The Capen House

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On June 6th, there was a Winter Park City Commission Meeting in which the fate of the Capen House was litigated. The 128 year old Winter Park home was built by James Caspen who came from Illinois. He worked towards making Winter Park a solid community. He was the secretary for the Winter Park Land Company which was and still is the largest land owning company in town. He also served as commissioner on the town council.

The home was granted a historic designation in 2011 but Sun Trust Bank, the mortgage holder on the property had that historic designation revoked.  Clardy Malugen, the owner at the time had registered the historic home during the foreclosure process. The new owners, John and Betsy Pokorny want to demolish the lake front home to erect a bigger mansion. At the June 6th meeting the Pokorny’s attorney granted a postponement of the demolition for 30 days so that options could be considered for preserving the house.

The Friends of Casa Feliz are working on finding a way to preserve the historic home. Casa Feliz had itself once been threatened with demolition. The entire brick building had been moved to it’s new site on Park Avenue next to the golf course. The Friends encourage public dialogue that
is thoughtful, considerate, and inclusive. It is the Friends’ goal to
find a solution to the precarious situation surrounding the Capen House,
not to assign blame.Groups of concerned citizens have congregated on Facebook and other web platforms to advocate for ‘saving’ the Capen House.

Large hedges obstruct most views of the house at 501 Interlacken Drive in Winter Park. Several “Private Property” signs along with a chain blocking the driveway discouraged me from sketching a full view of the home. I sat on the driveway to sketch the best view available. There was a demolition notice on the garage door. A huge live oak spread it’s ancient roots deep. Storm clouds rolled in as I sketched. I worked as fast as I could till rain drops started hitting the page. I packed the sketchbook away in my art supply bag and sprinted the mile or so back to my car. I had forgotten to bring an umbrella. As I write this, on July 6th the 30 day postponement is over. I’ll have to go back and see if I sketch the home or bulldozers.

P.S. As of July 12th, 2013, the historic home might be moved across the lake to the Albin Polasek museum as it’s new home.

Casa Feliz

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Casa Feliz (625 North Park Avenue, Winter Park) hosts free musical performances each Sunday from Noon to 3PM. Jack Fannigan invited me inside prior to a performance with a theatrical flourish. Jack used to work for James Gamble III who designed Casa Feliz. The building was slated to be demolished but Winter Park citizens wanted to save the historic building. The entire building was lifted and moved to its new home next to a golf course.

Matt, The Sax Man, Festa and Michelle Mailhot were performing on this sunny Sunday afternoon. I had sketched Matt once before at a First Thursdays event at OMA. As a matter of fact, when he opened his laptop, my sketch of him was being used as his screen saver. Michelle also performs with Toxic Audio, a talented acapella singing group. I know they have performed at the Orlando International Fringe Festival and I’ve heard plenty of good buzz, but I’ve never seen them perform. Regardless, Michelle’s voice is stellar. She sang Nora Jones’ “I don’t knew why” with incredible heart.

The evening before, I had sketched at the Red Fox Lounge where the incomparable Mark Wayne and Lorna Lamby used to perform their kitschy and fun musical lounge act. After Mark’s death earlier this year, there has been other performers trying to fill those shoes, but there is still a void. Matt and Michelle have that extra magic turning a performance into an all out party. Michelle’s daughter dressed in pink, danced in the front row. Every seat was full and the room was alive. As I packed up to leave, I noticed another artist working on a sketch. What a great way to start a Sunday afternoon.

Artist Critique Series Led by Josh Garrick

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 I was running late getting to the Art and History Museums of Maitland, (210 W. Packwood Avenue, Maitland), for the free monthly art critique series hosted by Josh Garrick. The critiques are held on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Guest Panelists Robin Maria-Pedrero and Terry Hummel joined Josh for at the Germaine Marvel Building. When I got there, the room was packed with people standing behind the back row of folding seats. These critiques seem to be quite popular and gaining momentum. I sat in my artist stool leaning against the wall. Artists of every medium and skill level are encouraged to participate. Josh graciously acknowledged my blog and welcomed me.

Lynn Polley was the artist who was showing her work when I arrived. I quickly blocked her into the sketch but by the time I sketched the work on display on the easels, I had to incorporate other artists pieces. Lynn showed landscapes done in oil. One piece had a very forced perspective. She described the day that she did the plein air painting. She was worried about the angle but then she relaxed and enjoyed the process. Another piece was of the historic Casa Feliz in Winter Park. Another artist, Laura Bates showed a very similar painting of an archway at “The Casa.” Her paintings were filled with warm light. The guy seated in front of me seemed to be the time keeper. He kept waving a sheet of paper that said, one minute to go. All of the critiques were constructive. The point hammered home most often was to keep at it. Some artists had long periods in their life in which they weren’t creating and Josh stressed that they had to work at art even if they weren’t feeling inspired. All the artist’s paintings were on a table against the far wall. I looked at them all to get artists names, but none of the art was signed.

Most of the art shown was representational. The last artist to show her work, Barbara Koepell, had a brown and white painting which she did as she studied the patterns in a tree’s bark. She began to see figures and shapes and she free associated as she worked. Terry Hummel loved the piece as did Maria and Josh. Josh related a story from his time in NYC when he was a teacher as the School of Visual Arts. He was looking at an abstract painting and he didn’t really appreciate it. Silas Rhodes, the founder of SVA, was standing behind him. Silas said, “Why don’t you like abstract art?” Josh was taken aback since he hadn’t voiced his opinion. Silas then told Josh, “Let the painting wash over you like the waves in the ocean.” It was a defining moment for Josh on his road to art appreciation. I attended SVA but never met Silas. Now I wish I had. It’s never too late to change your perspective..

