Eladio Sharron and Carrie Wiesinger

Posted on by Thor

On November 11th, as part of the Accidental Music Festival, Eladio Sharron and Carrie Wiesinger performed Latin American works for flute and guitar, including Cronicas Del Descrumbiento by Robert Sierra, Fantasia by Inocente Carreno and Histoire du Tango by Astor Piazolla at the Timucua White House (200 Summerlin Ave). There was no visual artist on stage that day.

I tend to like to sketch from the second or third floor balcony, so I climbed the spiral staircase and found a spot to sit. Wendy Wallenberg was busy setting  up the snack and wine table in the next room. She signaled me from the entry gesturing to let me know I didn’t greet her properly.  Paintings by Christie Miga were on display and a large painting with 3D objects sticking out of it was right next to me. I stood and leaned against the wall overlooking the railing as I sketched. I was afraid that I might nudge Christies painting as I struggled with my sketch, sending the painting toppling down hitting audience members below. I don’t know why I always imagine the worst. Nothing horrible happened. Instead I experienced beautiful music in an intimate setting.

The Art of Public Space

Posted on by Thor

On November 27th, I went to Urban ReThink for one of their “ReThinking the City” presentations. Award winning artist Gillian Christy and her husband, urbanest Russell Preston discuss the art of creating great public space. Russell showed slides of empty public spaces in Boston that became vibrant community meeting places thanks to simple inexpensive urban design and public art. Gillian does large scale public art, so together they make a great team. Public space design should be about creating authentic community’s with people being the first consideration. An active public space inspires art to be in it. Gillian and Russell were the first resident artists at the steelyards in Boston. Huge industrial smoke stacks were modified by adding art to them. Gillian said that her work is about connectors, things that connect people. The redesigning of vacant spaces was referred to as “Tactical Urban-ism” by Russell. Design was done lighter, quicker and cheaper. Short term action resulted in long term change.

 Ed Green from “Rebuilding Together Orlando” and its program, A Door to a Good Night’s Sleep, that helps needy children in our community.The organization offers hope to people in hopeless situations. The last Saturday in April will be a construction day in which people come together and help rebuild home in desperate need of repair. To raise money for this effort,
Rebuilding Together Orlando partnered with Home Builder’s Institute, The Mustard Seed, and
a major pharmaceutical company to build bunk beds for children in
Orange County. The bunk beds were built with recycled wood doors and
“upcycled” materials such as bed frames. They then created “A Door to a Good Night’s Sleep” by embracing the talent of local artists to create works of art on the headboards.

They have been beautifully painted and are showcased in an online auction. So far 11 headboards have been painted. Anyone can bid on these works of art.

Last Tango in Paris

Posted on by Thor

Our last evening in France, Terry and I returned to Paris and found a hotel near the train station so we could get to the airport early the next morning. Unfortunately it was raining. Regardless, we decided to walk to Place des Vosges which is a gorgeous manicured park surrounded on all sides by historic architecture. It is the oldest planned square in Paris dating back to 1612. The corner building in my sketch was once the home of Victor Hugo from 1832-1848.  It is now a museum devoted to his memory.

As I sketched, Terry scouted around and discovered several gallery openings. We grabbed glasses of wine at an opening of paintings of bull fighters and tango dancers. Outside music was playing on a radio and  four or five couples were dancing the tango. These were skilled sensual dancers who understood their partners every movement. This was a truly memorable Parisian moment, a perfect way to cap off the trip.

A gallery several doors down was showing bright colorful paintings done of opulent interiors done entirely with pallet knivesand thick juicy paint. I rather liked the work and we met the artist. One last time we hiked back to the hotel watching the bustle and bright lights in the city of light.

Death By Pop Community Paint

Posted on by Thor

On Tuesday October 30th I went to the Death By Pop-Up Shop, (1844 A Winter Park Ave, Orlando, Florida 32803) for a Community Paint event. These Community Paint events will happen every Tuesday from 3-11pm. It is all about giving artists an excuse to get out of the house and escape some of the distractions for a day. Artists brought canvases, easels, paint, sketchbooks, notebooks, laptops or whatever they needed to create with, and they worked along with fellow artists, musicians, poets and designers.

