The Bug in Mount Dora Florida

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My bike needed a major tune up when I lived up in Lake County Florida. I took it to Adrenaline Bike Works (206 N Highland Street, Mount Dora, FL). They did a great job of fixing a flat and getting the brake pads balanced. It felt like a new ride when I left. A few months prior I had just purchased an inner tube and I replaced it myself. However, I had to drill the hole in the aluminum rim a bit larger to get the valve to fit. I think I must have left a few aluminum shards behind because the next time I went to use the bike the tire was flat.

The time I wanted to use the bike I was going to Stella Arbelaéz’s Graduation. It was a several mile bike ride from the artist studios to the UCF stadium where the graduation was taking place. I was more than disappointing when I got on the bike and found that the tire was flat. It was a moment to shout out and curse the gods. I decided to walk the distance to the graduation ceremony. I was a sweaty mess in my dress shirt and fashionable slacks when I arrived, but I made it in time.

Next to Adrenaline Bike Works was this shell of a VW Beatle which was turned into a menacing metal spider. The sculpture was unveiled in January of 2020. It was built by John Henns who owns the commercial property at Highland Street and 3rd Avenue. The bug is painted an ominous black. Any arachnophobics who happen to drive by might get a fright. The Volkswagen or, translated, the People’s Car was car developed from an idea of Adolf Hitler himself.  To me the VW Beatle symbolized the Nazi ideals which included concentration camps and ethnic cleansing, which makes it all the more frightening.

School must have just let out when I started the sketch, because large groups of school children kept walking past as I worked. One student shouted out, looks great! And I gave him a thumbs up.

Renninger’s Military Show

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While living and working at the Yalaha Florida Studio, I drove over to Mount Dora for the Renninger’s Military Show. When I was married, I used to go to the Renninger’s Antiques Show once a year and stay at the Mount Dora Lakeside Inn after a long day of seeing hundreds of vendors set up on the rolling hills around Renninger’s. I always lived in the hope of finding a working vintage fountain pen that would change the way I draw, but I never did.

The Military show wasn’t quite as large as the Antiques Show but there was an impressive display of military vehicles and collectables inside the vendors booth areas. The next-door neighbor at the Yalaha studio and I shared an interest in the military. We would stand at the fence and talk about WWII often. I therefore shouldn’t have been surprised when I bumped into him at Renninger’s. He was shocked at how the prices had jumped. He asked what I was looking for, and realistically I was just looking for a sketch but if I found an old WWII era watch, that would have made me happy. I didn’t find the watch but later I ordered a 24-hour watch that resembles the watches issued in WWII. I love being able to glance down and see the day of the week and date along with the time in AM and PM and 24-hour military time. Europeans use the 24-hour clock more often than Americans. Having the watch saves me from having to dig for my iPhone to get the date every time I write the date on my sketch.

Walking the aisles I noticed several boys dressed all in WWII era uniforms. Military reenactments were popular in France and Belgium when I was there. The first one I sought out and I was embraced into the American camp. The second reenactment in Belgium I stumbles across by mistake and once again I was embraced since I was the son or an American WWII Vet and I kept sketching the scenes as they unfolded. In Belgium I wasn’t sure there the battlefield was and I ended up getting a ride in an American Jeep to the front lines. It rained lightly at the battlefield, but I managed to get a sketch.

Answers

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I went to the Casselberry Arts Center (137 Quail Pond Circle Casselberry Florida) for a concert by Lost Noised Office Band. Following that performance Answers took the stage. Answers is known for constructing layered sonic environments that move fluidly between abstraction, rhythm, noise and ambient composition. They use experimental electronics, improvisation and evolving textures. The group transforms live performance into an immersive sensory experience that challenges traditional expectations of music and listening.

This was a rare case where I took a front row seat for the performance. I was pleased to share the experience with a friend I bumped into that night. There were other familiar faces in the audience and for once I was feeling at home again after being alone in Europe sketching for so long. Two of the performers, Chris Belt and Béatriz Ramirez were a married couple that I have seen perform in the past. There was a screen set up behind the performers and a guest artist was using it to project experimental wave patterns. The sound waves were influenced by the  music as it was performed.

On the walls there was art from the UCF Masters Program students. One piece by Abby Frazier used red yarn to represent a woman’s menstrual cycle. My friend, who is also an artist, admired the work saying, “I wish I had thought of that.” We walked through the table of audio wires on stage to get close to the art.

