Lake Eola Sunset

Posted on by Thor

I just moved to the North shore of Lake Eola in Eola Heights, Orlando Florida. Each day I take a walk to the lake and often do a sketch. I started with watercolor sketches but now I am doing oil paintings which take about 3 sessions to complete.

This watercolor sketch was done before all the swans were removed from Lake Eola. I managed to sketch one swan swimming across my field of view. The sun  was setting quickly so I tried to capture the light before everything went dark. The fountain lights turned on and the streams billowed up a blood red. It is an effect I am sure I will capture better using oil paint.

There was a crowd of people gathered on the deck that juts out over the water. They were taking pictures and talking. I wonder if they are there every night or if this was a tourist group. Being able to walk to the north shore of Lake Eola any day, morning or night is a thrill and my plan right now is to do 49 paintings all around the circumference of the lake. I have done 5 of those oil paintings so far.

There will also be plenty of small sketches like there. I want to break away from watercolor and start using gouache which can be applied opaque with layers of color overlapping. With the lake as a backdrop subject every day I hope to start experimenting more and taking chances.

Making mistakes and making some honestly ugly paintings is all part of the process.

Eola Heights Open House

Posted on by Thor

I have moved into a new studio space two blocks north of Lake Eola. The last cardboard boxes have been unpacked and it is time to start setting up the studio. Before I start getting furniture for the studio space, I decided to have an open house on July 4. My thought is that people will be making their way to Lake Eola all day for the fireworks which start around 9PM.

Many of the rooms in the Eola Heights apartment are virtually empty right now except the office which is where I sit each day to write articles and post on social media. The art studio itself is empty except for some flat files. I have plenty of framed art stored in the archives so I will cover all the empty wall space with art this week. With six empty rooms, I decided to think of the entire studio as prime gallery space.

My studio and office windows face south, and I put art in the windows each day, so people have something to see when they walk by. On July 4th there will be so many more people walking by to migrate down the two blocks to Lake Eola.

The open house is a celebration of my move to downtown. I walk or bike to many of the events I sketch now which is delightful. I used to have to drive an hour and a half to get to events.

I have started a series of plein-air oil paintings of Lake Eola. I get up at 6AM each morning and walk to the lake to paint. This morning I was painting and a huge splash of water hit me while I was painting. WTF, my shirt was soaked. I looked up at the tree branches above me. Was I just hit with a splash of pelican pee? I sniffed my wet hand, it didn’t have any scent.  Then I looked behind me. The sprinklers had turned on to water the prodigious amount of grass behind me. My spot in the pine needles was just at the outer edge of the reach of the spray of water. I would get hit every time the stream arched my way. I had to quickly pack up.

My oil painting panel was soaked. I had sketched on the panel with an ink brush and that ink started bleeding down the now wet surface. Bloody hell, I need to get waterproof ink. I had built a flat storage container to get the 13 by 21-inch panels to and from the studio. I felt the design was ingenious with a sliding panel which could slide open like a drawer creating a desk for the palate to go on. Unfortunately, the design was too slim which meant the painting would get scraped when I slid it back in the container to transport. I need to double the depth to avoid scraping off paint. That is my task for today.

If you plan to see the fireworks at Lake Eola, you should stop by the Eola Heights studio and say hello. You can see my failed plein-air attempt firsthand, but hopefully I will have the problems worked out by July 4th and have several complete Lake Eola paintings. I have a bunch of Winter Park small plein-air lakeside paintings in the kitchen which are just $50 each.

The Analog Artist Digital World address is 513 East Livingston Street, Unit B, Orlando Florida 32803. The entrance is under the car port where my silver Prius will be parked. I can’t offer parking on the property but there should be parking spots all around the neighborhood. Parking is available in downtown surface lots and garages. So, search out a super-supremo parking spot and then stop by the studio to say hello, see some art, and soak in the air conditioning before going down the two blocks to Lake Eola to scout out a fireworks viewing location. I will be walking down to Lake Eola to do a digital sketch or watercolor as the sun sets.

Apartment Hunt: Lake Formosa

Posted on by Thor

I have been moving from AirBnB to AirBnB in downtown Orlando to get a feel for where I might set up my art studio again. I have been living out of my backpack ever since returning from Europe. I loved Thornton Park. I stayed in two places in Thornton Park, and my favorite was above a barber shop a few blocks from Lake Eola and right across the street from the Falcon Bar.  From the studio window I could look over Lake Eola toward the skyline in the west to see gorgeous sunsets.

Last week I stayed in Azalea Park. I thought Azalea Park was the neighborhood around Dickson Azalea Park which is lovely. I was wrong, Azalea Park is directly under flight path of planes landing at the Orlando Executive airport and the noise is overwhelming. Since that nightmare, I made a map that includes the noise levels from planes.

Today I moved to Livingston Street for several weeks. The place has a back yard with a fire pit and is just a several block walk to Lake Eola. It is so peaceful and quiet here. I am waiting for the shoe to drop, something unsettling is about to transpire. There are some flights that can be hears but they seem to be little prop planes. Honestly if this place had a long-term rental option or was for sale I would consider this a perfect studio location. Unfortunately, it is just an expensive AirBnB and I will need to move out at the end of May.

While sketching today, a woman mentioned that she had a place available in the house right next to the Maitland Art Center. She explained that the place was very small. She didn’t mention square footage. I wonder how small it is? I declined, but now I am thinking I should have at least looked at the place. The location would have been amazing.

Every day I wake up and wonder where I should call home. Should I stay in Orlando where I am familiar with the arts scene, or should I explore some new place? With no roots, I could go anywhere.

