Steampunk was featured at the Orlando Maker Faire.

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The Central Florida Steampunk Association was strongly represented at the Orlando Maker Faire held in the Orlando Science Center on September 13th and 14th. Their display was in the Dino Digs area of the museum. A large T-Rex stood menacingly in the background. Intricate costuming and devices were all hand crafted. Leather was being stamped and patterned with detail. There is an infinite amount of detail in every Steampunk costume. The details even have details. A jet pack in front of one of the display tables was constructed using two large soda bottles as the main canisters.

Gadgets and gizmo’s were all for sale. The fashion for women featured corsets and fur. I rather like the look. Gusts could stop at the leather working station and pound in some of their own patterns using a metal template and a hammer. In a room behind me, an announcer would let everyone know that the potato gun was about to be fired.  It blasted off about every half hour. In the stairway, Orit Reuben was doing a pastel portrait of Jenny Coyle as she read her book. I’m happy that art was represented at the Maker Faire. There was a back room for robotic battles, but unfortunately the two times I went it the robots were on a break. Robots don’t need cigarette breaks.

Sketchy Broads offered fun sketching options for Orlando artists.

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Sketchy Broads are two models, Jenny Coyle and Lindsay Boswell, who love to come up with quirky costumes and pose for artists and photographers. The prices for an evening of sketching were, $10 for anyone who wishes to take reference photos. $7 for the full 2.5 hours of sketching (30 minutes of short poses and 2 hours of long poses) and $5 for just the long poses.

This particular evening the event was at Stardust Video and Coffee,  (1842 Winter Park Rd, Orlando, FL). They always have quality lighting using photographers umbrellas. Personally I prefer a single spotlight to get strong shadows but I tend to focus on only one sketch while everyone else is doing the short poses.

The group had been meeting at Austin’s Coffee (929 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL) but I do believe that the modeling sessions haven’t happened lately. Austin’s is a crowded spot to hold the events. I suspect that the turn out at these events might not have been enough to keep the event happening. I also know that Jenny was planning to start work on a film project and certainly once production began on that there would be no time left over for modeling. The last event I notice on Facebook was on December 5th of 2013.

Queen of Hearts Casino Night

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Jenny Coyle organized a Queen of Hearts Casino Night in the parking lot next to Maxine’s on Shine (337 north shine ave, Orlando, Florida). Jenny organized the event to help raise money for her independent film, “Perfect Love“. Terry wore all stripes looking like a zebra on steroids. I thought I would sketch her playing, but she wandered to the far table and I didn’t see her again.

Shelly Maxine introduced herself saying I had sketched her many years ago as she folded napkins in another restaurant. She was dressed up as the mad hatter and her wild red hair sprouted out from beneath a cougar skinned fur hat. She and her husband, Kirt, are the best possible proprietors at this amazing restaurant. A musician was performing inside and he had just released a CD. He was performing Beetles cover songs however so I didn’t get a taste of what his original music might be like. Jenny wore a bright pink queens dress. She said she felt like a five year old when she saw it.

As Jenny said, “Don’t lose your head, it’s only a party! 

There will be:

Blackjack, prizes, drinks, and live entertainment!

For just $10 you got your first drink and your first few thousand dollars in funny money for the casino. We’re making our money off of the buy in for the casino, and the silent auction items. Naturally this means we are trying to get as many people there as possible. 
Costumes aren’t required, but I might be inclined to give you some extra cash for the casino if you come out in an Alice in Wonderland themed getup.”

After Terry lost all her chips and I finished my sketch, we went into Maxine’s for an appetizer. I ordered some Calamari and it was great, being baked rather than fried with a sweet vinegar drizzle on top. I took the waiters advice on a beer although I don’t recall the band. Maxine invited me back to sketch the restaurant interior and I will most certainly go back. The place is a real gem.

Moulin Rouge Gala- A Show Extravaganza

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I went to the Winter Park Community Center, (721 West New England Ave. Winter Park), on December 2nd to the Moulin Rouge Gala. I felt it was important that an artist be at the Gala. Toulouse Lautrec wouldn’t have passed on the opportunity. Every two years Le Salon Zizou works with a local charity and other participates to put together a combination of hair, fashion and entertainment to raise money for charity. This year they worked with the Disability Wellness Center in Sanford to help raise money for the EKSO suit for paraplegics. There are ONLY 20 world wide and this will be HUGE for Central Florida to have the first EKSO suit used for physical therapy when the other 20 are used for studies.

