Every Sunday from 10AM to 3PM there is a Farmers’ Market at the South East corner of Lake Eola. I am doing oil paintings each morning of Lake Eola with the plan to do 49 paintings all around the circumference of the lake. I assume the fountain will be in each painting. I am not sure if the fountain is a requirement yet for the series. I took a break from the early morning painting session on Sunday and decided to get a sketch done at the Farmer’s Market.
While doing this sketch, the bells of the Greek Orthodox Church chimed for well over an hour. Something about that sound and the bustle of the crowds in the market made me feel very relaxed. For once, I felt at home. I feel very blessed to have this time in my life to focus on the activity and view the lake offers downtown Orlando residents. I have sketched the lake before but now it has become an obsession. The people I meet each morning are helping me feel more connected to the Orlando community.
Four of the tents on the left in my sketch are occupied by artists. One artist, Angelo Vasquez, I had just recently sketched as he gave an interview at the Science Center for the Elegy for the Unseen: The Art of Extinct Species exhibit now on display at the Orlando Science Center through November 15, 2026. Admission is free but museum admission is $29 for adults. Angelo had some large black and white prints on display. He works in graphite doing large renderings. At the Science Center he had an immense rendering of a dinosaur in the group exhibit.
Several artists have a cardboard box with a hole cut in it called a Doodle Box. It was meant to look like a vending machine. I am not sure what a doodle box is or what it does, but I think I need to find out and do a sketch. One artist had a sign saying that if you beat him at the board game he was playing you could win a free print. That is pure marketing genius. I am not great at playing any board game so if I were to use the marketing game technique, I would be giving away far too much art for free.
I was set up on pine needles under large palm trees. White Ibis were curious about what I was doing, and they marched up to me to look at my sketch. Since the colorful surface of my sketch wasn’t food, they soon lost interest and strutted away. They are more predominant in my watercolor than the crowds crushed together on the sidewalks.
After my sketch was complete, I walked around to look in all the tent booths. My hope was to pick up some farmers produce for my fridge. There were trinkets galore and food tents around the large live oak tree, but I didn’t find any farmers produce. I was disappointed that I didn’t find any fruits or vegetables, but I could hike up the block to Publix if I wanted to.
I didn’t buy anything since I had my hopes set on some blueberries and strawberries. I recently had a conversation with Jennifer Gwynne Oliver who said that cash is king. All digital exchanges are being tracked by AI. In this digital age we are constantly being surveilled. I only had two one-dollar bills in my pocket. I need to start carrying more cash for just these occasions. I need to just accept the market for the eclectic mix that it is. Next time I go to sketch, I am getting a coconut milk in the coconut shell and sip it while I work.