Nearing Capacity

Posted on by Thor

Hospitals in New York City are being flooded beyond their capacity. Doctors and nurses are stretching the limited resources available to them and doing the best they can. Every day they struggle to just keep their heads above water, while the numbers of patients entering the hospital system continues to grow.

The sick are arriving so fast that more than 5,000 new beds might be needed for next week. One out of every four Covid-19 patients is in intensive care. The longer a patient stays on a ventilator the more likely they will not live. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to transfer ventilators from upstate New York to hospitals that have a dire need right now. The New York hospital system has 90,000 beds which are now filled to capacity.

Medical workers are the front line soldiers in this battle against Covid-19. Airbnb is offering $2 million dollars to provide hotel rooms for front line workers in this fight against Covid-19. A surge and flex system was set up to get needed supplies to the communities with the greatest need in New York State. Javits Center, Tents in Central Park, and the Brooklyn Cruise terminal should help with overflow patients as the numbers keep rising. Cuomo stressed over and over that testing is needed on a grand scale to control the spread of the virus.  Right now they are just trying to mitigate the damage from letting the virus go unchecked for so long. America has more cases of Covid-19 than any other country in the world. Before anyone can go back to work with any semblance of normalcy, there must be testing.

In New York State, the death toll continues at an astonishing rate.

April 4, 594 died

April 5, 599 died

April 6, 731 died

April 7, 779 died

April 8, 799 died

April 9, 777 died

April 10, 783 died

April11, 758 died

April 12, 671 died

The fact that the death rate leveled off is a somewhat hopeful sign. It indicates that the stay at home order might be turning the tide. However, 7,844 have died to date. New York asked for people to send photos of how their are staying strong though the pandemic and they edited a short video that stresses #Stay Home, #Stop the Spread, #Save Lives.

Covid-19 Pandemic Funerals

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The  United States is now the epicenter of the Covid-19 Pandemic and New York City is being hit the hardest. In New York City, funeral homes are having trouble keeping up with the demands of collecting bodies from the hospital morgues or truck refrigeration units and burying them. In the past funeral directors would go straight to the morgue to pick up the body, but now each hospital had multiple layers of security to be sure the funeral staff are not carrying the virus. A funeral director in Brooklyn had 15 Covid-19 victims to bury less than a month ago but by April 6, there were 300 victims to bury. No funeral home is able to handle such volumes.

Many death certificates listed Pneumonia as the cause of death but the medical examiner has to update the death certificate if the cause of death is in question. While this is being done the bodies sit in cold storage. Death certificates can take up to 3 days to be fixed. Now a person dies in New York City about every 10 minutes, so the morgues are overcrowded. Make shift morgues are being set up with white tents and refrigerated tractor trailers.

If a funeral is held, then the body must be embalmed. Only 10 people are allowed people gather at the funeral home and people must stand 6 feet apart. If someone were to cough, then the virus is airborne and can infect beyond the 6 foot perimeters. After any wake in the funeral home, every surface must be disinfected and the city has stated that only 3 funerals can be allowed on any given day. With such a high case load that means other options are needed for burials. Cremation is the most common funeral service but even they can not keep up with the demands. Cemeteries or crematories because they can only handle a certain number each day.

In California mourners could drive to the cemetery but they had to remain in their cars while the body was lowered into the ground. Grieving families can not hug each other or cry on each others shoulders. If you die from Covid-19 you will likely die alone.

Funeral home staff also are out of personal protective gear like face masks and gloves. Hospital staff get the first pick of protective gear and funeral staff must risk their lives by reusing what gear they have on hand.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo mourned the 799 lives that ere lost in just 1 day in NYC. He wants to bring into New York funeral directors and staff from out of state to help with burring all the bodies. 9-11 he the Twin Towers were attacked, was supposed to be the darkest day in New York City with 2753 lives lost. To date New York City has lost 7067 live to the Covid-19 virus.

Stay Home. Stop the Spread. Save Lives.

In the East Village of NYC.