When I arrived, the dancers from Emotions Dance got on stage to loosen up and get used to the size of the stage. Larissa Humiston stood in front of the stage to let them know what worked and what didn’t. After them, a woman performed solo with Hula hoops and large geometric forms that she spun above her head. The ceiling was rather low which resulted in her crashing the huge cube shape into the ceiling beam. A singer discussed her song with the DJ. People in wheel chairs took to the stage. Blinking lights were on the chairs making for quite a display. Then negotiated the stage in a pre-planned choreography.

The twenty or so models arrived with outlandish hair stylings. I noticed model Jenny Coyle, from Sketchy Broads, with her hair bundled up in three huge Princess Lea buns. Le Salon Zizou, in association with the West Orlando Rotary Club, presented their 3rd annual Charity Hair Spectacular.  The real highlight of the evening came when Sarah Anderson got on stage with her wheel chair. With an assistant to spot her, she strapped herself into the EKSO Suit. As she did so, she talked about the day in 2003 when she lost her ability to walk. She was skiing that day and for whatever reason, she had an ominous feeling that she shouldn’t be on the mountain that day. Regardless, a horrible fall on the slope resulted in her becoming a paraplegic. Doctors told her that she would never walk again. She leaned forward and raised herself from the wheel chair.  She walked across the stage as the servos, gyros and computerized pistons responded to her weight shifts allowing each step in succession. Sarah stood onstage during the auction and the bidding got heated. “Never say never!”

Bat Attack: The Dork Knight Rises

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Every month on the third or fourth Thursday, Sketchy Broads host a sketch session at Austin’s Coffee (929 W. Fairbanks Ave. Winter Park, Fl). This month they dressed up as Batman characters from The Dark Knight Rises. They always come up with stunning outfits.

The modeling session costs $5 to sketch long poses from 6:30 – 8:30

$7 to sketch from 6-8:30 which includes 30 min. of short gestures, and

$10 if you wish to take reference photos.

I arrived and ordered a Yak which is a tasty iced coffee. There were only four of five other artists so it was easy enough to find a seat. I ended up on the big red couch. Sitting back in the cushions, I couldn’t move my elbow much, so I sat on the edge of the couch leaning forward. Two white photographer’s umbrellas lit the scene. Lindsay Boswell was dressed head to toe in black leather as an edgy and hip Cat Woman. It is a shame that Anne Hathaway‘s outfit doesn’t show this much cleavage. Jenny Coyle was dressed in lace stockings, a tight bodice and frilly skirt skirt as a sexy and deranged Arkham City Harley Quinn mental ward nurse.

All my early sketches were tiny thumbnails and then I did a larger sketch towards the end of the session. I’m getting better at choosing the intricate details that are needed while letting other areas stay unresolved. Knowing how long the pose will last was a real luxury. I should get out to these sessions more often. If you are an artist you should come out to these sketch sessions, they are a blast!

Zombie Apocalypse

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Lindsay arrived at her job as a waitress at Austin’s Coffee. She had been held up in traffic crawling down I-4 and her forehead was pounding with a migraine. Running late, she ran to the bathroom and quickly changed into her uniform. She slipped on her black blouse with its snappy white collar then worked the aqua crinoline skirt up over her hips. She had recently washed a coffee stain out of her white frilly apron. She checked herself in the mirror and brushed a bleached blonde curl away from her face.

No one paid attention to the local news playing in the kitchen. A perky newscaster announced, “Patient zero went viral at 6 p.m.” Lindsay clicked it off and turned the Radio Dial until she found Johnny Cash. Austin’s was packed. Young hipsters sat in booths mesmerized by their computer screens. She took an order for some ice cold coffees not b0thering to look up from her pad. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw someone enter who was different somehow. The girl wore a pair of cut up jeans and a black bra. She looked like a 60’s flower child but she was a bit rough around the edges. She limped in and stiffly sat at a round table in the front of the room. “Great.” Lindsay thought, “This one isn’t going to be a good tipper.” Lindsay approached and pulled the spiral bound note pad out of her waist. She pulled the pencil out from behind her ear, licked the lead and rested the sharp tip on the page. “Well, What’ll you have?” she said with bored contempt.

The customer had a musky dead rat smell. “Don’t hippies take showers anymore?” she thought. Lindsay tried to be polite but she raised her hand up to her nose. She suddenly realized the customer’s left cheek was missing. The teeth were clenched and exposed. Suddenly the customer lunged at Lindsay and quickly grabbed her wrist. She screamed and pulled violently back and she heard the bone in her forearm snap. She looked and saw the bone sticking out. Her shoe slipped off in the struggle. In horrific pain she continued to scream until her wind pipe was slit with a serrated knife. One customer looked up from his computer but lost interest in the struggle and returned to Facebook.

