The Artist & Writer Crawl I hosted made for a very fun evening. I met so many new artists and writers. After all the Crawlers saw “The Singing Menorah” we headed up to the Peacock Room at 1321 North Mills Avenue. I reloaded my water brush in the men’s room an then sat at the end of the bar so I could get a good view down it’s length. Karrie Brown and Tod Caviness are shown in the sketch diligently putting images and words to paper. Tisse Mallon followed the Crawl taking photos along the way. I would estimate that there were about 20 Crawlers all together. People came and went throughout the night. After a while it became impossible to distinguish the Crawlers from the regulars. A large group of people showed up, all of them coming from Bold Hype Gallery, where they saw the work of Andrew Spear. I spoke with someone named Nelson Martin who was trying to get the bartenders attention. It turns out he is a web designer and fine artist and we discussed art while I continued to sketch.
The walls of the bar were covered with paintings of women with really large eyes by Patrick Fatica. The work was highly polished, surreal and haunting. The paintings had long titles which would make you pause and wonder like “The angels have slipped through our landslide and filled up our garden with snow.” This painting has a large eyed woman holding a towel over her bare breasts standing in front of a mist filled white landscape.
I had a beer at each bar we went to and after this sketch I focused a bit more on socializing than sketching. At the end of the evening only 5 artists remained. As we stumbled across the street from the Funkey Monkey towards Wally’s we were almost all killed when a police car came screaming down Mills in the center turn lane at 90 miles an hour. It really was a close and sobering near miss. With our crossing attempt thwarted we had to run back to the sidewalk to avoid the new line of traffic approaching.
In Wally’s I ordered my last beer for the evening from the sullen bar maid and sipped it while watching a man and woman who were rubbing noses and making out. When they left the woman tripped on a bar stool and could bairley keep her eyes open. Tod didn’t like the music playing on the jut box so he got up and remedied the situation. It was 2AM when we all decided to call it a night.
Dawn Schreiner – Oodles of Doodles
Dawn is an illustrator and mother of 2 children. When her youngest went to school Dawn decided she wanted to get back into doing more illustration work. She had been away from illustration for years and wanted to get back in.
Her father was an early adopter of high tech gadgets and he got her interested in Twitter. This introduced her to the new world of Social Networking. Twitter however didn’t satisfy all her needs. Mark Zuckerburg turned her on to Facebook and helped her set up a the Dawn Schreiner Illustration Group page. This is where the art for this show began to be created. A member of the group named Debbie suggested Dawn sketch all the members of the group.
Dawn started doing doodles of the members with the goal of doing one doodle a day. When Dawn started creating these sketches, she had maybe 20 members on the page. As the project progressed, that number grew to 50 then 100 and now it is at about 200 plus members. As the number of Doodles grew so did the number of members so that Dawn may never complete the task.
All of the doodles are done on recycled materials. One piece was on a brownie box and another on a Cheerios box. I found myself wandering through the show checking the backs of each piece to see what art supplies I might be throwing away each day. The show is an absolute delight with bright acrylic colors thickly applied and expert draftsmanship in every piece. Many doodles are fun and quirky with flowing and spontaneous use of line. The show was simply hung on wires with each doodle secured with a clip. Work was flying off the walls at the opening, it is very affordable. I myself am considering going back to get a doodle with my name on it. Having just attended a Social Networking conference I am inspired with how Dawn used Facebook to market her work to an exciting new network of friends. The show had a web cam set up for the duration of the opening so it could be shared with out of state members.
I called my wife and told her she had to come down to see this show and I will tell you the same. Head on over to Seven Sisters Coffee House at 911 North Mills Avenue a few blocks north of Colonial. The coffee is delicious and the relaxed setting is a great place to sit back and read or surf the web. Tell Alisha that I sent you!
Avalon Art Opening – Dresses
On Thursday I went downtown to see the opening for an art show titled “Dresses” as Avalon Gallery on Magnolia. This show produced by Donna Dowless featured paintings sculptures and mixed media from a number of contemporary women artists. I arrived early and wandered the exhibit in a relaxed setting prior to the crush of the crowds. The exhibit had paintings of dresses, welded metal sculptures of dresses, and of course actual dresses. I like one piece that had a shadow box with a crumpled napkin inside, and on the glass surface of the box a dress was drawn inspired by the abstraction of the napkin.