Death by Pop is a hip urban custom clothing store with B-Side Artists work adorning the walls. Chris Tobar was there to show me around. Artists whose work were on display included: Steve Parker, Justin Barrows, Peter Van Flores III, Peterson Guerrier, Jaime Torraco, The three Bears, Cake Marques, Jeff Pfaff, Michael McGrath, Brian Heeter, Decoy and Chris Reason.  

Swamburger was the guest artist that evening. He sold one of his pieces online while everyone was working. He found an image online of a ghetto Spongebob and he laughed as he said, “This is just wrong!” A huge jar of Cheetos puff balls sat on a table, largely ignored. Artist Tiffany Dae was seated right in front of me. She was painting an intricate sculpted wooden totem. She assembles various photos found online into cosmic, ethereal images which are painted. I always like meeting artists and learning how they work.

I spoke with Mila Belle Dykes just as I was leaving, having finished my sketch. I had met Mila Belle once before at City Arts Factory at Mia De los Muertos. She was painting a skull mask on a young woman’s face. I considered sketching Mila at work that day, but she said she would be done in just five minutes. I needed more time so I focused on other artists. The painting she was working on at Death by Pop was light and airy with white doves appearing and rising within abstraction. She worked her oil on canvas with thin glazes retaining the vibrancy of light bouncing through the paint and back out.

Art and Process

Posted on by Thor

On November 14th, I went to Urban ReThink to hear artists Brian Phillips, Dina Mack and Tory Tepp talk about their Art and Process. Dina Mack lead off showing her work from inception to today. She worked in the beginning by doing collages. Her work later matured and become austere in its simplicity and abstraction. She did an instillation in which she froze written documents in ice and then let them melt in the gallery. For the Corridor Project, she had a series of cloth napkins which she used to blot her lipstick. She vividly remembers her grandmothers perfume, so she scented the fabric. The lipstick stained napkins were an autobiographical look back at memories she had of her mother and grandmother.  Her grandmother used to give her a butterscotch candy if she sat still in church. The sound of the wrapper still brings back the memory, so she filled a vintage purse with butterscotch wrappers. The ephemeral installation was installed on the lawn of the Mennello Museum for only a few days. The sense of smell is only now being researched. Apparently all the Marriott hotels in the country use the same perfumed cleaning products. A scent can trigger many vivid memories. Much of Dina’s work speaks in a whisper, implied, like a scent on a breeze.

Tory Tepp is now a resident artist at the Atlantic Center of the Arts in Daytona Beach. He began his career as an artist doing traditional paintings. He hit a wall where he felt painting didn’t have any meaningful place in today’s society. He stagnated, not knowing where to go as an artist. Then he started planting seeds and growing a garden outside his Los Angeles studio. This garden helped him feel more connected to the people in his neighborhood. He started using abandoned shopping carts as planters. This evolved into Urban art with a taste of nature. An installation at a college consisted of a series of grass covered dirt mounds that acted as a natural place to meet, lie back relax and mingle. He is now working on a similar installation as part of his Atlantic Center of the Arts residency. With any luck, I’ll get out there to sketch the work in progress.

Brian Phillips showed his illustrative work. He has a whole series of paintings of house fires illuminating the night sky. He has some of his paintings hanging at Urban ReThink now. One piece in particular caught my eye. It was a painting of a stone arrowhead with a bold flat backdrop. This simple image implies much about the violence of survival. That image lingers. Brian didn’t claim any deep rooted underlying themes to his work. For the people intent on finding hidden meanings, he did a painting of a house fire and diagrammatically circled some embers. The diagram pointed to a bird, leaf and phone. It was pure nonsense. He paints because he loves the process.

I’ll be giving a talk on my art and process this Wednesday December 12th from 7PM to 9PM at Urban Rethink, (625 E Central Blvd  Orlando, FL, 32801). Rick Jones will be presenting, discussing and displaying his works on the ReThink wall, along with photographer Hannah Glogower. Stop by and say hi.