Her head dropped to the table. Blood gushed out ruining her uniform. Her eyes stared blankly forward as painful wet noises came from her open neck. A tear rolled from her terror stricken eye. The hippie zombie tried pulling strips of flesh from Lindsay’s throat using a fork. The strips of flesh just dangled, never staying on the fork, like so much stubborn spaghetti. Frustrated, she threw the utensils to the floor and sank her teeth into Lindsay’s open wound. She hunched over her prey like a lioness.

What she really wanted however was fresh and juicy brain. She smashed a plate on the table and used its sharp jagged edge to cut the curly blonde hair away from the top of her victim’s head. She peeled the scalp away from the skull and let it hang down, dripping blood on the floor. She violently smashed the skull with a plate and once she had chipped a small hole in the skull she pushed her index finger inside and starting pulling chips away like she was digging into a large hard boiled egg. She slipped both hands inside the skull gently squeezing the brain as she lifted it out in one piece. The brain made an audible slurping noise as it was yanked free. She severed the spinal cord with her teeth, then she bit deeply into the soft thought filled mess. Blood oozed all over her face dripping down between her breasts.She ate the whole thing in a few very messy wet bites.

The other customers rose from their seats. Moaning, they approached the limp body now crumpled on the floor. All their hands reached out, hungry for fresh meat. A bit of frontal lobe was lying in a pool of blood in front of Lindsay’s eyes. A customer lifted it up pinching it between his index finger and thumb with his pinkie raised. He slipped it to the back of his throat like a raw oyster. Dozens of hands searched and clawed ripping and tearing away the fresh pulsing flesh. Blood spurted and knees became soaked in the widening pool of blood.

The Sketchy Broads host a monthly sketching session at Austin’s every month. Happy Halloween.

Sketchy Todd

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The Sketchy Broads, Lindsay Boswell and Jenny Coyle held a sinister sketch session for local artists at Austin’s Coffee (929 West Fairbanks Avenue). I arrived right after work and ordered an ice cold Yak coffee. I found a seat in a movie theater seat facing the front door. Lindsay arrived shortly after and I helped her move some furniture around. I let her set up the fancy photo lights and backdrop. Slowly artists arrived. As the models were doing quick three minute poses, I focused on blocking in the whole scene.

One artist arrived dressed in a suit of purple armor. He had pointy ears and wore dark sunglasses. His long dark hair flowed over his shoulders. A large bongo drum was slung over his shoulder in a satchel. His name was Konrad McKane and he was portraying a character he created from a graphic novel called Alkaya, the legend of Empyro. He sat on a cushy red couch to sketch. I have to find out where he performs on that drum so I can sketch him in action.

After this pose with the bloody knife, Jenny cut her thumb as she was putting the dull blade away. It turned out that the corner of the blade near the base was still sharp. She calmly washed the wound in the kitchen and waited for a band aid. I cringed, watching the blood pool up in her cupped hand. These two will go to any length to achieve bloody accuracy with the characters they portray. They offer blood sweat and tears every month for our sketching pleasure. At last my arm is complete again.

Dead Men Chase no Tail

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I decided to go to Austin’s Coffee (929 W. Fairbanks Avenue) to join “Sketchy Broads” for an evening of sketching. It was pouring on my drive over from work. All day there had been tornado warnings across Central Florida. I made sure my sketch books were in plastic bags and then I sprinted through the parking lot to the back door. I ordered a Yak which is a frozen coffee with caramel and chocolate. Sean Moore, Austin’s owner and coffee expert, told me he had peaked over my shoulder the last time I had stopped in for a sip and a sketch. He liked what I was working on and invited me to exhibit my work on the coffee shop walls. I always get nervous when my sketchbooks leave my studio but I might take him up on the offer.

While I was waiting for my drink, Orit Reuben introduced herself. She was there to sketch as well. We both had arrived early and both of us were attending the Austin’s sketch event for the first time. Sean let us know he would be moving furniture off the front stage area to get things ready. I joined Orit when she started moving chairs. Sean and I moved the Victorian looking purple couch onto the stage as a prop. Soon the models, Jenny Coyle and Lindsay Boswell, arrived. They had a hamper full of pirate costuming and props. When Jenny pulled out an old bottle of rum, an artist remarked, “That’s no prop, she goes everywhere with that tharr bottle!” Everyone laughed.

As artists arrived, I added them to my sketch. I did some of the fast poses but then erased them and waited to add the pirates when they took longer poses. Orit had a concerned look on her face when she sketched. She had a large 18 by 24 pad for doing pastels but I think she needed an easel. Another artist arrived with a mini easel and he told her where she could pick one up. He did some very detailed pencil renderings of the pirates faces. I have just the one sketch to show for the evenings modeling session. As I left, I bumped into Swami Worldtraveler and he let me know about the weekly jazz sessions at Austin’s every Thursday night starting at 9pm. Sounds like I have to come back for another sketch!