Florida Film Festival Poster Second Pass

Posted on by Thor

It was pointed out to me that I got the dates wrong for the Florida Film Festival. The festival actually ran from April 10 to 19, 2026. When I was throwing together the comp, I just lifted type from previous posters to get the impression of what the final poster might look like.

From several Airbnb’s and hotels in Germany I made revisions to the Florida Film Festival poster. First the soldier from my first pass of the poster had to be replaced because America is a country which embraces peace rather than war.

Since racial diversity was called for, I added a Chinese man, and an Indian woman. I didn’t know how many races to add, so I tested the water and waited to see if more was needed. Many of the distant audience was still just blocked in without detail. The festival asked to add details that are unique to the Enzian Theater. I sketched inside the Enzian when renovations were being done, so I was familiar with the look of the interior. I have never sketched the theater looking back from the stage. I searched Google images to see what the back wall of the theater looks like. I held off on polishing the painting to a final look since I was certain that more changes were to come. Working digitally is ideal for changes. Each character in the audience was drawn and painted on their own layer. If a character had to be removed, I could do that with the touch of a button.

For the rest of my trip through Europe, I heard nothing about the need for more Florida Film Festival poster changes. My assumption is that another concept was approved for the festival poster and promotional materials. The concept I was working on was a mine field of possible problems with hundreds of possible revisions and refinements. The poster concept I had been assigned must have been been rejected.

My attention shifted back to a full time dedication of documenting a time in 1945 when America defeated fascism at the end of WWII.

Dealership

Posted on by Thor

When I left for Europe for three months, I packed up my studio and put everything in a U-Haul storage unit in September of 2025. It costs me $175 a month to store away my life while I live out of a backpack. The car was more tricky to store. I found a site called Neighbor where people allow you to park your car on their property for a monthly rate. It cost about $60 a month to park mu car in a field in Okahumpka Florida. The owner of the land has a wood workshop and at the time I left in November of 2025, he was working on decorations for a Christmas parade. At the head of his driveway which is a long dirt drive was a wooden gnome and a six-foot-tall silhouette of a big foot. Since he was running a creative workshop, I felt comfortable keeping my Prius there.

I read online article about how to safely store a car for many months. I got a large tarp to put on the ground so that weeds would not grow up into the chassis of the car. I had plastic stakes to secure the corners so it would not blow around in the high winds. I got a car cover, which unfortunately blew off several times. The lot owner said he replaced the cover each time. If or when I travel again, I will need to get rope of bungees to secure the cover under the car, front and back and side to side. I let the gas get very low before I parked and I put an additive in with the oil which is supposed to help when the car sits idle.

I disconnected the car battery which I had never done before so that the battery would not drain. I heard that having a trickle charger was the best option to keep the battery charges, but that was not an option since there was no outlet in the empty field. Besides my Prius there were several campers parked on the lot.

When I got back to the states, I needed the help of the property owner to jump my battery once I had it hooked back up. Despite being unhooked the battery had been completely drained over the three months. When I drove away from the Okahumpka empty field, a warning light flashed on the dashboard. The battery would not get back to a full charge. Since I was in a rural county, the car is super important just to run basic survival errands, so I decided to immediately drive to the dealership to have the car go through an all points inspection. I was advised to replace the smaller battery which is the one needed each time the engine is turned over. This was an unexpected $700 expense to add to my car storage fee on the spreadsheet.

All of my art supplies and studio equipment are still in storage. I lived out of a backpack in Europe and I have been living out of the same backpack since I got back. I almost bought a house in Azalia Park in Orlando but discovered it had termites in the roof rafters. I realized I would not be able to live in the place for about a year while the roof was replaced and major renovations were made. I backed out of the deal after the inspection which also cost about $700.

At the end of this week I will be heading to Sarasota where I am having a hernia operation. I discovered the hernia when I was in Germany and since I got back my primary goal has been to get this diagnosed and taken care of. The surgeon who will perform the operation is the same surgeon who performed the same operation on my sister who lives down in Port Charlotte, Florida. She and her husband have agreed to take me to the hospital and then back to their place to be sure I recover without complications. From there place I plan to look for an AirB&B in Orlando for a month or an apartment. I want to be in Orlando in May so that I can document the Orlando International Fringe Festival. After the festival my plan right now is to drive north. I want to find a place north of NYC where I can commute by bus or train once a week or so into the city to sketch and paint. It is time to put down roots an build back up my studio practice. I have been on the road long enough. Sketching on location keeps my studio set up in my tiny day bag. I should probably start doing more finished works. I doubt I will ever be remembered for my sketches done in car dealerships.