The Big Dog Show

Posted on by Thor

At the foot of a walkway bridge that leads from the Mennello Museum to the suburban neighborhood on the opposite side of Lake Formosa is a “Red Dog” sculpture by Dale Rogers.  I love walking across that bridge as the sun sets. Snapping turtles leisurely paddle their way through the thick green water for a breath of air. The bridge is now part of the Dinky Line Trail, an exercise trail that will weave through the Virginia Drive, Ivanhoe Village, neighborhood. Under current plans, the trail ultimately could stretch from the new
arena in downtown Orlando past Lake Highland and the city’s Loch Haven
Park before terminating at Mead Garden in Winter Park, where it could
eventually tie into other trails. Also on the drawing board: a spur to
Lake Baldwin.

Driving past the Mennello, I saw a pack of huge rusty dogs, which were giant versions of the “Red Dog” in he Sculpture Garden and around the entrance to the museum. I had to pull in. The museum has welcomed back Rogers with a fresh pack of twenty 8-foot-tall, 10-foot-long sculptures of dogs made of Cor-ten steel. Small  versions are available for sale in the gift shop. Rogers has said that he thinks his work gives you a dog’s eye view of the world, and he hopes art, the public and animal welfare can all come together for a good cause. The show is open to the public now through March 17th, 2012.

Today, Saturday DECEMBER 1st, there will be a Big Dog Show Happy Hour
from 4 to 6 p.m. Admission is free.
Bring your four-legged friends to this outdoor reception for Dale Rogers and the new installation of 20 Brown Dog steel sculptures. Refreshments for sale for dogs and their owners from The Spork Happy Food Cafe and Puppy Love Cafe, along with litter bags. Bring donations of pet foods and supplies to donate to local animal shelters. Adopt one of the rare breeds to benefit Canine Companions for Independence and A New Beginning Pet Rescue.

Musee d’Orsay

Posted on by Thor

The first museum Terry and I went to in Paris was the Musee d’Orsay. Once a railroad station, the museum now houses an amazing art collection. We were expecting long lines but the line into the museum was surprisingly short. A security guard didn’t like the looks of my portable artist stool however and I had to check it. We climbed immediately to the top floor where I started quickly surveying the paintings. I checked myself when I realized Terry was several rooms behind. There were rooms full of Corbet paintings, endless impressionistic landscapes and a fabulous collection of sculptures. The top floor windows opened up to a beautiful vista overlooking the Seine River as a statue stood vigilantly at the precipice. It was in this museum where the fantastic Honore Daumier sculpted busts of politicians was on exhibition. My only regret is that we somehow missed seeing a Vermeer painting.

Museum burn set in after we hit every floor. The museum is compact enough where you can see the whole collection in one day. It felt good to be back outside. Terry introduced me to a Parisian delicacy, the Croque-monsieur at cafe across the street from the museum. A Croque-monsieur is a delicious grilled ham and cheese sandwich. It is much better than any American made grilled cheese and it became a regular part of my diet in Paris. We sat on a stone wall and I did a quick sketch of these sculpture. Artists who did the sculptures were, Mathum Moreau, Aime Millet, Eugene Molie, Eugene Deplaplanche, and Alexandre Falguiere. I’m always annoyed that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC has bare cinder blocks decorating the entry columns of the museum. Why on earth don’t they commission an artist to do classical sculptures like these?

Basilique du Sacre Coeur

Posted on by Thor

Terry and I took the Metro to the Paris hillside neighborhood of Montmartre. This area has been known to be a sanctuary for artists through the years. When we walked up the staircase of the metro we were surprised to find ourselves in a seedier part of Paris. A Policeman on a bicycle saw us trying to get our bearings and he directed us to a staircase that climbed up the hill. He warned us about pickpockets and sent us on our way.

The staircase went up forever. Several tourists were lugging their luggage up to try and find a bed and breakfast entrance half way up. They were still searching as we passed them. We were completely winded when we got to the top, but this was our view of the Basilique du Sacre Coeur once we reached the top. Terry wanted to explore the inside of the Cathedral so I walked her up the last set of steps to the entrance and then I returned to this spot to sketch. A woman sat half wan up the steps begging for change. Another woman sat at the entrance to the cathedral begging. She looked just like the woman I saw begging at another church and I wondered if she was following us.