Several times, the importance of using social media to promote art was mentioned. Josh however ran into a case in which he had a cyber stalker. He used to “friend” anyone but now he is more careful. After the Critique was over, Josh walked up to me as I was packing up. He reached out to shake my hand. Without thinking, I reached up to shake his hand. I forgot I had a pencil in my hand and I managed to stab his palm. I shouted out, “Oh my god, I’m sorry, I’m like Edward Scissorhands!”

Flamenco

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Inside Casa Feliz, I hear feet stomping and hot Spanish music. People were seated in the intricate old wooden chairs facing the dancers who were in front of a bay window facing the back. A large sheet of plywood had been dropped on top of the Casa’s floor boards. It was a full house, so I decided to slip through the kitchen to a side room. That looked in on the dancers. Unfortunately several other people had same Idea. This still offered the best view, so I started sketching.

The woman in the fiery red and black dress was performing a solo dance with castanets. Three of the dancers were students of Alborea Entertainment. The other man and woman were the teachers. Besides teaching flamenco, Alborea teaches, Bolivian Folkloric Carnival dances, Persian dances, Belly dance, Bollywood, African Rhythms, folkloric Mexican dance, Latin Rhythm and Fusion Rhythm. They perform at private parties, educational programs, theater productions, television programs, corporate events, and conventions.

Artist Bernie Martin stopped in and sat on the floor close to the stage. The man in front of me kept shooting photos and the woman seated at the same table did the same occasionally. Between performances, I was still splashing color on the page. A female artist introduced herself. I was still distracted, as I was getting close to finishing my sketch. She has been going to Casa Feliz every week and sketching the performers. She asked my advice on how she could improve her drawings. I took a sheet from her sketchbook and made suggestions on how she could use perspective to improve on what she was already doing. She knew of the Urban Sketchers site and of Analog Artist Digital World. As she left, she said E was her artist muse. That was definitely the best compliment I got in a long time. I feed good knowing that the next time she sketches, she will have the compositional tips I offered as a new spring board. I admire her tenacity in returning to the same place to sketch each week. Over time it could become a great series of sketches.

When my sketch was done, I went back outside to finish the sketch I started of Casa Feliz’s exterior.

Casa Feliz

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Every Sunday, from 12pm to 3pm, Casa Feliz in Winter Park hosts musical events. I’ve sketched here before and honestly it would be a worthy spot to sketch every week. I arrived early on this weekend when Alborea Dances was going to perform flamenco. It was a gorgeous, cool day, so I decided to walk around the old historic home. For the first time I slipped under an arch into the back of the building. The sun blazed bright on the brickwork and there was a large shady oak tree under which I decided to sketch. There was only half an hour or so before the flamenco dancing was to start inside, so there really wasn’t enough time to sketch. I couldn’t resist and I started anyway.

Several people approached me to see what I was working on and they were both artists. Is everyone in Winter Park an artist? One girl arrived early for a wedding that was going to happen at the Casa that afternoon. She took a multitude of photos of the building and garden for a painting she planned to do of the building. Her eye was drawn to the bright colors of the scene. I suspect the painting might be a wedding present. A tail stately woman let me know that she had painted almost an identical view to the sketch I was working on. She lived right across the street and she went back to her place to get the painting. She brought back a panoramic three foot wide canvas. The painting was done in oil with a Burnt Sienna under painting which she wiped away the lights. She said she had forgotten to paint one of the chimneys but a fellow painter pointed out the apparent flaw and she added it back in. I let her know that we were on the same page doing panoramas, since I am often bringing out the panoramic sketchbook. She let me know that there was a plein air painting group that got together every week in Winter Park. I wish I had written down the information. All I remember is that they meet at Panara’s. There is another Plein air group that meets once a week in the evenings, and they do nocturnes of the businesses on Park Avenue.

Before I could start adding color to my sketch, I heard the Flamenco Music flair up inside Case Feliz. I couldn’t resist the draw of the music. I quickly packed up my supplies and then slipped into a back door to see what was going on inside. After sketching the flamboyant flamenco dancers, I returned to my spot under the tree and I started splashing in colors.

Casa Feliz

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Every Sunday from noon to three there are performances by talented Orlando musicians at Casa Feliz (656 Park Avenue, Winter Park.) Angela Roark who organizes these Sunday concerts said hello and welcomed me to the Casa. I stopped in as harpist Catherine Way was tuning up her golden harp which she named Elizabeth Marie. The music ranged from “Phantom of the Opera” to “Here Comes the Sun”. Catherine is a huge fan of the Beatles and she pointed out that “Here Comes the Sun” was chosen by astronauts multiple times when they televised space missions. Elizabeth Marie had a golden peaceful tone that filled the room. There were perhaps six rows of chairs set up and quite a few people showed up to enjoy the music. If you ever find yourself exploring Park Avenue on a Sunday, I would certainly make sure to stop in at Casa Feliz for a taste of old Florida history and music.

As I finished my sketch I remembered that Terry was at home being a weekend warrior and pulling weeds in the hot Florida sunshine. Feeling a bit guilty I quickly packed up my supplies. Catherine wanted to see the sketch and then she shared it with the audience. Several people asked me for the name of the blog so then could type it into their cell phones or make a note on a scrap of paper. I never seem to have business cards when I need them. I pass them out faster than I can print them.