Punta Gorda Florida: Christmas Display

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I am interrupting the WWII series to post a few holiday sketches. In Punta Gorda Florida there is this amazing trailer home with tons of lights and every imaginable inflatable. Instead of focusing on the Macy’s Day Parade, I decided to sketch these inflatables. After Thanksgiving diner at the Eagle lodge I asked to be dropped off at this house. I had talked to the person working on the display in the morning, and he said that I should come back after 4pm which is when it started coming back to life.

when I returned the inflatables were still pancakes on the ground. I just focused my attention on the home and waited for them to inflate. There is actually far more to the display on the far side of the house and on back. To the right is an outdoor drive in theater with teddy bears, frogs and other stuffed characters watching the screen. Loony Toons cartoons were soon being shown.

A penguin would climb the ladder and then slowly make its way back down. I was told that a rotisserie motor was used for the movement. The advantage of that motor is that it reverses itself. Washing machine motors run the Carousel and Ferris Wheel. A rabbit and teddy bear were on a see saw which also used a rotisserie motor.

M&M signs showed up throughout. I wondered if it was an infatuation with that brand of candy, but the owner explained that it was the initials for him and his wife. He was making adjustments and adding light the whole time I sketched. It was a never ending job. The inflatable at the peak of the roof refused to sit up, so he had to climb up on the roof and lift it up by hand.

Weather Delay

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by Thomas Thorspecken

Albany Airport in New York State, had some very serious security measures. When I went through the full body scan, my crotch showed up as a bright red block on the security screen. I had to be patted down. The security officer explained that he was using the back of his hand when he patted my groin and the inside of my calves. I turned back and front to have my aching leg muscles patted down. It was exciting, but he missed the weapon in my pants. What they really missed was a can of bug spray that I had mistakenly left in my art bag. That stuff is probably a flame thrower. I didn’t discover the bug spray until I got back to my home studio.

The flight out of Albany New York was delayed by an hour because of thunderstorms in Orlando, Florida. While we waited on the tarmac, I sketched. Rather than having TV screens on the back of seats, this plane had adjustable holders for people’s cell phones. People could attach to the internet and play movies on their cell phones. They had to have ear phones however which were not supplied. The two Germans next to me didn’t understand the flight attendant warnings about not playing video audio out loud. They eventually understood and stopped watching the Disney Feature Animation movie, Encanto.

Ravine Gardens State Park

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I had no obligations on Sunday, so I decided to drive north to Ravine Gardens State Park in Palatka Florida. It was a straight drive up 19. I went past the Umatilla Homestead. I loved that homestead but it felt larger than I needed. I had to follow my heart and let it slip away. After Umatilla, all signs of civilization disappeared as I drove through the Ocalla National Forest.

It was a glorious sunny day with the occasional white cumulus cloud. I was driving at 55 miles per hour and the clouds seemed to move at just about that speed moving north. When I drove into the shadow of a cloud it would ride along with me offering shade for the longest time. I raced many clouds on the drive north trying to stay in their shade for as long as possible.

Ravine Gardens was a WPA Project back in the 1930s. Hiking paths are meticulously maintained. Some roadside gullies are loosely covered in bricks which have lasted for close to 100 years.  There is an amphitheater which I didn’t recognize as such since the seating was composed of rocks on a hillside arranges in rows. The brilliant wildflowers made the theater a natural wonder.  There was a stage area at the base of the hillside. It would be amazing to see a theater production staged there. A sign showed photos of the amphitheater filled for a beauty pageant in the past. I think it would be amazing to see a Shakespeare in the Park production there.