I was pleased to find work from Dina Mack and artist whose work I have come to admire from sketches I did of “A Confluence” and her magical journaling workshop. Her work had tiny 2 by 3 inch panels with butterfly wings glazed into them. Cellophane and other materials were also layered into the pieces.
I picked out a comfortable chair at the back of the gallery and started to sketch out the perspective of the space. I was right in front of a false wall that art work was hanging off of. As the gallery started to fill up, members of Voci dance showed up and went into the women’s room to change into their costumes for the night.They came out and dances elegantly around the space until the room became to crowded to move around in.
This sketch was a major challenge. I found I would barley have time to see a person then they would disappear behind someone crossing in the foreground, never to be seen again. Several artists and friends I had sketched introduced themselves to me. 
A waitress from the Social Chameleon introduced herself to me and after a second I recognized her since I had sketched her a few nights ago when I sat alone at the Chameleon taking in the ambiance. My attention was constantly being fractured and re focused. People must truly think I am rude as I keep sketching even when in a conversation. Halfway through, I almost gave up , but a fellow artist who sat in the chair next to mine asked to see the sketch book and she pointed out the aspects of the sketch that were working. When she handed the book back, I decided to keep forging ahead despite the constant flow of humanity. I am glad I stuck it out. This is rougher than I usually work and the evident struggle adds I think to the sketches character.
When I finally finished this sketch, I picked up shop and went to watch a harpist and guitar player in the next room. It was past 9 PM when the event was officially supposed to end, but I decided to sit down and do another. This sketch came effortlessly. Then I put the sketchbooks away and talked to friends who stopped over to say hello. I’ve never enjoyed an opening more.
Confluence Opening
Confluence is a show mounted by four women artists who decided to collaborate on a series of large painted panels on which they all worked. The four artists are Brigen Gresh, Vicki Jones, Dina Mack and Anna McCambridge. I followed their progress sketching them on several occasions as they created the works. They were a fun group of artists to observe. Creating the art was a fun playful experience. Laughter was as much a part of their creative process as the long hours of painting.
Anna called the day of the opening and asked me to bring some prints of my sketches that I had done of the project and I was glad to do so. When I arrived the first artist I saw was Dina who was in the outside courtyard with her husband. We hugged and then I went inside to see the show. I placed my signed prints on the table along with a full sketchpad and some business cards and I wandered into the gallery. The first gallery had the artists individual works created before the collaboration. Each artist had a distinct style. In the next gallery, the huge panels lined both walls of a long hallway and the crowd was getting thick. I found Anna who I didn’t recognize at first because she had died her hair red. I congratulated her and continued to explore. I began to realize that I recognized many faces in the room. I had sketched many of these people and going to the opening was a fun way to reconnect with people who had influenced my art and this blog. Strangers approached me and asked if I was the sketch blogger. It was fun meeting new people.
At the end of the hallway there was a video showing the women at work. It was fascinating to watch. The video highlighted much of the playful spirit yet hard work that went into creating this show. In the next room the walls were painted partially grey with white slashed in which hand written messages appeared. Then in the final gallery the artists again showed individual works, this time however the thoughts and processes learned from the collaboration showed in each piece. Each artist had picked up new ways of painting and seeing. It was amazing to see how they had changed and grown as artists, learning from each other.
I returned to the table where I had dropped my signed prints and was amazed to find someone had walked off with them. Thank goodness the sketchbook was still on the table and I quickly tucked it in my bag before it also disappeared. I am far to trusting, or the Orlando art crowd is so naive that they consider art prints a free commodity. Well whoever took the prints, I hope you frame them and give them a good home.
There was to be an after party at the Enzian Theater and I drove over there but the parking lot was packed. Exhausted, I finally decided to give up and I headed home. I had been sketching all day and I needed some rest.
The White House – Lindy Romez
Based on a tip from a reader I went to an event called Timucua White House. This is a private home of Benoit Glazer, the musical director of Circue du Soleil, at 2000 South Summerlin Avenue where music acts are featured salon style in the families living room. The first act featured Benoit on the trumpet accompanied by his very talented kids. On this day Lindy Romez performed with her band, SolY Mar. Juan Leon played the Bass, Chapman Stick played the native American flute and guitar, Gary Tompkins was on guitar, Johnnie Spulveda was on the hand drums and Ralph Gray played the kit drums. In the corner of the stage an artist worked on a canvas when ever the group was playing. The painting was made available for sale when the performances were over.
