The Comedy of Errors Second Pass

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For my second pass at the Comedy of Errors poster I focused on a Mardi Gras parade. I wanted a brass band and a wash board. I had been to a wedding in New Orleans and my most vivid memory caught in a sketch was of a brass band playing on the street. I started researching opulent Mardi Gras masks and costumes. I also wanted it to feel like the parade was proceeding down Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. I also started having fun with the title treatment. I drew this swirly title by hand and I rather like it. I don’t know why it was ultimately abandoned. If I were to use in in the final poster I would need to clean up the edges by erasing and redrawing edges of the letters to make everything slippery smooth.

For some reason I fell in love with a woman with light blue purple chiffon wings. I raised her up above the crowd as if she was the figurehead on a sailing ship or was raised on a float. I kept the tow male twins from my first pass at the poster and just hid them in the crowd. The guy holding the bright yellow umbrella also crossed over from the first pass of the poster. I added a golden Mardi Gras Mask just because it was so fun to paint. There was a desire to make the title bigger, so the mask had to go.

Burbon street looked fine but it was rather dark in this rendition of the poster. I wanted more of an excuse to play with point lighting and neon glows. The upper hapf of the poster was dark to allow the title to be read but there must be a way to add more drama to that night sky.

In general everyone liked the parade but the woman didn’t need to be the center of attention. There was a desire for the title to feel even more like what is seen on Mardi Gras posters and promotional material. I started researching type that had that Mardi Gras flair. In general the lower 1/3 of the poster was working just fine. I needed to play more with the upper 2/3 of the poster image.

My favorite touch was the trumpet leading the eye into the deep space. That I would have to save.

Comedy of Errors First Pass

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In designing the 2023 Orlando Shakes poster for Comedy of Errors, I started with a kaleidoscopic idea that featured two sets of twins. In the Shakespeare comedy identities get mixes as two sets of twins fall in love. It is a comedy that stresses how ephemeral love is and how blind. I was looking a tons of reference from Mardi Gras since the Shakespeare play was to be staged in New Orleans. My idea involved perfect symmetry which is something digital painting is quite good at. In the background I placed abstractions from intricate Mardi Gras parade floats. The only thing that broke the symmetry were the two men in the background both holding yellow umbrellas. The title treatment was kept bold with offset lettering to imply comedy.

This was just one of the ideas pitched for the poster. Ultimately everyone leaned towards a street parade scene since it had more action and a large cast of characters. Purple and yellow became the complimentary colors that dominated all of my initial concept sketches. I was doing concept sketches at full size. I honestly feel it is just as easy to paint a concept rather than to do a pencil sketch which  can be harder to interpret. I like throwing line and color at the page right from the start. I know everything can change and likely will so the stakes are not high.

I just gave a quick presentation for the Orlando board that showed the process behind 10 of the theater posters. I realize now that should be a sub category in my portfolio. Some people probably think that one image is created and accepted but the process if far more collaborative allowing an idea to evolve and grow just as any stage production evolves with many rehearsals. My first pass at a poster is seldom the one that will get accepted. My first pass is just a sloppy attempt to catch the fish. Once the fist is caught, then the more interesting and intricate ideas can work their way into the process.

Comedy of Errors: Poster Evolution 2

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The second pass at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater poster focused on a Mardi Gras parade. Two of the characters were identical but since they looked alike it felt like a mistake. I set up a woman with shimmering wings as the focal point but she didn’t really relate to the play directly.

Everyone liked the street scene I had set up and the musicians. The title didn’t have enough of a Mardi Gras feel so it would need to be reworked. The glowing lights of a nocturnal parade felt right. The large mask as a decorative element really wasn’t needed so it would fall to the wayside.

Though there were plenty of changes still needed it felt like I was on the right track.

Mardi Gras at The Orlando Museum of Art

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From 6-9 pm on the first Thursday of each month, Central Florida has an opportunity to discover local artists, listen to live music and mingle with an eclectic mix of people. There are cash bars serving wine, beer, soft drinks and water, and café offerings from area restaurants. The event is hosted by the Associates of the Orlando Museum of Art (2416 N. Mills Ave Orlando, Florida). The museum refers to the event as “Orlando’s original art party”.

