Making Nails

Posted on by Thor

In July, the Thorspecken Clan descended on Orlando. Cornelia and her daughter Nini came from Wiesbaden Germany, Don, Val and their kids, Nichole and Kyle came from Connecticut. Carol and her kids, Anna and Kristen came from Upstate New York. Terry and I drove to the hotel where everyone was staying on the first night. Anna immediately wanted to borrow my watercolor paint supplies. I gave her a watercolor palette and a brush and for the rest of the evening she created a tropical sunset on a paper plate. Mark Bishop took a test drive in Terry’s new Porche, and his animated excitement about the ride was fun to watch.

Anna then began to experiment with painting fingernails and toe nails. She created pink strawberry toenails  with bright green leaves and then neatly placed black seeds. Other nail designs included smiley faces and floral nails. Every woman left with fully painted toe nails and finger nails.When everyone came to our house for a visit, Anna set up a little lab on our kitchen table. A blue plastic cup was filled halfway with water and then fingernails paint was poured in. The nail polish floated on the top of the water and then she would pour in another color into the center creating concentric rings of color that floated on the water. She would drag a small stick into the slick and pull it outward much as baristas do with patterned foam in a coffee cup. The result was a sort of colorful spider’s web. She would then submerge a fake fingernail under the slick and try to get the pattern to appear on the top of the nail. The experimenting went on for hours and Terry helped out by attaching nails to sticks.

I’m still experimenting with a tablet to draw, and the results are a bit garish as I get used to the interface and controls. I haven’t yet found the tools that can give me a spontaneous took that I usually get from splashing real watercolors on the page. Like Anna, I need to keep playing until I get the results that I want. Terry hates the look of the digital sketches and feels I should stop trying to use technology to sketch. I’m stubborn however and I’m convinces that in time I’ll get amazing results. I’ll keep throwing spaghetti at the wall until it starts to stick. If I look back at the sketches I did the first year I started this blog, I have to admit that there was plenty of sketches that just didn’t work back then. I just need to find the tools that work for me. Right now I’m fighting the machine but eventually when it becomes fun to work with I’ll improve. One step forward, two steps back, that is what it takes to keep growing as an artist.

The Flight Home From Richmond Virginia

Posted on by Thor

The flight back to Orlando from Richmond Virginia was pretty uneventful. I sketched the airport waiting area before we boarded the plane. I’m always surprised how many people are always staring at their phones. This week the Thorspecken clan are visiting Orlando from Germany, Connecticut, Upstate New York and Charleston South Carolina. They are all staying in a double suite  at a hotel only a quarter of a mile from home. The second they arrived they all were scrambling to get their digital devices hooked up to the web. Once dinner was over, the room went silent as everyone took out their phones to get “connected”. It had been many years since everyone had been together. When I travel, I still write a post every day but I make it a rule not to share my experiences on Facebook. Terry has followed my lead, since writing experiences on Facebook is like announcing that “I’m not home, please take all I own.”

My brother Don Thorspecken had over 500 photos on his tablet from a trip he took to Germany to visit Cornelia and Nini Thorspecken. We are related to Cornelia through Dr. Augustus Thorspecken who came to America in the 1830’s. His brother remained in Germany and Cornelia is related through him.  Years ago Terry and I traveled to Germany where we met every Thorspecken we could find. Flipping through the digital photos, history came alive. Dr. Oscar Thorspecken helped save Jews destined for the work camps by making it appear like they were sick. Oscar’s wife however was all for the Nazi party, proud that her son was in the war. This caused a rift in the family. Shortly after the war, one of the sons was hiking in the mountains where he was murdered for his  camera. Cornelia is a professional flute player who kept the Thorspecken name, even after she was married. I was most excited by photos Don took of photo albums he was shown in Germany. This put a face to the stories. My father pushed into Germany at the end of World War II crossing the Ruhr river and moving through the industrial district towards Berlin. He said once that he saw the Thorspecken name on a storefront. On my trip I met Herbert who served in the Luftwaffe. It is a small world. Basically every war is a civil war with distant cousin fighting cousin.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Posted on by Thor

We were staying at Steve Wallace‘s house out on Staten Island. Steve works at the Police Academy in New York City. He drove us to the Academy which is right in the neighborhood of the School of Visual Arts where I went to college. After a quick visit to his office where we left Reese’s, Carol’s Dachshund, we were escorted up to Macy’s by another officer, Joe Deligate. We drove through barricade after barricade until we were right across from Macy’s. There was a special section reserved for police family and we pressed in.

I sketched as we waited for the parade to begin. My older brother Don Thorspecken showed up with his kids, Nicki and Kyle. There was a long wait. Cheerleaders sat in the street hugging their legs trying to stay warm. There were bleachers set up across the street and that was where the TV camera’s were. Macy’s had a large Believe sign on the side of the store. I believe it had to do with the newspaper editors reply to Virginia when she asked if there is a Santa Claus.

Confetti cannons announced the start of the parade. We were at the point where the parade turned right, so we had an unobstructed view of all the floats and balloons as they approached. One balloon was of a Shelf Elf. Carol practices this tradition. A shelf elf is in the home in the week prior to Christmas. This elf reports back to Santa telling him if the children have been naughty or nice. Each day the elf is hidden in a new hiding spot and the kids try to find him. As we ate breakfast one morning, the Kids, Anna and Kirsten discovered the elf sitting right on the light above the table. I hadn’t noticed, since I wasn’t looking.

Floats stopped at our corner so we got to shout out to the stars in the parade, like Whoopie Goldberg and Adam Sandler. Teen pop stars got the loudest shout outs. I didn’t recognize them, but the teens behind me certainly did! Singer, Carley Ray Jepson, who sang that “Call me Maybe” song was on a float. The huge balloons loomed over us as they shifted in the wind. The parade went on for like five hours before we got to see Santa on his sleigh. Nini Thorspecken, my 17 year old cousin visiting from Germany, was right up front, pressed against the metal barricade. I think she was impressed by this American tradition.