The home is three stories and opposite the band, a spiral staircase wound upwards offering multiple balcony views of the act. Being curious, I walked to the top of the stairs and that is where I stood to do the sketch. A fair sized crowd of 30 or 40 people were gathered in the living room and stairwell to view the show. Some people leaned against the walls since seating was limited.
Th music had a swinging jazzy beat with a tropical flavor. I found myself swaying my hips to the beat the whole time I was sketching. The intimate space made the music resonate deeply in my chest. This is the second time I separated the performers from the audience with the centerfold of the sketchbook. It seems a natural divide. The heat from all the stage lights rose up and I found myself sweating up a storm as I sketched. It was worth it however since I love this aerial view of the event.
Maitland Art Center
I went to the Maitland Art Center Sketch Club for the first time attend the figure drawing class. It was early evening and a light drizzle had started. I was one of the first to arrive. I introduced myself to Bill Orr who is the fellow in the Hawaiian shirt in this sketch. Bill told me quite a bit about his past. He once lived in this very room back when it was divided up into small apartments. His room had a small fireplace and the window seen in this sketch. He served in World War II being part of a cavalry regiment. When the war ended all the horses were sold off in Europe rather than returned to the States. As an artist he made his living doing life sized paintings of horses. This preoccupation keeps him busy to this day. A few times during the class I peaked at his drawings and they are really good. I am sure I could learn a thing or two from this master, but the class is just an open drawing session with no instruction. Bill helped save the Maitland Art Center when developers wanted to level the site.
Although the nude model was a beautiful young woman, I unfortunately didn’t look at her very much. I am more interested in the everyday mundane moments of peoples lives rather than a view of the classical figure. I still had to pay the model fee which I think was $15. It seems like a waste since I didn’t glance her way very often.
Lesley Silvia working at Stardust
I met Lesley Silvia and her husband Jared at a Kerouac House event. As I have been sketching more and more in Orlando’s more artsy cafes, like Infusion Tea, Dandelion, Seven Sisters, and Stardust, I have become curious about all the people who sit and use their laptops for extended periods of time. Lesley works on her photos and graphic design work using a laptop and Photoshop or Illustrator, InDesign and on rare occasions Painter. She had arrived at Stardust before me and had just finished a dinner of nachos. She and her husband who is a writer, usually work together. Silvia enjoys working in Stardust because it has free WI FI and she feels Dandelion and Infusion have a more mature crowd. Stardust is a more comfortable fit for a young edgy artist. She also likes to work in Winter Park’s Central Park sitting on a bench in the shade, or she goes to Borders and looks through a few magazines for inspiration before she gets to work on the laptop.
As I sketched, Silvia was working on a series of photos called Pinatas. This series resembles crime scene photos where people are shown injured or dead with candy in place of blood. It is a unique and somewhat unnerving series of photos. Her graphic design work is inspired by the Swiss, it is clean neat and tidy.
Silvia was just 10 years old when she took her first photography class. She and her brother learned to make the pinhole cameras at one of the art camps they attended. Her work to this day plays with photography’s earliest forms. Her father helped her with a little bit of photo composition at an early age although at the time she didn’t know photography would be her passion. I high school she discovered that photography was really fun and took every class offered. In college she got a BA in Studio art with a minor in philosophy and her independent study focused on photography. Like most artists she has many facets including an interest in sculpture and graphic design.
Silvia is a full time course director at Full Sail University teaching Digital Photography. She gets freelance work through word of mouth and serendipity. She has shot some weddings and portraits. She shot photos for an Australian Rock Band who was later signed by Columbia Records. The record company asked her to take the rock band pictures off of her web site. She just removed the groups name and the lawyers stopped hassling her. Past clients include Scottish Highland Games and Mega Con. Her favorite assignments are outdoor shoots using natural light and shot with film.
