The Broken Lake Eola Fountain

Posted on by Thor

The Lake Eola Fountain was struck dead by a bolt of lightning way back in August of last year. Inside the structure there is broken glass, melted metal and a fried motor. Mayor Buddy Dyer has vowed to fix the fountain for a price tag of 2.3 million dollars. At a party, one person joked that he could easily fix the fountain by dragging his lawn hose out there and setting it on top of the structure. He said he could then pocket the 2.3 million and call it a day.

On the day I did this sketch, I visited Amanda Norvell of the Orlando Broadway Series. We discussed the possibility of my sketching each of the Broadway Series as they load in and perform at the Bob Carr. The first show I will likely sketch is The Phantom of the Opera. At a City Council Meeting I sketched back in November, the Phantom entered the proceedings and offered to help fix the fountain. The Phantom will be donating $5 from each ticket sold to help restore the fountain to its former glory. Should you want to see The Phantom of the Opera, running from January 20th to February 14th, call 1-800-982-2787 to get tickets! The city had also set up a place where concerned citizens can donate to the cause. I hope that whatever sketches I do of the Phantom will bring more people out to the show, which in turn will help fix the fountain. As I was doing this sketch a man approached me and said, “Great sketch, it’s a shame the fountain isn’t on, your sketch would be much more beautiful.”

It turns out that on the day I did this sketch, Brian Feldman was also having a meeting with Terry Olson of the Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs office, in the first of his Swan Boat Talks. Brian will be meeting with ten different Orlando artists with whom he would like to collaborate in 2010. I may rent a swan boat for one of these talks and try and sketch a meeting up close.

The Nutcracker at Lake Eola

Posted on by Thor

12-20-09Nutcracker

The Russian Ballet of Orlando presented a free performance of The Nutcracker at The Lake Eola Band-shell.It was a freezing cold night, well down in the 40’s anyway, so I dressed in 3 layers a sweatshirt, fleece jacket and a windbreaker. Even with all that I was rather cold. instead of sitting in the theater benches I picked a nice tree to lean up against. This gave me a good overall view of the band-shell and audience. This sketch was done on the digital tablet. The tablet is good for getting bright colors and it has the added advantage of getting nice and hot when the processor is being put through a workout. It worked as a nice hand warmer. I am making a commitment to use the tablet more often when sketching at night and indoors.

During a fifteen minute intermission a group of children ran screaming after a swan causing it to swim as fast as possible away from them. The father rather lamely asked them to leave the poor bird alone but they continued the pursuit. At one point during the Swan Lake number the swans started to honk loudly lifting their tall necks. Then they went right back to searching for food under the water.

I can’t offer much of a review of the Ballet. There was always someone standing between me and the stage but I did catch quick glimpses. I can tell you that the dancers who were standing off stage were freezing. I could see them huddled together and jumping up and down to try and stay warm. The cold weather made this feel like a true Christmas performance.

Food Not Bombs

Posted on by Thor

Today is International Peace Day so I thought I would do a sketch about “Food not Bombs”. This is a group that supplies food to Orlando’s homeless around the picnic area of Lake Eola Park every Wednesday. This group has faced arrests and police harassment since they began serving food in 2005. In July of 2006 the city passed an ordinance that severely limited the ability of groups to share food in 36 different parks around Orlando. The ordinance stated that any group that shares food with more than 25 people, including servers, must be limited to 2 food servings per 12 month period. Violation of this ordinance could carry a 60 day jail sentence and a $500 fine. The city claimed that food scraps left on the ground could be harmful to birds and squirrels, Garbage could affect public health, and that public safety would be threatened by the homeless attracted to the food. From my observations of this event, Food not Bombs did a great job of cleaning up after the feeding. As I sketched I certainly didn’t feel threatened in any way. I felt more threatened drawing at Neiman Marcus last week.

In April of 2007 Eric Montanez was arrested for violating the ordinance. 8 police officers were on hand to arrest him for serving stew. Police even took a sample of the vegan stew as evidence. Montanez was acquitted at his jury trial.

On September 26th 2008 Food Not Bombs won a victory against the city when federal judge Gregory Presnell rules that the City Ordinance violated Food Not Bombs right to free speech under the first amendment since the food sharings are expressive conduct carried out to convey a political message. As he stated “Not withstanding their diffuse political views, all Orlando Food Not Bombs members share in OFNB’s core belief: that food is a right which society has a responsibility to provide all of its members.”

Welcome Home, Pay Up

Posted on by Thor

I just got back from a beautiful trip to the Pacific Northwest and started going through the pile of mail. I discovered a letter from the City of Orlando saying I had not paid a parking ticket and since payment was overdue, I owed a fine as well. What Parking ticket? I had never seen one. I discovered after some research that the ticket was issued on the opening night of “War of the Worlds“. On that night I had gone to an opening night pre-party at the Savoy. Parking is near impossible in the antiques neighborhood where the bar was located and I drove around for quite some time to find the perfect spot. I parked in a residential neighborhood far from the congestion and enjoyed the long walk to the bar. I didn’t get the ticket for parking in a no parking zone but instead it was for parking with the butt of the car facing west instead of east.

I had just experienced a surreal display of authority at Lake Eola and decided I needed to further my experience in the city by dropping off my $45 parking ticket check in person. I was shocked when I walked up to the City’s Parking Division. The city placed this cash cow in the ground floor of a 5 story parking garage. This bureaucratic edifice resembles a movie ticket booth only a little bigger. It is playfully decorated by 32 colorful ceramic tiles decorated by school children to give the passer by a warm feeling that art is alive in the City Beautiful. I expected a long line at the pay out window but instead found I could just walk up to the window and deposit the check as if in a bank. I was curious to see my original ticket but knew that would cause a long and arduous wait. I just smiled and paid keeping my comments to myself. I don’t think I could have reasoned with the woman behind the window anyway. I am sure she has seen it all, besides video cameras were located everywhere. Big brother was watching.

