Terry Olson offered some free tickets to the Timucua Arts Foundation, Compass Fusion Concert. He said the first people to e-mail him could have the tickets. I emailed, but wasn’t fast enough. Knowing I wanted to sketch, Terry pulled some strings anyway. Leah Love, the Executive Director at Timicua, let me know she would love too have me sketch. She and Michael Rizzo had been married since the last time I saw them. At the entrance Leah actually didn’t recognize me since I now have a grizzly mountain man beard.
Thick red velvet curtains separated the entry, social area from the performance space. On stage, visual artists Edson Campos and Kathleen Brodeaur were working on a large portrait of a young girl. Edson and Kathleen worked on the portrait together. It was fascinating to watch them work before the start of the show. By the time Benoit Glazer made his announcements and introduced the performers the face of the portrait was complete.
The Compass Trio are from Brooklyn New York. They performed Indian Flamenco-Groove Fusion with guitar, Tabla (drums), and sitar. The music was absolutely mesmerizing and fantastic to sketch to. One piece called Murmerations which was inspired by large flocks of birds flying in absolute unison. The music wove its way into the soul. I swayed as I sketched feeling every undulating improvisation that inspired the lines to dance on the page with little second guessing.
A string broke on the sitar, so there was a brief question and answer session as the repair was made. I took the time to keep sketching feverishly. That break was a good time to break out the watercolors. The final piece they performed kept building in layers to a magnificent crescendo that they maintained indefinitely. When it ended the audience burst into a standing ovation. I had to put my art supplies away before I could stand.
I had driven 32 miles from the back woods of Yalaha, Florida to witness this performance, and it was well worth it. The room vibrated with creative inspiration. Benoit got on the stage and mentioned that the painting that Edson and Kathleen had done live on stage was available for $700. Someone in the back of the audience purchased the painting. I do believe that they were painting a woman’s portrait on the very first evening I sketched at the Timucua White House. That painting has hung in the room ever since it’s creation.