The spot where I sat was surprisingly peaceful. About 100 yards to my left, street performers, and musicians were doing their acts for a large crowd of tourists. Terry was annoyed that the musicians didn’t have much talent. It was a zoo. From right in front of the cathedral we had a view over all of Paris. Wandering the side streets we found a boat load of artists selling their pallet knife paintings of Paris. We found the art studio where Pablo Picasso first started painting his cubist paintings. Then we relaxed in a cafe as it started to rain.

Orange, White and Blue Gala

Posted on by Thor

Devin Dominguez invited Terry and I to Evening in the Grove, was an Orange, White and Blue Gala honoring the Orlando Magic with proceeds benefiting the Art and History Museums of Maitland. I wore a blue and white striped shit,with a blue tie and jacket. The event was at the Sheraton Orlando North Hotel in Maitland. I had sketched a wedding reception here once. As soon as guests entered the hotel. they were greeted by Ashley and Amy, two of the Orlando Magic dancers. I wandered around the lobby looking at all the silent auction items but I couldn’t find a spot to sketch. Dawn Schreiner was doing quick portraits for anyone who wanted to sit for a bit. There were several Orlando Magic players, Bo Outlaw and Nick Anderson, sitting by themselves but they
looked bored and so I decided that the chipper dancers were my best bet for a decent sketch during the cocktail hour. They posed with people and waited patiently between photo shoots. They didn’t quite know shat to make of me and they peeked at the sketch in its early stages.

They wandered off and I debated about abandoning the sketch. I figured they were creeped out by the loony with the sketchbook. I decided to focus on features of the room and before long, the dancers were back. Amy peeked again and said, “Moving on the ink, this is getting serious.” This time I nailed down the dancers slender proportions. Raffle tickets were being sold by the arm length. Bidding on the silent auction items involved downloading a program on the smart phone where bids stacked up digitally, and you were even warned if someone outbid you. I tried to limit my palette to blue, white and orange. When I finished the sketch, I found my way to the dining area. The salads had just been served, so my timing was perfect. Speed painter, Tony Corbitt was on stage doing a painting of Paul McCartney of the Beetles. Tony usually takes his shirt off when he paints but event organizers insisted he keep his shirt on. I’m always impressed with the speed in which he nails a celebrity face using just white paint on a black board.

The live auction was lively with one of Tony’s paintings bringing in over $300. Henry Maldonado,  president of thee Enzian Theater, acted as the Emcee. Speakers pointed out that the Orlando Magic Youth Fund had distributed over $17 million dollars through the Orlando Magic Youth Fund. Programs like, Journey to the Arts, help bring culture to at risk youth who might never get that experience otherwise. A young woman named  Mercedes Beaudoin got behind the mic to talk about her experience as an intern working for the Maitland Art and History Museums. She spoke of how much she learned and how grateful she was. The arts offered a long lasting meaningful purpose. Then she choked up as she said, “especially since my mother died recently.” The room grew quiet as she regained her composure and spoke about how important the arts are in our lives. Everyone stood and clapped as she left the stage. The evening brought in a net total of $48,200. All monies raised will support art and history programming at the Art and History Museums of Maitlnd.

Mystery Sketch Theater

Posted on by Thor

Tonight, Mystery Sketch Theater will have a special session specifically focused on figure drawing with a long pose. Christie will be back as the model. Christie will be wearing a Galadriel dress from Lord of the Rings, also requested by the artists!

The event will last 1.5 hours. We will do a few sample poses at the beginning for everyone to get warmed up and figure out which pose they like best, and then we will continue with the selected pose for the rest of the evening with
breaks in between for the model, and the pose re-established after each break.

Please take note that this event is on a THURSDAY and starts promptly at 7PM. We wanted to be kind to our hosts and not keep them at the shop on an evening they are not open late.  The entry fee is $5 for the event (no games or prizes this time, but we’ll still pick up some snacks), and it will still be held at The Geek Easy, located inside of A Comic Shop (114 South Semoran Blvd # 6
Winter Park, FL 32792-4433
(407) 332-9636).

As always, outside food and drink are welcome, and come early for a good seat. Those drawing tables go quickly!