John Nadeau – Analog Artist Digital World

Artists in the competition had only two hours to complete their work. During this time, all registered participants set up their supplies and painted or drew in downtown Winter Park. Blank canvases were be stamped the morning of the event to ensure that all paintings are created during the limited time frame.

I decided to sketch Renee Lammers who painted the Albin Polasek “Emily Fountain“. Prior to the whistle announcing the start of the competition, she did a thumbnail drawing in a small tin which just held tiny sheets of paper and a pencil. She saw me starting to sketch and came over. She was concerned that I was sketching Emily’s butt. She suggested I come over to her bench which had a better view of Emily and her harp in profile. the second the whistle sounded she stood and used the thumbnail sketch to block in her painting. A Winter Park resident looked over Renee’s shoulder watching every brush stroke. I almost sketched the resident and then thought better of it.

I walked the park counting the artists and watching their progress. About 19 artists competed with most remaining in Central Park. Several artists ventured to the farmers market which is usually illegal to paint. Another artist ventured as far as Casa Feliz. The air horn used to start and stop the competition was eco-friendly being just a soda bottle with 80 pounds of air pressure.

After the paintings were completed, they were displayed on the artists’ easels in Central Park for an Art Stroll from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. The public voted for their favorite piece to win the People’s Choice Award. Prizes were awarded in the following categories: First Prize – $250 went to Mike Pintar; Second Prize – $150 went to Matthew Cornell; Third Prize – $75 went to Arielle Study; People’s Choice – $100, sponsored by the City of Winter Park went to John Nadeau.

The
Earth Day Quick Draw Competition is a lead-up event to the Albin
Polasek Museum’s signature annual event, the Winter Park Paint Out plein
air festival. The 9th Annual Winter Park Paint out will be held from
April 23 to 29, 2017, with an entire week of free programming and
events. Visit winterparkpaintout.org for more information and a schedule of events.

The fifth Orlando Drink and Draw (ODD) was held at The Brass Tap (Mills
Park 1632 N Mills Ave, Orlando, Florida). Mills Park is a new
development featuring apartments and a strip mall near the theaters on
Princeton. There used to be a tiny store on the corner of Mills and
Virginia called “Cash Lust Translator“. That store sold of cash
registers and the owner held on to the store for the longest time which
held up the development project. I regret never going into Cash Lust
Transactor to sketch.

Having never been to Mills Park, I got a bit lost looking for The Brass Tap.
In all about six artists stopped out to drink and draw. I was pleased that
two new artists came out. Audrey Zindler and John Nadeau are regulars at the Crealdé
sketch classes. John sat at the end of the bar and as I sketched l debated if he was an artist or not. He does wonderful loose oil paintings in the figure drawing classes. Audrey showed me his work on her phone. She is now running the Sunday Morning
sketch sessions and I’m encouraged to start sketching from models again.
The Sunday morning sketch sessions are from 10am to 12:30 pm at Crealdé
School of Art, 600 St Andrews Blvd, Winter Park, FL. The cost. $10. I
need to loosen up my digital sketches and this seems like a great way to
do that.

Carlos Basabe was working on a sketch of a steampunk penguin with a jet pack which I believe is for a beer label. He recently shared a beer label design for Chiberian Warmer and it is hilarious. Vote for it if to like it. I had the notion of having artists do quick 5 minute sketches of each other, but by the time everyone had arrived, I was contently working on my sketch and I couldn’t stop, so I let everyone drink and draw in piece. My beer for the night was Funky Buddha and I had a pretzel to munch between sips. When my sketch was done I joined in on a conversation about the Walking Dead. I like having the opportunity to see what other artists are up to and being able to wind down after the sketch is done. Usually when I sketch each night, I pack up the art kit and head home once the sketch is complete.

Mark your calendar. ODD 6 will be held December 7th starting a 6 pm at The Falcon Bar and Gallery. If you know an artist who likes to drink, draw or both, let them know.