Brad Catron – Analog Artist Digital World

On September 18th, I went to the Full Sail building 2 lobby (3300 University Boulevard, Winter Park, Fl) for the return of The HUB (a.k.a. the Digital Arts and Design Gallery). Every other month this space will present a new selection of work by students and faculty. Each showcase will follow a theme. The first exhibition featured art and design inspired by music. All media/styles are welcome. Kim Lomas organized the event and I submitted a sketch of the Brad Catron Quartet. Rather than get the sketch framed, Kim gave me the option of displaying the sketch digitally on a computer screen. I liked the idea of displaying my analog art digitally.

The goal is to showcase projects from every department at Full Sail to demonstrate the rich variety of media, styles, and formats used. A committee of instructors choose the award for the best faculty work, and a committee of students choose the award for the best student work. Thankfully, I missed any award ceremony or speeches.

Faculty had quite a bit of work on display. Hugo Giraud had a painting of “The First Lady of Soul (Ella)” and a painting of “Dizzy G”. Leslie Silvia had one of her black paper cut outs (Scherenschnitte) titled “Sparrows and Nightingales.” Leslie joked with me as I sketched, saying, “We don’t allow sketching in here.” It is an ongoing joke among friends that I am so often kicked out of events for sketching. Tony Philippou had paintings of “Bigge”, “Andre 300”, and “Cee-loo”. A student whose work caught my eye was Tyler Christmas who had a painting done on acetate, of a human ribcage with a blue crab on top called “The Protector”. I noticed Tom Buzbee and his daughter, Avaryl in the reception crowd, but he wasn’t exhibiting any of his large abstract works. I had gotten to the reception late and so, I was still working on the sketch long after everyone had left for home.

On April 17th I went to Tastings (164 Lake Ave Maitland Fl), to listen to jazz and sketch. The Jazz Tastings Quartet performs every Friday starting at 7PM. I ordered a white wine and a lobster bisque that was delicious. The band got on stage just as I was finishing my bisque. Cary Frank was on the keyboards and you can’t see him in my sketch. He is behind the bass player, John Toney. I recognized John, I had sketched him perform once before at the Obama Campaign Headquarters. Brad Catron was up front with his self deprecating humor and fast fingers on guitar. The fish bowl tip jar was half full of dollar bills from the start.

The music was lively helping motivate every line and splash of color. After my second cup of white wine the sketch started to look not so bad. As often happens, the band took a break before the sketch was done. I kept painting, forgetting about local color, and going with colors that worked for the sketch.

It was a good sketch session, although the bisque and wines were more expensive than I expected. Most people don’t recognize the cost of making art. Maybe I should put a tip jar out every time I sketch. With my luck, I’d be arrested for busking or begging.