The sketch is from a duplex on Lake Formosa that I visited yesterday. It is just 700 square feet with a bedroom and living room which would be my studio. The view out of the sliding glass doors looks out over Lake Formosa. The car port is a plus. I drew a floor plan to see if my studio flat files and Disney desk could fit. It is tight but I can fit in the space. The duplex neighbor has a fiberglass Lizard in the front lawn which I rather like.

Whenever I am serious about a property I tend to sketch after viewing the interior. I find sketching helps me think and consider what it might be like to live in the place. People walked by with their dogs and quite a few bicyclists buzzed past. Several medical helicopters flew over the lake and the train tracks that run along the west bank of the lake are loud. I am trying to decide if the train horn blasts are endearing or annoying.

The location is amazing. A bike path begins right at the end of the street and I could walk to the Fringe, Shakes, OMA and the Mennello. I have been walking up and down Mills Avenue this week and all those restaurant choices and music venues would be walking distance from this spot.

Part of me wants to find a place right in downtown Orlando, but I don’t think those cramped high-rise apartments are for me. I was also walking through Eola Heights each evening and found quite a few homes for sale. I looked online and discovered that every one of them was well over a million dollars (WTF?!)  So, I shifted my gaze to rentals further north. That brought me to Lake Formosa.

I agonized for several days about this property and finally filled out an application form.  My application was denied because someone else snatched up the rental while I was debating. Back to square one.

The Lake Eola Pulse Vigil.

Posted on by Thor

Sunday night around 7:30pma vigil was held for the 49 victims and the survivor still recovering from terrorist shooting at the Pulse Nightclub south of downtown Orlando. I drove into Eola Heights and parking was hard to find. The side streets around Lake Eola were closed to traffic. Police, EMS, and Military were on hand to handle the exceptionally large crowd. Over 50,000 people were expected to show up.

At the North East corner of the park, a flower vendor was doing a brisk business. Walking around the park, I had to turn down religious pamphlets from every denomination. John Lennon was singing “Imagine if there is no heaven, it’s easy if you try.” For once, the canned Lake Eola music was right on the money. Shrines were being set up a the base of trees. I was offered flowers, but I wanted to keep my hands free to sketch.

I figured the Lake Eola band shell would be ground zero for all the politicians, and other speakers. The crowds grew thicker a I got closer. I finally decided to swing wide out to the street an that gave me a clear approach. There was a mulched path that no one used, so that gave me some space to work. As I started, three ducks appeared and they ambled past me, quacking as they foraged for food in the garden. A huge rainbow flag was lying on the grass and that made a perfect highlight to the foreground. It began to rain, so I put the computer away and waited for it to stop. A rainbow appeared over Lake Eola as if the evening was granted a divine approval.

When it got dark enough, everyone lit their candles. The crowd was dispersed all the way around the lake. Candler flames illuminated the entire shore. The crowd became a sea of flickering flames. The Pulse club owner began a chant that spread through the crowd, “Peace, Love, Pulse!” The Orlando community was out in force. I was so emotionally drained that I didn’t have any more tears. The garden gave me a voyeurs cushion from the raw emotions. Instead, I focused my attention on the light emanating from the crowd. The names of the victims were read aloud to the now quiet crowd. Couples of all genders embraced. Love is love, and it should have no boundaries as defined by hate.

After the crowd dispersed, I walked around the lake to see all the candle shrines that were now everywhere. A five foot heard was covered in flowers and surrounded by candles. The stone sculpture of a woman lying in the garden covered by ground cover had hundreds of candles in her outstretched hand along with signs. Plastic red cups with candles inside were arranged in the shape of a heart. All the symbology was there, but the best way to heal would be to bring about positive change. Hopefully someday that change will come. But for now it is easy to pick up an assault rifle any day of the week here in Orlando.

The Lady’s of Eola Heights take the Abby by Storm.

Posted on by Thor

I went to a dress rehearsal for The Ladies of Eola Heights at The Abbey. I contacted Beth Marshall who plays the part of Pearl. This is the first time in a long time that she wasn’t producing or directing a show. She felt a bit at ease just being an actor rather than worrying about the overall production. Beth introduced me to the director Kenny Howard who thankfully knew of my work and was enthusiastic to have me sketch. He warned me that none of the actresses would be wearing make up. The set wasn’t finished yet as well, still needing a railing near the steps and a blue wall behind the center archway.

This is an original play written by Michael Wanzie. The estranged Locksdale sister reunited at their family home, in the historical Eola Heights neighborhood of Orlando, Florida, to plan their daddy’s funeral. It seems fiery-tongued Ruby (Blue Starr) dressed in a hot red zebra stripe dress, has taken to loose living and hard drinking, while older sister Opal (Peg O’Keef) has become a born again Christian. Matriarch Pearl (Beth Marshall) has gained weight and  had a Home Shopping Club addiction. In the opening scene Beth drove onto the set with one of those motorized scooters with an oxygen tank. It was a hilarious moment as she tried to parallel park it next to the dining table while Ruby waited.

As the sisters interacted for the first time in years, their dark past surfaced and it became clear that they are all dealing with their horrible past in their own ways. Each scene is punctuated by an appearance of their brother (Miss Sammy) who danced down stairs in gorgeous gowns to light hearted show tunes. His way of coping was to live in a beautiful fantasy world as a woman. Although the sisters are all polar opposites, they come together to bury their past.

The show is as funny as it is touching, a comedy with serious themes that take the audience on an emotional roller coaster ride. I was laughing out loud throughout the show and yet identified with themes that affect many estranged families. The abuse that surfaced at the heart of the show happens all too often in Central Florida.  I had a friend who couldn’t cope with that past. Don’t miss this locally grown gem.

The show runs July 10- July 28 at the Abbey (100 S. Eola Drive Orlando, FL) tickets are $30 to $45.