I had no expectations going into the concert and I was swept away by the wave of sound. The performance had a mesmerizing and relaxing effect. I know that the sound was a joy to sketch along with. This was my second sketch for the night. After the set I slipped out pretty fast. My friend was catching up with people and it would have been nice to talk some more, but I was ready to slip out. The opportunity to talk will present itself. Life keeps trowing curve balls.

Lake Eola Sunset

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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.

Fringe: Flashlight Cabaret

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The Orlando Fringe from Orlando Florida presented Flashlight Cabaret at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. This was a variety show where Fringe artists presented unique songs and skits never seen before. Each act was lit only by the flashlights held by every member of the audience. This was a challenge to draw but a fun night to say the least.

Waiting to enter the show it seemed like the performers gathered and came up with their bits moments before the doors opened. It was fun and exuberant chaos. Since I was sketching, my flashlight helped illuminate the sketch while I worked. I am usually concerned that my lighting up the sketch might be distracting for other audience members around me but in this case, everyone had a flashlight, so all bets were off. With so many performers doing so many different bits, it was hard to decide what to sketch. No single moment would suffice.

There were some songs performed which was expected, but there was also burlesque, some truly Shakespearean monologues and at one point as I sketched, I was blinded when toilet paper which was blown in my face with a leaf blower.

Being in a dark room where every person in the audience projects their light center stage is truly a magical experience.

Fringe: Against Her Wishes

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So What? Who Cares? Productions from Orlando Florida presented Against Her Wishes at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. Emily Fontano the writer, director and star of the one woman show welcomed the audience to her mother Janet’s funeral. Janet had specifically stipulated in her will that there should not be a funeral but instead a dinner with friends. Family had other plans and now the packed audience were welcome to the funeral.

A slideshow of Janet’s life was projected on a screen but I was one of the last to enter and I could not see the screen from my angle. The whole show was a eulogy.  Emily spoke fondly of her mother but did not present her as a perfect angel. She outlines the highlights of her mother’s life with affection and honestly not every moment was perfect. Because of her flaws and exuberance for life, I fell in love with the woman we were all there to celebrate. The funeral wasn’t a sober affair. There was dancing and music, some of the songs had been picked by the deceased. Emily presented us all with humor and sadness.

I really liked the premise for the show. At a funeral you often learn more about a person than you ever do with a casual meeting. Art is often created to celebrate lives lost. This show was filled with laughter and joy as well as a feeling of loss. After hearing Emily talk about her mom in detail, I felt I began to know them both a little better.

I absolutely loved the show. It made me reflect on all I could say about those that I miss deeply.

Against Her Wishes won Patron Pick in the Brown Venue and had an extended run. The show won an award for Solo Show — Comedy.

Fringe: Letters in Need

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Phoenix Tears Productions from Haines City Florida presented Letters in Need at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. In a corner of the Family Theater lobby near the Silver Venue, a small post office box station with a barred teller window was set up. This was an ongoing 1 on 1 performance which allowed individual audience members to request and give help on a small community-based scale. The goal was for the audience member to sort the need and deliver the help. Since this was a one-on-one interactive performance, I wouldn’t be able to sketch and also sort letters. I had to watch from afar.

I happened to go when Orlando Weekly theater reviewer Seth Kubersky attended the performance. I was sketching from a crowded theater lobby and could only catch snippets of what was going on behind the post office boxes. I had just rented a post office box for the first time in Downtown Orlando since I was bouncing around between Air B&B’s while Fringe was happening. Since my life was upended, I really identified with the premise of this installation.

Mary Hosford designed the antique looking postmaster station on casters. Hillary Shurtleff acted as the United Support Processing Service postmaster. She showed Seth letters from lonely members of the community that were in need. He worked with her to find someone local who could fill that need. That makes it sound like this was a dating service, but it was rather about finding nuts and bolts practical help like lawn service of fixing a faucet.

I could only see Seth’s ear and a bit of Hillary head and shoulders through the bars, so I cannot vouch for what exactly was accomplished. Based on Seth’s review, I should say the experience must have been uplifting and worked in a way we all wish a well governed community should work.

With his signature handlebar mustache, Matti McLean,  the writer and performer of The S#it was handing out cards to his show as Letters in Need wrapped up.