Confluence
I first heard of Confluence from Brigen Gresh at an opening she had of her work at a show called Lot 1433. At that opening she began talking about a collaboration among 4 women artists. Having tried to collaborate with an artist myself in the past and having failed miserably, I was intrigued by this idea of 4 artists all working on the same paintings. I arranged to meet these four artists at McRae Art Studios in Winter Park as they began to work on these huge paintings. The 4 artists are Brigen Gresh, Dina Mack, Anna McCambridge and Vicky Jones. It was a typical steamy Orlando afternoon and the industrial studio space did not have air conditioning, but that did not slow down these women. Anna immediately got to work mounting a drawing to the panel. Vicky had previously drawn in the feet and Anna used her judgment to balance the two works together. Brigen placed tape along the top edge of the panel and painted in a thin band of light blue reminiscent of a sky. Dina started painting in the corner of the panel a bold warm cascade of shapes with the rhythm and flow of jazz. Vicky is Anna’s mom and these two have a similar narrative, representational feeling to their work. Dina and Brigen both work more abstractly with gentle color harmonies and a delicate balance of shape and form.
It started to rain outside and things cooled down. A train rumbled by outside. Anna backed away from the panel and started to dance to the music playing on the radio. She pirouetted and leaped like a ballerina. When she had finished dancing and everyone had stopped laughing, she said something that really resonated with me. “Collaborating with other artists, when the work is really going well, feels just like being in love.”
Confluence will run from September 25th through November 1st at the Maitland Art Center. They will host a gallery walk on Sunday October 18th at 1PM.
Karie Sue Creations
I arranged to sketch Karie Brown of Karie Sue Creations at work creating her one of a kind hand bags from all recycled materials. I met her at Roho Coffee and Art downtown where a group of a dozen or so people had met to brainstorm and talk about upcoming arts events. At the coffee shop Karie asked the proprietor is she would be willing to recycle her used coffee bean bags. The proprietor of course agreed and offered Karie some bags on the spot.
When we got to Karie’s studio, she cut away the edges of some Gillies Coffee bags to use just the gold and silver outer lining with the coffee growers logo. She then started going through wall paper sample books which were also recycled. Her plan was to use the wallpaper samples as the inner lining to the bag.
After much careful measuring she used the sewing machine to stitch the two inverted fabrics together, and to stitch the zipper in place. Then came the more complicated task of folding and stitching the corner sections. Once everything was done she had to delicately turn everything inside out and then the bag took on its final form. With one bag finished she had an errand to run for a friend and since I hadn’t finished my sketch yet I agreed to join her on this task. She drove to the friends house and took the 4 dogs out for a walk in the yard. One dog was a huge dark beast the size of a horse and when he charged down the hallway at me I was sure I was going to die. He just barked a bit and sniffed me however.
With the dog sitting out of the way she then wanted to go to a local coffee shop where she had gotten many of the supplies she had used that day. She asked for the manager and Karie gave the manager the finished bag. The manager loved it.
Most of this sketch was done when we got back to her makeshift studio and she began to experiment with new sizes and handles. The work was rather fast paced and I ended up erasing more than I drew. But I still had a great time getting to meet this vibrant local artist.
The Studio of Brigen Gresh
Brigen is working on a series of abstract paintings called the aftermath. This series explores and deals with the stages of grieving. Each piece begins with a set understanding and she then searches for new ways to convey sensations. Although the work is not illustrative, she does extensive research before she starts painting. For instance she has a whole series of photos she shot of people who are or have been grieving.
Her first series of 12 paintings was more personal and dealt with her relationship with her mom. Each painting offers her new ways to learn about herself. She conveys sensations using line and form. She keeps the inner meaning subtle enough so it creeps on a viewer and then moves them. Her work is light, subtle and delicate with multiple layers of glazes plaster and meaning. She presses door hinges into the plaster as a way abstractly reconnect to the feelings she had when all the doors were removed in her home to allow her sick mother to move from room to room in her wheel chair.
Recent research sent her to a cemetery in Fossil Springs Florida. There she found full body sized grave stones all painted with silver leaf. The stones were lying on the ground side by side with no dates or names indicated. A whole family was lined up together. The heads of the stones were curved and the sight was beautiful and unnerving.
Brigen hopes to fill in the gaps in the development of characters that her work represents. The work is personal yest she still has to edit and remove things that might make the work to personal. Her studio is located in her garage. In this sketch you can see the garage door which her panels are leaning up against. She hasn’t insulated the space or set it up with air conditioning so in the summer months the heat becomes brutal. I was sweating up a storm by the time I finished this sketch.
Box springs and a strange plaster figure were hanging from the rafters. Tiny halogen lights illuminated her panels. From here I was heading down to the Shakespeare Theater to see the final showing of the War of the Worlds so I bought my suit and tie to change into. I changed in Brigen’s bathroom and headed out to the show.