free to come sketch during one of the remaining three demos if you
wish. But, please stop by the front desk and ask for me or Debbie
Komanski so we know you’re on property. We’ll make sure the staff
knows you have our permission to sketch the demo for your blog.”

This was the state of the sketch when I was asked to stop.

I really don’t understand the policy of asking an artist to stop sketching. Anytime I am asked to put my pen down, I feel my right to self expression has been compromised.  There were cell phone photos being flashed all over the web promoting the event. I doubt any phones were confiscated from attendees. I’m still annoyed that the staff member that made the decision, whoever that is, did not approach me directly. I could have reasoned with them, but the volunteer that was sent to stop me was blindly following orders. The Polasek is private property however, and they can enforce any rules they like. Hal, the co-host of the Paint Out has been a dear friend and did everything in his power to help me the next day. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to go back for a second attempt at the sketch.

If the ghost of John Singer Sargent, or Sorolla, offered a painting workshop in Winter Park. I might sit with my hands folded neatly in my lap to watch them work. Then again, I consider it a sin that no one ever sketched these masters as they painted. It would be my moral obligation, a chance of a lifetime. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in a world where large groups of artists could gather together and sketches weren’t discriminated against?

Yelp Event at the Polasek

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Yelp held an event at the Albin Polasek Museum for active Yelp reviewers. When I pulled in, I noticed cars parked on the grass lawn so I parked beside them. When I walked towards the building I noticed that there was valet parking available. The young woman at the reception table looked up my name and made up my name tag. Inside an artist was painting a portrait. Christine MacPhail, a harpist was playing just outside the back door. The sweet music drifted through the flower garden as the sun set. There was a food station set up with a delicious ravioli and pasta dish from Brio Tuscan Grill.

I needed my book light to sketch since it was soon pitch black outside. I kept layering on washes making my sketch darker and darker. Inside the museum there was a show of Soviet propaganda art. Socialist Realism was established in 1934 and lasted through the Cold War. The artists were required to communicate the ideals of Revolutionary Socialism and social responsibility to the citizens. Artists were able to travel the world and were paid handsomely. Their oraznization was called “The Workers of the Revolutionary Poster.”

One poster that caught my eye was done in 1961, the year I was born. Castro stood heroically in the foreground with excited citizens cheering all around him. The poster read, “The People of Cuba are Undefinable!” 1961 was the year of the Cuban Missile crisis. The world was almost thrown into nuclear war as America and the Soviets faced off. I am amazed my parents were willing to bring a new life into a world on the brink of total annihilation.