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I was asked to teach an Urban Sketching Workshop in NYC. The hotel was located in the East Village which has changed quite a bit since I lived in NYC close to 25 years ago. Hip new bars and eateries proliferate the neighborhood. When I got to this street corner of Clinton and Houston the age old feeling of the city returned. I took the time to sit on a bench in the middle of the intersection and sketch the neighborhood. I  imagined myself living in that cylinder shaped corner tower on the corner on the top floor. From there I could see the bustling city life as I painted in the studio.

I went to college in the city and wish I had the patience and perseverance to sketch the scene as I can today. A homeless man on the far corner to my left was begging the entire time I sketches. His mantra for a dime became the soundtrack for the scene as I worked. It was a rather crisp day which I am not used to, so I had to put on my gloves to keep sketching. Direct sunlight helped when it struck  my hands.

The sketch workshop went well. We did quick studies while e were gathered in a dance studio which had mirrors on the walls. Mirrored walls are perfect for showing where a vanishing point is in a scene. For the second part of the workshop, we went to Grand Central Station. I wanted my crew of artists to see the main floor from the second level. We walked up the steps and overlooked the expanse. The amazing this is that the second floor of Grand Central Station is now exclusively an Apple Store. Phones and iPads were everywhere. The store staff didn’t seem to mind us leaning against the marble railings and sketching. After sketching at Grand Central, we all went to a German pub for drinks and to share sketches. The New York City Urban Sketching community is vibrant and exciting. I kind of miss being in the city that never sleeps.

Returning from New York City.

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After teaching an Urban Sketching Workshop in NYC I returned to Orlando via JFK airport.  Any time I am in an airport, I can’t resist sketching fellow passengers as they wait to board the plane. March in New York was crisp, so passengers we re bundled up. I’m sure I had on heavier jackets than the gentlemen in my sketch. Once the sketch was done, I ordered a Mountain Dew and a muffin to tide me over.

Back in Orlando the weather was warm and beautiful, so my jacket got tied brown my waist as I searched to my car in long term parking. Once I got home, my nose stuffed up. I’m convinced I was allergic to my home.

The Art of Breast Feeding.

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On a recent trip to New York City, Terry and I met with Leigh Anne O’Connor in a bustling lower East side bar.  Leigh Ann was a dear friend when we lived in NYC over 20 years ago. She is now an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Parenting Expert with over 17 years
experience working with families. She is the past President of New York
Lactation Consultant Association, a member of International
Lactation Consultant Association, United States Lactation
Consultant Association, and a past member of the Bank Street Head
Start Health Advisory Board.
When I expressed an interest in sketching nursing moms, she pulled out her phone and put out a message to that effect on Facebook. The next day, I was sketching Rebekah Grossman and her beautiful 11 week old, Harper. Leigh Anne’s job is to help moms who have difficulty getting the child to start feeding. Little Harper didn’t have enough suction at first. Rebekah told me that this was a perfect sketch opportunity because they could sit like this for hours. Once Harper was finished feeding he fell a sleep on her breast. After a long nap, he might feed again. The family dog slept at Rebekah’s feet.

Rebekah’s husband is an artist. He painted the walls of  baby’s area purple with white billowing clouds. Rebekah is facing the prospect of having to return to work as a political consultant. She wished she could stay home longer to bond with Harper. European countries give working moms much more maternity leave. Her mom is going to babysit while she is a work. In preparation she has been bottling her milk with a breast pump and storing her mill in the refrigerator.

Breast feeding is the most natural way to supply the needed nutrients to an infant. In the 1960s moms turned to bottled formula served in bottles with plastic nipples. There was no added benefit to the bottle feeding other than to the corporations who sold the formula and bottles. I suspect This is how I was fed as a baby.  Breast feeding has made a huge come back with working moms often having to feed on the go. There is some controversy as to weather it is appropriate to feed a child in public. Americans can be such prudes.What could be more natural? I heard of a case where a mom was asked to stop feeding her child in a fast food restaurant. The next week, 50 moms showed up in force to feed their children in the restaurant.

It was such an honor to sketch Rebekah and Harper in this quiet intimate moment. New York City is such an amazing place. I hope that I have the opportunity to do similar sketches in the future.

The Piano Man of Washington Square Park.