I hiked the Azalea trail which was marked with red blazes on trees. When hiking in nature I often find it hard to decide when the time is right to take the sketchbook out and start creating. Every turn of the trail would reveal a more stunning view. Finding a concrete moment to draw takes a back seat to my desire to keep exploring. After walking the entirety of the azalea trail , I was sweaty and exhausted and finally plopped down next to this pond. The suspension bride I sketched is at the heart of the trail network. I managed to get turned around multiple times as I was trying to navigate out of the park. I crossed the suspension bridge like 5 times hoping to find the trail that lead back to the visitors center and parking. The heat must have gone to my head. I asked a woman for directions and she told me there was a second suspension bridge I had to look for. I didn’t believe her at the time, I had a pot of the trail maps on my phone and I only noticed one suspension bridge. Looking at the map again now, I can see she was right. The reason I was getting turned around is that I was at the wrong suspension bridge. I ultimately ended up hiking on a road to make my way back to the trailhead. I certainly got my exercise for the day.

One man had brought his German Shepherd to the park and the dog jumped into the pond and splashed around for a bit. Families and couples walked across he suspension bridge. The best view in the park, I decided, is on that bride looking down at the pond. The blue sky reflects off the water offering a fantastic play of light and color. Sketching offered me an excuse to slow down and catch my breath.

Fallen

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I moved into the Lake County Florida studio. Most everything is still in boxes but My Disney Feature Animation desk is partially set up and running, so I can sit down and write.

This is a sketch done on the side of the property. Hurricane Milton ripped through Lake County and knocked down about 4 trees on this property. Thankfully none of them fell on the house. All of them fell to the south. The winds from the north blew over the lake with no obstructions and then slammed into Lake County. Since I moved in, work had started in cutting the fallen trees. This particular tree was cut into about 5 foot sections and those huge logs were moved to the roadside. It is hoped that they will remove the logs before the job is done. They will be returning to work on the other slightly smaller fallen trees later in the week.

Also visible in this sketch behind the tree is a composting station. This station had 3 stations of hay. Because this big tree was cut back to the roots, there was room to work on the compost pile. The primary composting area had gotten cold and so the compost was no longer breaking down. Also the wood palates that separated the sections had broken down and so it had to be reconstructed. While I broke apart pallets for the wood, A friend worked on rebuilding the bins. The sun set as we were working. I managed to kneel down on a rusty nail. Luckily I knelled down on the head of the nail so I didn’t draw blood. By the time the sun set we had two sections reconstructed.

My friend added new hay to the first bin and dug a hole down to the ground. The hay was compressed out to the outer edged of the bin and then the new hole was filled with food scraps. There were lots of scraps since the refrigerator held food that was purchased before Hurricane Milton hit. A whole chicken was added to the composter. I didn’t realize meat could be composted.

With everything inside. my friend spread hay over the top of what was added. A metal mesh was put on top of the pile and held down with stones so no critters could get inside.  The final touch was a thermometer to see how the compost was heating up inside. After a year, the food scraps should break down and then they will be added to another bin. Hay will then be added to the first bin and the process starts all over again.

What the flock are they doing?

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Most sheep are easily controlled and manipulated. The rebel black sheep cares about the herd. The United States has decided mass infection is the cheapest cost of action. If you wanted to thin the herd by several million people then convincing the population that a deadly virus is “mild” would do the trick.

Propaganda is now in the works to make those who wear masks seem like outliers. The mayor of NYC is asking store owners to insist that people entering their stores must remove their mask. It might be far easier to ask them to show their drivers license, but the point is to discourage the population from protecting themselves from an airborne virus that has killed millions of Americans and continues to do so.  The unintelligent are scapegoating the intelligent.

Floriduh Governor Ron DeathSantis wrote an order, that directed the state’s health and education departments to issue rules preventing the implementation of school mask mandates in an effort to “protect parents’ freedom to choose whether their children wear masks.”

Mandatory masking in schools reduced the spread of the virus. Some masks are better than others. Cloth masks and the flimsy blue medical masks are not as effective as N-95 masks. By the time quality N95 masks were being advised, masks had already become a political flash point.

CDC released three studies in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that highlighted the importance of using layered prevention strategies including universal masking to stop the spread and minimize disruptions to school operations for safe in-person education. These studies found that school districts without a universal masking policy in place were more likely to have COVID-19 outbreaks.

