Daytona Beach Sand Dredging Project

Posted on by Thor

Pam Schwartz and I decided to get away to Daytona Beach for a day. Parking at the end of a street was surprisingly easy. A quick walk over some dunes left us on the beach where we set up the umbrella since I am a vampire needing eternal shade. Once set up we walked down the beach towards what looked like a huge fountain.

The beach ended with a sign and workmen warning “Danger and Keep Out!” The fountain was part of a  $20-million-plus effort to restore protective berms along Flagler
County’s coastline, one of the longest and most multifaceted projects in
the county’s history. Work crews dumped more than 750,000 tons of sand to patch up Flagler’s
battered dune line, which was devastated by hurricanes Matthew and Irma
in 2016 and 2017.

Sand was being pumped through huge pipes being moved from one area and mixed with sea water to make a slurry and then pumped out like a geyser onto the new beaches being built and expanded.  As the sand filled slurry poured out, tractors quickly moved up and down the beach moving the new sand into place. A few months later the same beach had a huge thick boa constrictor of a pipe running down the beach as the sand was being pumped further south. Sand was built up in certain areas so beach goers had bridges to walk over the thick pipe which was at least 5 feet in diameter.

Sterio Type performed at the Fringe Outdoor Stage.

Posted on by Thor

Stereo Type which hails from Daytona Beach, Florida performed at the Fringe Outdoor Stage. Band members include, Vincent Victor Oath on Guitar and Lead Vocals, Brian Topp on Drums.
Their genre is Punk and Hard Rock. We came across the band performing during the Fringe Sketch Tour. Music sets on the outdoor stage are seldom over an hour long and usually much less, so I rushed to get something on the page. My Sketch Tour protege was a bit tired, having already done about 5 drawings that day. She decided to listen to the music and just watch me work. In a sense this sketch became a demonstration on how to work fast and furious. Hopefully it helped.

The music was also fast and furious as band members banged their heads to the beat. When sketching live performances, the beat and rhythm often work their way into every line and wash on the sketch. After the initial frustrations subside, I often reach a point where I’m no longer drawing things, but a feeling or flow through the scene. It is magic when it happens but I’m to harsh a critic to decide if it worked. I put the sketch aside and start hunting for my next scene to capture.