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At the NewYork City Sketch Crawl, I decided to do a sketch of the piano player in Washington Square Park. of course poplin performances Orlando are rare, being limited to 27 Blue Boxes. But in New York city, I saw performers everywhere I went, in subway stations, on street corners and in the park. I know that performers who start creating music at Lake Eola are often chased off by city employees. The only music allowed at that park is the cheesy elevator music that is broadcast through all the speakers that surround the lake so that you are forced to feel like you are walking around a shopping mall.

Every weekend, Colin Huggins and a buddy wheel the piano out of a store facility in Greenwich Village and the roll it through ten blocks of traffic to it’s new home in Washington Square Park.  Playing a Grand Piano outside means that the piano need to be tuned for an hour before each performance. Colin was once the music director for Joffery Ballet, but now his busking earns him a modest living.

The classical music was delightful, and park patrons filled the benches nearby to listen in. In Washington Square Park, performers have to register for performance times. Once the time is up, the need to move to a new spot to allow a note performer to use the spot. When this piano man had finished his set he closed the piano lid and rolled the piano away, probably to a new location where he would once again set up. Some people stood by the piano to sing along. A plastic bucket acted as the tip jar or hat and the many tips were well deserved.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Orlando had just a fraction of the culture that can be found in a city like New York. Perhaps city officials will someday stop treating public performers like beggars and recognize that they liven up and add value to the streets and parks.

Rise up October closed down streets in NYC.

Posted on by Thor

On the day of my 35th High School reunion, I met the New York City Urban Sketchers in Washington Square Park for a sketch crawl. About a dozen or so artists gathered near the iconic Washington Arch. A huge demonstration was going on, taking over the street on the north side of the park. While many sketchers focused on the arch, I elbowed my way into the protest.

“Rise Up October,” a mass demonstration in New
York City, attracted an unprecedented number of protesters,
according to the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, a national protest group. The
activists predicted that some 100,000 people will disrupt normal business
and shut down street traffic in NYC to keep police brutality
in the public consciousness.

Following the police-involved deaths of unarmed African-Americans in
places such as Ferguson, Missouri; Staten Island, New York, and
Baltimore — to name just a few — the resulting civil unrest and
peaceful protests did not adequately move most Americans beyond mild
sympathy for the victims, one organizer said. Stopping “police terror,” a
catch-all term activists use for racial profiling, police brutality,
use of lethal force and mass incarceration in communities of color,
merits sustained disruption and civil disobedience.

Protesters handed out flyers to passing pedestrians. When one young man refused a flyer, the female protester got in his face and shouted, “Which side are you on? Thankfully I was exempt since my hands were busy sketching. An older gentleman in a cape and red mask caught my eye. Later, one of the urban sketches told me that he is one of New York’s more colorful characters. He is referred to as “The Mayor” since he is always found at events saying he plans to run for mayor. I don’t think he has ever been on the ballot.

One sobering fact that I learned from the protest is that, 85% of the people killed by U.S. law enforcement officers, were shot to death. 4% died due to rough handling, 4% due to vehicles, less than 4% died from tasers and 4% died from other causes. Having traveled abroad, I can say that some Europeans views America as gun obsessed police state and a dangerous place to live.

Macy’s Parade Balloons

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Terry and I went up to New York City over the Thanksgiving break. A distant cousin, Nini Thorspecken, was visiting America from Weisbadden Germany. Nini is just 17 years old so we wanted to give her an authentic taste of the Big Apple. My sister Carol Martindale came down from upstate New York and we all stayed on Staten Island. The ferry ride across the harbor to the city was gorgeous, going right past the Statue of Liberty. Carol had passes to get into the 9/11 Memorial, so that was our first stop. The memorial is amazing, with two huge square holes where the towers once stood. Water cascaded down into the wells like Niagara Falls and then the water leveled off before dropping into a smaller deeper well. Names of everyone who perished that day were etched in steel along the outer perimeter. It is an amazing sight and I plan to return someday to sketch.