Fringe: Solovella, An Improvised Solo Telenovela

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Daine Jorge from Plantation Florida Presented Solovela, An Improvised Solo Telenovela at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. Daine played all the parts in a hilarious take on the over the top drama of a televised soap opera. Before the improve performance got underway, two members of the audience were pulled up on stage for a quick interview. Small details from their life were then threaded into the Telenovela performance.

To switch between characters Daine would use an assortment of fun props like an eyepatch, glasses and even a fake beard. A portable hanging rack carried any quick costume changes needed from furs to leather. Part of the absolute joy of the performance came from her unbridled Tasmanian devil level of energy. When the heroine is showcased in a romantic scene a fan was used to allow her hair to sensually blow in the wind. The absolute campiness is what made each scene play so hilariously. When Diane cuts to s new scene, she threw up a fist full of flower pedals as a way to transition to the next romantic morsel.

With Daine taking on so many characters, there were so many tempting moments I would have liked to capture but there was only one sketch page, so I limited myself to only sketching her twice. The keyboard player offered all the dramatic music needed to spice up the absurd Telenovela romance and drama. If you have come to expect spicy romance from a Spanish themed Telenovela, then Diane offered that is spades with tons of laughter.

I met the performer several times between shows and the whirlwind of energy and gratitude follows her everywhere she goes.

Fringe: Vulva Va Voom’s Medical Masochism

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Vulva Va Voom and Company from Tampa Florida presented Vulva Va Voom’s Medical Masochism at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. I was particularly intrigued because Beth Marshal, who ran the Fringe for years was playing the part of one of the medical staff. Billed as a Bondage, Dominance, Submission, and control (BDSM) carnival game that meets a psychiatric sideshow.

This was an Alice in Wonderland vision of bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism. The American Psychiatric Association “depathologized” kinky sex – including cross-dressing, fetishism, and BDSM.

Vulva was the patient being treated. She was very frank about her disorder.  In many ways this is a one woman show with the medical staff on the sidelines looking like the mad hatter and a field mouse. I always like learning what I can about a performer. The show led up to the final treatment which involved Vulva lying down on a bed of nails. The line between what was staged and real pain was blurred. A strange addition to this masochism was inviting the audience to take social media pictures of the public torture.

Was this theater? It was indeed like a freak sideshow where the audience wanted to witness pain. Though the costume implied burlesque and sexuality there wasn’t any on stage sexual overtures. I used to work on Times Square back in the 1980s where you could hear the sex acts through paper thin walls. Doom scrolling through social media forces us to witness endless violence and pain.

I admired the bravery of the performer but could not figure out if this was entertaining or disturbing. Was she acting or did she truly believe that torture was a treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)? I wondered just how sharp the nails were on the bed she lay down on. If there was blood, I didn’t catch it in my sketch. I am still not sure if what I saw was entertainment or confession mixed with torture. The show was definitely VERY Fringe.

Fringe: The One Who Calls

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Midnight Stories from Orlando Florida presented The One Who Calls at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. On a public access broadcast called Sightings, Shawn (Bre Wells), a ufologist fielded calls late into the night from believers. She was jaded having heard everything before but firmly believed that UFOs do exist. For her the evidence was overwhelming.

She was used to getting calls from quacks who claimed to see something, but it was easily explained away. Many members of the audience were actually callers. When they called into the show, they would stand up. This was a fun way to make the audience feel like they were also part of the rural community of callers.

One frantic call stood out from the others and that sighting lead to a series of sightings that grew closer to the broadcasting site. A hysteria set in. It of course reminded me of the hysteria that resulted when Orson Wells broadcast The War of the Worlds on the eve of Halloween just before WWII in 1938.

One very creepy call had static and heavy breathing. Could this be ET himself? Shawns research into UFOs was highly researched but the scientific community ignored her findings. This evening might finally offer validation. Lights flickered and for a moment the hairs stood up on the back of my neck.

After a rural hick confessed that he made the sighting up, a female caller who had never called in before offered reassurances. She then drove to the station to speak with Shawn in person. Believing in UFOs has a lot to do with wanting to believe we are not alone in the universe. The female visitor strongly believed in Shawn’s talent and findings. In the end what we all need is human connection and a feeling of being part of a community. Weather that community is interstellar or a tiny rural town, we all want to feel connected.