The Maker Faire had a human powered snow cone machine.

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Outside the Orlando Science Center, during the Maker Faire, there was a constant line of children and adults waiting to use the human powered wheel. Ice Age is the company that created this technological wonder. It reminds me of a sketch Leonardo Da Vinci did in the renaissance of a human powered machine gun. Human-Powered Snow Cones are the brainchild of dreamer and inventor Joe Donoughe. To use the machine you would stand inside the barrel and walk or run. The motion would power a machine that would crush the ice which would then be dumped into a cup. The cup of ice would move down a small conveyor belt. Pulling a hammer would lower a flat metal hand which would pack the crushed ice down. Then the conveyor belt would move the cup to the flavor station where a pull on a leaver would add the bright colored flavor to the ice.

I would have to bet that standing in the sun and then exercising in the human hamster wheel would burn more calories than what could be gained from the cup of ice. As I was sketching the machine, the Maker Faire was drawing to a close. The line of kids waiting to get their human powered ice never diminished.  At some point the line must have been capped so that the inventors could pack up and go home.

I walked around outside to see what other vendors had to offer. There was a giant red inflatable robot with an M on his chest which clued passers by that the Faire was happening. Paint the Trail was busy painting wooden fencing with hip pop personalities and sayings. There were wind chimes and hand fashioned flutes. I spent two solid days at the Maker Faire and honestly don’t think that I saw everything that there was to see.

Emotions Dance Rehearsal

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Emotions Dance Company is rehearsing for the premiere of “Art Evolution“, a collaborative arts experience. Larissa Humiston the Emotions founder and choreographer invited me to be a part of the experience.  At first I thought I would do a series of sketches of the rehearsals but it is a long drive to the dance studio, and I try to reserve Sundays as family time.

Art Evolution is inspired by the famous works of well-known artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Vincent Van Gogh, Degas and more. Audiences will experience live contemporary dance by Emotions Dance Company, including a piece created by special guest choreographer, Genevieve Bernard of Voci, and spoken word poetry by artists such as Jessie Bradley, Mark Harriott and more.

I love the idea that the dance is inspired by famous paintings so I’ve started a series of paintings that show the dancers as part of the paintings. For instance the dancers gestures are evocative of the spiraling night sky in Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Video reference of the rehearsals is giving me the luxury of picking gestures that work best for my paintings. In all there will be ten paintings I need to complete that will be displayed at the Shakespeare theater during the show. I’ll likely make affordable gift cards from the series of paintings as well.

 This contemporary dance, visual art, and spoken word collaboration will
be performed twice: Friday, June 13 and Saturday, June 14, 2014, at 8
p.m. at The John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center’s Mandell Theatre (812 E. Rollins
St. Orlando).

Pre-sale tickets for the performance are $18 for General Admission and
$14 for Students/Seniors and will be on sale starting May 1 and will be
available through June 5. After that, tickets can be purchased at the
door for $20 General Admission or $15 for Students/Seniors.

Louvre

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The Louvre in Paris is a museum which definitely can not be seen in one day. Vast halls of sculpture and paintings go on and on in this huge palace. It was funny to see the crowds swarm towards the Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci. The portrait appeared postage stamp sized when viewed from the middle of the room. Mona Lisa smiled at the endless crowd of tourists who crushed up to shoot photos on their cell phones. Many couldn’t get close enough, so they raised the cameras up over their heads to get a clear shot. Her image echoed across every view screen. One tourist decided to shoot a black and white sign with Mona Lisa’s likeness that pointed towards the room. In the hallway outside there were several more paintings by da Vinci, but they went largely ignored. One woman almost sat in the lap of a statue’s lap when she wanted to rest. Security guards quickly asked her to move.

Terry and I put in a marathon effort, seeing as much art as we could in one day. Terry wanted to see the Napoleonic Apartments which I thought would be a bore, but I was well impressed by the lavish, excessive opulence.  I’m amazed the rooms survived the French Revolution. I didn’t sketch until we left the museum. Seeing so much art left me itching to draw. I immediately sat down opposite this Louis XlV statue as the sun set. I should have thought twice because half way into the sketch, the sun burst out from behind the clouds blinding me as I stared straight at it.  In another way it was a blessing because it forced me to only see bold simple silhouettes. Artists seem able to work in absolute anonymity in Paris. I was surrounded once by a Japanese tourist group. I didn’t understand a thing they said but I have to assume that the chatter was positive. Terry and I went out for a magnificent diner that night, I believe at Un P’tit Coin Du Cuisine. The fine dining and wine helped us recoup from our museum burn.

Pirate Day!

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I was running late getting to the Orlando Science Center (777 East Princeton Street, Orlando Fl)  to attend and sketch Blog Con. It was raining so I sucked it up and paid $5 to park in the parking garage across the street. Walking across the glass enclosed walkway to the museum I passed children in costume as pirates. The place was packed full of pirates. The conference I was there was informative but I played hookey long enough to sketch the pirate at the entrance who quickly made balloon sabers, swords and cutlasses for the kids. The second two kids got their swords, they would be fencing and stabbing each other in the belly.

Leonardo Da Vinci‘s flying machine was suspended from the ceiling. Made of wood, I highly doubt it would fly, but the pirate seated next to me said the pulley systems would multiply the force applied to the winch six times.  Any time folks would walk by this friendly pirate would say, Arrrrre ye having a good time. I heard this said so often that I wanted a saber to run me through. Pirates behind me were rolling dice to pick crew mates. A wench informed me that quarters below deck were quite cozy.