There are no longer any states requiring people generally to wear masks in public places. Several states still mandate masking for most people in certain high-risk settings, including health care and long-term care facilities. The federal government’s nationwide mask order for public transit, commercial flights and transportation hubs such as airports and train stations was struck down by a federal judge in April 2022. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has stopped enforcing the mandate and major U.S. airlines made face-covering optional on domestic flights.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to recommend that people ages 2 and older wear masks while on public transportation and at transportation hubs.

Though president Joe Biden has decided to promote, “the pandemic is over” since he is eyeing a re-election run. No level of fantasy or denial can dispute the fact that several thousand people continue to die every week inn America due to COVID-19.  The American workforce is also continuing to thin as more and more people are crippled by long COVID.

People who are going about life unmasked as if the year were 2018 are fearful of those who wear masks since it reminds them that the pandemic is not over. Seeing someone in a mask can actually make them angry.

After Pulse: Father Miguel Gonzolez

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Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content.

Father Miguel Gonzalez, is the director at Saint James Cathedral in Orlando, Florida. After the Pulse Nightclub massacre Catholic priests, deacons and bishops provided pastoral care and leadership to the Hispanic community and the larger community of Central Florida.

When he heard the news, he was dumbfounded and in shock. New York City might be a target, Columbine in Colorado, but Orlando doesn’t seem like a likely target. Disney might one day be a target, but not Orange Avenue in SODO, Orlando. It was baffling.

The night before there was the murder of the young performer, Christina Grimmie, at the Plaza in Orlando. Father Miguel was a Radio D.J. before priesthood, so that senseless murder hit him particularly hard. He was still dealing with that when Pulse happened.

He had written Christina into his homily that weekend, so now Pulse became another overwhelming component. The driving theme remained, which was, how the power of love transforms. How can the community renounce these acts? How do we raise our families in a loving caring environment? This person was clearly mentally disturbed. How can proper care be provided to keep things like this from happening again.

Between masses he got a phone call from the Holy Family parish in Windermere, asking if he could come to the hotel where families were gathered. They needed bilingual priests, pastors, counselors and social workers. Some of these families were flying in from Puerto Rico. He headed over after the Spanish mass at 12:30pm.

There was a lot of chaos in that hotel. There were also a lot of good people ready to support and help.  Their focus was on the victims and relatives who were hurt by this. He ended up on the 3rd floor, with other ministers from different organizations, families would be brought up and into different rooms where they would break the news from the coroner’s office that the body of their loved one was identified.

You could her the screaming and wailing down the hallway. It was painful to listen to. Prayer was his life preserver to keep focus and keep calm. To pray for them. When the doors opened someone would come into the hall and ask, is anyone her for the Baptist denomination? Then that Baptist minister would enter the room. Or they would ask, is there a priest her, then father Miguel would go into the room.

There was a change of plans and everyone gathered in a big room downstairs. The lobby was jam packed. The media was all over the place outside. The hotel wanted to regain some level of normalcy. Miguel was told to prepare for havoc. Because there were so many people jammed into the lobby, he could not hear what was happening, or how the news broke. Comments trickled through the crowd. The message that made it back to him was that they were going to give the names of families who should report to the hospital. The hope then is that their love one is still alive. The move increased hope.

After the names were read, there were still a lot of families crowded together. They were all told the had to come back the next day. That is when chaos erupted. People wanted to go to Pulse. They wanted to go to their loved one. Where were they? Screaming echoed down the commodores. People grabbed their heads, they held one another and cried and then ran out the front doors of the lobby.

He moved to a side door near the back. They wanted to meet the families out front by walking around through the parking lot. Outside the wall of reporters were waiting, focusing on the mayhem. He mingled among the families, ready to respond and embrace. He needed to be present for the families.

One young man was very upset, frustrated and angry. He saw the collar and he was angry at the god that Miguel served. Where is he? How could he allow this to happen? He vented about this God who does not care. What could be said to not aggravate the situation? He told him about a brutal murder a family member in Puerto Rico to let him know that he at least understood in some the way the pain felt. Some common ground was found. They sat together and the young man brought over his family.

The next day Miguel went to the Senior Center. Families gathered, and slowly families went to the second floor where the news was conveyed. By then families knew that their loved one did not make it, but there was the agony of waiting. He knew a couple of the families. He prayed with them and talked to them.