We all took the subway to the Upper West Side to see the Macy’s balloons being blown up on 77th street next to the Museum of Natural History. When I lived in the city, this was an annual sketch ritual. I would stay up all night sketching and then watch as the crews allowed the giants to lift up into the breeze. There was always some balloon that would blow over into a light post, popping a limb. This year the crowds were astonishing. There was a line that branched off for two solid blocks and then wrapped back to where I was standing to sketch. The traffic cop standing in front of me tended to ignore all the pleas from suburban moms who wanted to know how to get in. Occasionally he would point but he never spoke.  Terry went to visit an old friend named Kent Brasloff so I decided I had time to do this one sketch. Carol and Nini decided to go get dinner and they would meet me back here when they were done.

The only balloons I could identify were an Aflac Duck, a Koolaid Pitcher and some Anime dragon. By the time I finished the sketch, the line had backed up to the point where I was in the crush of the crowd. I hadn’t noticed since I was so focused on the strange nocturnal scene. When Carol and Nini came back, I was done. We texted Terry to let her know we were heading back down to the Battery to catch the ferry back to Staten Island. When we got off the subway, Terry called out to us as we were walking up the subway steps. She must have been in the next car.

Digital Salute

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A Tibetan Monk was the second-to-last person to sit opposite Marina Abramovic as part of “The Artist is Present.” A friend from high school named Bonnie Rose had joined me, and we returned to the exhibit which was now packed. I tried to see Marina and the Tibetan Monk by jumping up to see over all the heads. I discovered I got a decent view when I stood on my camping stool. Brian wanted to see the final moments of the performance so I let him stand on the stool. When the last person walked off the exhibit floor leaving Marina alone, the audience burst into applause. Marina then started shaking hands of people who surrounded her. Everyone in the room seemed to have an iPhone, digital camera or video camera and they all raised them over their heads to take photos. To me it was an iconic sight, a sort of digital salute with all the cameras offering validation and acknowledgment that an important moment was happening.

Actress Liv Tyler pushed through the crowd with her entourage past us. Suddenly, Brian came crashing down from the camping stool I have used for years. It had had enough and ripped wide open. I asked if he could get up and he was stuck. I grabbed him under his right arm an lifted him up. I was surprised by how light he is. The room was still filled with thunderous applause. The guards were creating a break in the crowd right in front of us so Marina could be ushered out. Brian yelled out that I should get one of my sketches signed by Marina. I scrambled around looking for a pen and had just gotten ready when she passed in front of us. Her attention was diverted by some of her friends opposite us so she never noticed the sketch. I had arrived in NYC at 7:30 or so in the morning and I was flying out late that night. It was a whirlwind day that I will never forget. Next to us was a sign that read: “Today is the final day of the exhibition, “Marina Abromovic: The Artist is Present.”

The Artist is Present

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As Brian Feldman got closer to the front of the line at MoMA‘s “The Artist is Present” exhibition, it was getting near the end of the day. Several times he walked out of the room and I feared that he might have given up or changed his mind. Instead, he was charging his iPhone so he could continue to text updates to people following his progress. When Brian was on deck, the next person to go on the floor, a guard stood next to him talking for some time. From my perch at a third floor window overlooking the room, I couldn’t hear what was being said. Later, Brian told me that the guard had reservations about letting Brian sit opposite Marina Abramovic in his white robe. He feared Brian might be planning something disruptive.


I worked on this sketch for over an hour before Brian sat down. I simply left the seat empty where Brian would sit until he was finally in place. Since I was in a black suit, some people may have thought I was a guard; I was asked more than a few times about the event and was happy to answer questions. A small group of people clustered around the window I was drawing from, and wanted to know all about Brian. I couldn’t help but offer some background on this amazingly charged clash of titans.


From the moment Brian sat down, he said he felt Marina was in total control. Towards the middle of their time together, Marina placed her hand to her chest and gasped lightly. Then, she once again regained composure and remained in control. When Brian walked away, Marina leaned forward and wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands. After it all was over, MoMA visitors stopped Brian and asked him questions as he walked around the museum. He said that he was ready to stare at Marina all day, but was still grateful for the brief moment he had been granted. I think this trip to NYC made a major impression on Brian. Walking the streets afterward, he was carefree and lighthearted. I have never seen him so happy.