Premise Entertainment Drawing Night

Posted on by Thor


About every month Premise Entertainment hosts a drawing night at Creative Cay, (5959 Anno Avenue Pine Castle Fl). The cost for a two hour sketch session is $10. The poses were fairly short which offered me a chance to do a whole series of sketches instead of the one  sketch I usually do each night at events. The model was Megan Crawford who is a talented local dancer, aerialist, acrobat, body paint model and artist model. I see her at events all over town and have drawn her multiple times.

She was running a bit late because of traffic. When she got to the studio, she was rushing to get on her ballet outfit. On the side lines she started the delicate process of lacing on her ballet slippers. This is the kind of moment I always hope to sketch when drawing on location. Dominic Carola the President and Creative Director of Premise runs the sketch sessions and I shouted out to him, “Do you think we could sketch while she laces up?” He agreed and we were all off an running. I stood so as not to relax and settle into old habits while drawing.

It was a fun night of sketching. My goal was to loosen up working digitally. Instead of creating multiple layers, I simply painted right on top of line work on the sketch. When sketching on location there really isn’t time to switch back and forth between layers. At some point I usually end up painting or sketching on the wrong layer. This meant that some line work was destroyed. Destruction as it turns out is very much a part of creation.

 Dom plays music during the sketch session which adds to the story of the scene. The song I most remember from this session was “Don’t You Want Me” by the Human League which was about a female performer who was lifted from obscurity by some guy who is shocked that she is moving on to a better life without him.

Artist Kyle Gentry brought in a “Making Of Klaus” book and Dom was flipping through while sitting on the model stand during a break. Apparently there are very few of these books and they are sold out. Klaus was produced for Netflix and there was speculation that might be the only reason that this film did not win an Academy Award. The film uses traditional hand drawn animation combined with some simple but very effective ways to paint the characters so that they look volumetric and solid. The backgrounds resemble the work of Disney artist Eyvind Earle. I recently heart that a film is in the works inspired by the drawing style of Ronald Searle, who is my favorite cartoonist and illustrator. My hope is that this is a sign that traditional hand drawn animation may be experiencing a resurgence.

LUNA

Posted on by Thor

Ana Cuellar, a Cirque du Soleil artist, brings  8
internationally acclaimed dances to Fringe this year through her
creation of LUNA. The show’s emotional forces draw you in to
experience her creative spirit channeled through the movement of dance.
Featuring Cirque and top professional performers.

A young woman sat at a desk writing in her journal with a large feather pen. As he wrote, different performers came on stage performing dances that expressed the various sides of her personality. IF she took a step back so would the dancer. Performers expressed passion, yearning and some amazing acts of balance and dexterity. What the write imagined, came to life. One performer did amazing things with close to a dozen hula hoops.

On particularly strong piece featured spoken word that was about overcoming a lifetime of bullying. The performers realized their inner beauty despite the history of abuse. Megan Crawford, a local dancer sailed light as a feather in her muscular partners arms. The powerful spoken word and the graceful dancing was truly moving. Another couple danced a flamenco inspired dance with romantic flair. I give the show 8 out of 10 hula hoops.

LUNA is in the Pink Venue. Tickets are $10 plus a Fringe button which is needed to get into any show.

Show times are:

Friday, May 18, 2018 5:30 PM

3:00 PM 

1:45 PM 

8:45 PM 

5:30 PM 

1:30 PM 

7:00 PM

Form Structure and Interactions at the White House.

Posted on by Thor

The Timucua White House (2001 Hamilton Ln, Orlando, FL 32806) hosts weekly concerts in their spacious living room that rivals some concert halls. Benoit Glazer built his home around this pitch perfect sound proofed space. This concert featured original compositions for trumpet and electronics. Most of the composers were in the audience. Besides the main performance, an artist usually creates on stage as well. On this evening, a sculptor named Diego Inkusual worked on a life sized bust of a young poised dancer named Megan Crawford. I’m pretty sure I sketched Megan at some dance rehearsal, because I recognized her. I decided to sit down at a back patio table, and my chair tumbled over backwards, thankfully with out me in it. As we all waited to get into the concert hall, Diego kissed Megan’s neck and she smiled at the distraction.

Benoit’s wife Elaine Corriveu, Wendy Wallenberg and others bustled in the kitchen. Guests usually bring a bottle of wine or a side dish, turning the evening into a community potluck. Strange, the program doesn’t list the Trumpet player’s name. That is a strange oversight. Anyway, he was quite good as was the sculptor, also not listed.

Diego had several life sized sculpture on stage, and another in The entry-potluck area. Fabrics flowed from their semi nude bodies. It was impressive work. Diego was quite active as was his model, Megan. He would often ask her to rotate in her seat so he could sculpt her from a different angle. He would often stand and he would gouge deep grooves in the sculpted hair. The facial features had been delicately refined back at his studio. He was feeling the music and it influenced his movements. Megan kept perfect still.

One composer wasn’t in the audience. He was at an inspirational seminar. The concert was being shared with him and another audience with him at the seminar. Most composers got on stage to introduce their original music, he called in to talk to us all. Charles Griffin composed Between Islands this year. He told both audiences, that when he moved to Orlando, his creative urge dried up. He tried to work through it, but he was stuck. He had never experienced this before. The support and contact with other creative people finally reversed the stagnancy. This composition was the first he wrote as he got back on track. He spoke about his mother’s death, loss and the need to remember. It is a theme that has hit home with me many times as I sketch people affected by Pulse. I try to remain in business mode, but often it sinks in. Charles used the sounds of ocean bells clanging quietly on the waves. the somber music hit a chord with me and the pencil stopped dancing on the page, so I could stop to close my eyes and truly listen.

The next White House concert is, Tonight 10/16/16 at 7:30 pm. It is Contemporary Classical, featuring Elizabeth Baker, Toy Piano and electronics, Art is by Gladiola Sotomayor.