His parish was opened up as a space for Catholic charities and social workers. In 20 years of priesthood this was the most challenging, and difficult event he ever had to deal with to provide healing hope and care. The healing for survivors would not happen over night. How could life return to normal?

 

Eye of Ian

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The 24 hour leading up to Hurricane Ian making landfall were stressful for all on the south west coast.Early projections showed the storm would hit up near Tampa, Florida. I have a sister who lives in Port Charlotte and she lived through Hurricane Charley back in August of 2004. In that hurricane she hunkered down in a bathtub and the winds ripped off the roof of her home. Charlie was also supposed to head up to Tampa but it hooked off at the last minute and tore right through Port Charlotte.

There was a mandatory evacuation for the zone she lived in with Hurricane Ian. I asked her to come to our guest bedroom in Orlando but she really can’t travel that far. She therefor moved to a neighbors house which was larger and had a generator. The home was maybe a mile from where she lived at the end of a canal. Early reports are that her home suffered only minor damage and a tarp has already been put on the roof. Storm surge waters had water coming right up to her front and back doorways but it stopped short of going inside her home. A fence was blown down and there are trees down in the neighborhood. Ironically her umbrella style clothes line went unscathed. Power has been down.

The local sports complex is offering ice and large container of water as well as several BBQ dinners. That was the first hot meal since Wednesday. The primary concerns seem to be no hot water and no gas for the grill. Everything had to be emptied from the fridge since it started to smell.

Here in Orlando we were nervous because there is a large dead tree in the back yard. A neighbor told us it might have been hit by lightning but a contractor said that beetles had killed it. There are vines growing all over the branches and we thought until about a week ago that it was alive. So our concern was that the whole tree could fall.

We lucked out in that only very large branches crashed to the ground during the storm. One fell while our dog was in the yard relieving himself. It missed him. We have been taking clean up slow. Each evening I burn tree limbs in the fire pit rather than waste all that fuel. We lost power for 24 hours and I had to cancel several virtual classes. Our refrigerator contents were moved to a building with a generator and promptly returned once power came back on.

Pam has had of deal with endless repair work because of water leaks in the History museum and the off site storage facility. I experienced a horrible irregular heart beat in the mad rush to clean the yard prior to the storm. I suddenly realize I am not as spry as I used to be. I have been taking the clean up of dead branches slow and steady in the mean time. My mini bon fires make it a more relaxing project.

On Your Feet

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Pam, her niece and I went to a final dress rehearsal for On Your Feet at the Garden Theater in Winter Garden, Florida. This exuberant show is about Gloria Estefan‘s rise to stardom from her humble beginnings in Cuba.When Gloria met Emilio Estefan her life changed forever. He saw her raw talent and his tireless salesmanship built the Miami Sound Machine group into an international sensation. Gloria had other career goals, but her Mima and Emilio convinced her that she was born to be a singer. He Mima said it best, “This is what you’re meant to do. You just don’t know it yet. Why write all these beautiful songs if no one gets a chance to hear them?”

I had no expectations going in to the show and I was blown away. There were some stellar singing voices in the cast and by the end the cast literally had the audience of volunteers who attended, dancing in the aisles.

I didn’t know much about Gloria Estefan’s life prior to the show, but the basic theme of her life and career is that you can always choose to rise up despite what others might tell you. Never accept the limitations other impose in “your best interest.” A career as a creative involves endless faith that someday people will recognize the value in what is created.

I welled up at several points in the show as Gloria sang about the loving support of her Mema, and when fans wrote in loving support of Gloria though troubled times. These moods could quickly swing to joyful song and dance that had me dancing in my seat as I sketched.

All theater staff were masked but very few in the audience were masked. I am fascinated with peoples half hearted masking attempts. The guy in front of me had his mask off as he spoke to others in the audience and then he put his mask back on to watch the show. Needless to say, Pam, her niece and I had our KN-95 masks on for the whole show.

On Your Feet runs through July 31, 2022. Tickets range from $17 to $32. The program is online should you like to learn more about the cast and crew. Trust me, this is an amazing night of theater. The July 20 and 21, 2022 performances are canceled due to a positive CIVID-19 test among the cast or crew.