As I sketched homeless would wander by, some with bikes and some with loaded carts, heading back to Parrimore returning from their day downtown. A young couple shouted down to me from the parking garage 2 floors above “Hey, don’t forget to sketch us!” Every 15 minutes or so another person would walk into the Parking Division to drop off a check or cold hard cash. The stream of people was steady and sure.

Post Script. I got a mutilated letter crushed into a plastic postal bag that says “We Care” in the mail today from the City for my Parking Violation Notice. A quarter of the letter had been ripped out by some sorting machine. I got to see the picture of my truck beautifully parked with no warning signs in sight. Sigh, I am so innocent.

Activists or Anarchists?

Posted on by Thor

I arrived at the Lake Eola Band Shell a few minutes late for an MP3 event called “Push Play“. Since the event was downtown, I asked my wife Terry to come down during her lunch and enjoy the show. People had their headsets on and had already begun to perform. All the participants had MP3 players with an audio file they had downloaded from the internet. Following the example of Improv Everywhere the participants would listen to the audio for instructions. The audio began…”This experience is about joy and fun. It is about embracing the unknown and each other with an open heart and a playful spirit.”

Not being a techie I did not have an MP3 player so I observed as an outsider. Everyone began jumping up and down waving their arms in the air. They then began to form long lines behind people who like me had no clue what was going on. Terry arrived with a long line of people walking behind her and mimicking her every move. She waved to me as did her line of followers. When Terry settled in all the 30 or so participants began to dance. Periodically everyone froze and then began to dance again.

Then the unexpected happened and the event turned surreal. 4 park Rangers showed up and they looked concerned and confused. The participants all began to lie down on the benches for a nap and what was a playful experience suddenly looked like an anarchist demonstration to the Rangers. The lead Ranger started shouting and asking to see the person in charge. Since everyone had headsets on no one heard him. I turned to Terry and said “This is bad, there is a law in Orlando against performance artists in public places and there is a No Loitering law forbidding people from lying down on benches in Lake Eola.” The parks Rangers used their walkie talkies to call in several Bicycle Police Officers.

When the police arrived and asked for a leader, the participants began to laugh uncontrollably as they had been instructed to do on the audio file. They then placed a finger to their lips as if to say Shhhh and they all raised a hand and made peace signs. The police blindly interpreted this as an anti war demonstration that they had to get under control. The police and Rangers thought the participants were mocking them. As the Rangers forced everyone out of the Amphitheater the MP3 participants were listening to a song titled Peace, Love and Happiness on their headsets.

Terry and I were asked to leave the area as well although my sketch wasn’t finished. It turns out that most of the entrances to the theater had NO TRESPASSING signs hung on velvet ropes. In order to sketch in the final details I sat at the edge of the roped off area adding background details. With the crowd contained on a grassy knoll the lead Park Ranger became more indignant claiming he had been ignored and everyone should be sent to jail. He was finally able to assert some authority to a captive audience. Jane Thompson stepped forward trying to reason with him and assumed responsibility for the group. A Police Officer took her license and issued her a summons that banned her from Lake Eola Park for one year. You might wonder what her deviant agenda might be, well she is the President of A Gift for Teaching which helps transfer the communities surplus materials and resources FREE to teachers and students in need. I applaud her efforts to bring this organizations work to the public’s attention. My simple act of sketching suddenly felt like a quiet plea for freedom of expression. The police watched me with suspicion until I finished my sketch. The irate Park Ranger asked me to step aside so he could take a picture of the NO TRESPASSING sign I was sitting near. Perhaps he needed that photo for his trophy case or to remind me that I was sitting dangerously close to the forbidden zone. In Iran thousands of brave people took a stand for democracy but here in Orlando you might face possible arrest for dancing in a public park.

A related article at “The Daily City“.

Lake Eola Farmers Market

Posted on by Thor

The Lake Eola Farmers Market is open every Sunday from 10 Am to 4PM. There were perhaps 30 or so tents set up with fresh produce and and assortment of holistic goods. One vendor had chilled coconuts which he would slice open and then insert a straw. After walking up and down the line of tents I decided my best bet for a sketch was to sit in this circular area which is shaded by large magnificent live oaks. In front of me was a whole table of women who seemed to get together every weekend. “I think I always tell you this but I love your hand bag.” There were toy sized dogs to be found everywhere. Orlando Brewing Company had a tent and many people were sipping beer as they relaxed.

I was inspired by the massive diagonals the tree trunks created as they sliced up toward then sky. Out of the bark sprouted ferns. Lazy Spanish Moss hung down from the thick branches. On the horizon dark clouds rolled in and thunder could be heard. However where we were it remained sunny. A guitar player in front of me was playing “Let the sun shine in” along with other Beetles songs. Children were seated in small green chairs watching him. Someone mentioned that he plays every weekend. Behind me I could hear a parrot’s shrill scream.

When I was done with the sketch, I walked around the lake scouting out restaurants and cafes for the up coming 23rd International Sketch Crawl. I am mapping a route so artists can join the crawl at any point during the day.

Swan Boat Dock Lake Eola

Posted on by Thor


Although I did some sketches today of my wife’s horse riding lesson, I will post another drawing from yesterdays sketch crawl. The little girl had an ice cream and soda. When the wife returned with some more food, the couple argued a bit. Dad didn’t want to pay $12 to float around on some Swan. Gabi over at sketchcrawl.com said that this was his favorite crawl sketch, so it would be a shame to not post it here.