The February First Thursday’s theme was Mardi Gras. I arrived rather late and settled on sketching the band before they broke down for the night. High-spirited guests were dancing to the music. There was a drag show in the front gallery, but when I walked in they were walking out. I seemed to be one step behind every performance that night. There were plenty of golden masks and opulent dresses. I just didn’t manage to capture any in the one quick sketch I did. Maxine of Maxine’s on Shine offered some gumbo at the end of the night and it was absolutely delicious. It had just enough kick.The taste brought back vivid memories of the crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans in which you need to learn how to navigate the flow of the crowd not through annoyance and avoidance, but by accepting the weaving and constant contact. It’s glorious when you are in the moment.

The Mennello Museum Indie-Folkfest.

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The final assignment for the Valentines Day Sketch Tour was for all the artists to explore and sketch the very crowded Mennello Museum Indie-Folk Festival. This was a chance for me to finally get out my own sketchbook. I immediately sat in front of the outdoor stage l sketch The Brown Bag Brass Band. I had just danced the night away several nights before, listening this band at a Mardi Gras celebration at Dexter’s in Winter Park with a friend. We danced to the point of exhilarated exhaustion. That same energy was very much alive at this outdoor performance. Dancing however seemed reserved for the kids.

Indie-Folkfest puts a twist on the Mennello Museum’s traditional Orlando Folk Festival turning it into a Valentine’s Day-themed family folk picnic that features local music, art and food. The museum partnered with East End Market for food, Joseph Martens for the music lineup, as well as local bars to throw a fun-filled picnic in the beautiful Sculpture Garden of The Mennello Museum of American Art. Approximately 3,000 guests, including plenty of dogs and kids, spread out picnic blankets, made Valentine cards and enjoyed a daylong lineup of music against the backdrop of Lake Formosa in the winter sunshine.It was the second annual day dedicated to Music + Art + Picnic + Love.

All the artists gathered back at our lakeside classroom to share our sketches and experiences. Sketching on location always opens the possibilities of meeting someone new or learning something new. It is a way exciting to go out in to the world and do what you love and share it with others. This is the message I keep trying to convey to a new generation of artists. We all posed for a group photo before class was adjourned.

The Mardi Gras Soiree at Dexter’s of Winter Park.

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I got to Dexter’s of Winter Park (558 W New England Ave, Winter Park, Florida) fairly early to get a table with a decent view of the band. I explained that I needed to sketch and the Maitra d’ set me up front and center.  Fat Tuesday was being celebrated in grand style with a fantastic celebration of life and music. The Brown Bag Brass Band was already playing New Orleans standards loud and proud. I had received a text from Frankie Messina earlier in the day about the Mardi Gras Soiree. A friend from my past who I worked with over 30 years ago at Zip Mailing, is snow birding in Winter Park for several months. I told her about the Soiree and she had to weight her options between a Condo Association meeting or Mardi Gras. She arrived as I was finishing up my first sketch.

One of the patrons at the table next to me had a decibel reading app on his smart phone. He pointed it out to me and the needle kept spiking to over 103 decibels. The woman with him liked my sketch and I typed my site URL onto her smart phone. She said she could set me up with new clients. I really should always carry business cards A woman seated next to my friend shouted in her ear. The two of them were the first to get up to dance as I kept sketching.

The second act was Louisianna’s own Beth McKee and the Local Brass Band Heroes.  Fat Tire Beer was offering specials all night, so that is what I drank to loosen up the line work. Beth’s band got everyone in Dexter’s on their feet. With my second sketch done, I had to get up and dance as well to “When the Saints Go Marching In“. Beth asked the Brown Bag Brass Band to join in and we were all dancing only inches from the musicians. Frankie got on the dance floor and gave me a high five.

When all the festivities died down, my friend and I got a chance to talk at length. Catching up on 30 plus years of history takes time. I had no idea that she had become an artist since the last time I saw her, and I scrolled through her art on my cell phone. She creates intricate worlds with flowing volumetric forms. Some feel like intimate looks inside of living organisms. Colors were vibrant and though abstract, the work seemed familiar and alive. Round canvases give some of the paintings a calming appeal. At Zip Mail in Tenafly NJ, we were trained to become machines who collated, tied and moved a constant stream of junk mail. From that industrial crucible it is amazing that art managed to take root and thrive.