Orlando Urban Sketching Workshop 5 at House of Blues.

Posted on by Thor

Hurricane Irma blew the wind out of the sails of the 5th Orlando Urban Sketch Workshop that was held at the Ultimate Art Party in Tavares Florida. I decided to reschedule that class since so few artists attended. The next week we met at House of Blues in Disney Springs. When I arrived artists were already gathered at the iconic rusty water tower. We looked for a location where I could talk without the canned in Disney music. I thought we would hang out in a grassy area, but the lawn had loud speakers. We ultimately walked across the courtyard to a bunch of benches a short distance from House of Blues.

I had everyone work small on thumbnail drawings. This allowed us all to do a series of sketches rather than one long sketch. I executed this sketch quickly as everyone worked. I encouraged everyone to limit their color palettes so this sketch was just in sepia tones and then I added color later. The large cement courtyard between us and the water tower gave a good ground plane for me to explain how to populate a sketch.

We did 5 minute studies of each artist in turn as they looked at their cell phone or sketched. With all those quick sketched done I asked the artists to create a ground plane using two point perspective and then copy several of the quick 5 minute figure studies onto the grid. The figure studies were like chess pieces on a chess board. Pieces in the foreground were larger, and pieces in the background grew smaller.

Live music could be heard coming from the House of Blues, so the last exercise was to approach the music and draw the crowd gathered to listen as well  as the musicians. I executed a second tiny sketch while everyone found a spot and got to work. We then returned to the benches to see each others work and take some photos.  It was a fun night and I think the attendees age getting a feel for the excitement of working on location.

Disney Springs Waterside Park.

Posted on by Thor

I was asked by a music producer to do a sketch of one of the bands at Disney Springs Waterside Stage. After a quick sound check, the first performer was Nicholas Marks. He performed solo acoustic guitar with gusto. He was seated on start, but then stood, walking out into the audience as he played. I recognized “Green Sleeves” which is a piece I used to play on trumpet. Mr. Maserati in sun glasses, a golf cap and a highly sequined shirt danced to the music. He was covered in logos and must be a cast member. A young boy got caught up in the dance moves and joined in. The crowd went crazy when he eventually re-joined his family. Nicholas’s fingers flashed quickly against the strings and he hugged the guitar to he chest like a lover as he danced and played. Despite his energy and showmanship few people danced.

After his set there was a new nighttime show called “Starbright” that appeared over the lake at 7:00pm and 8:30pm starting November 20-January 8. Hundreds of colored lights hoovered in the night sky like flying saucers. They assembled themselves into the dimensional shapes a like a spiraling Christmas Tree. I couldn’t figure out how it was done at first. Were there lazers being projected into fog? Finally my inner child took over and I watched with absolute awe. The colors changed from green to blue and then white. The orbs re-assembled themselves into various shapes one being a giant blue dove. I later learned that the show was created using 300 drones that moved together in perfect synchronicity thanks to some new computer coding. 

The band I had come to sketch La Calle, got on the stage after Starbright. They performed energetic salsa music that had everyone dancing. It became difficult to see the band through the crowd of dancers, but I patiently persisted. A little ten year old boy took an interest in my sketch. “Can I have it?” he asked. “Noooo| I need it” I replied. “Can you draw me something?” he pleaded. “Maybe when I’m done.” I offered. I knew he would eventually loose interest and sure enough, he was soon running up and down steps and jumping over railings. Where are his parents? Anyway the band kept everyone entertained and dancing. I wrapped up my sketch, as La Calle  started their second set. You can hear this group on Tuesdays after 7pm at Disney Springs Waterside Stage, through January 8th.