Orlando Science Center: Ocean 2

Posted on by Thor

I was asked to do a second original sketch of the Life Exhibit install at the Orlando Science Center I returned to the Ocean. Part of me hoped that all the fish would be in their new home by now, but I had no such luck. The lone hammerhead shark was still circling the tank alone.

The first time I sketched the lights were off in the exhibit space. so I got a much darker sketch. This time sunlight was streaming into the room through the floor to ceiling glass panels behind me.

It is fun so see how similar and yet how different the two sketches are. The compositions are similar but I made so many new choices given a second chance to sketch the subject. I like aspects of each.

I honestly didn’t see another soul as I completed this sketch. I usually hope to catch a spectator and include them in the sketch but I had no such luck on this day. I am sure this will be a spectacular sight once all the fish are swimming about. As isolated as the scene is, I still remained masked. I never know if a venue is using a HEPA air filtration system or if their air is just recirculated. The mask is my new normal, but I am more likely to venture to venues that advertise clean air practices. If you know of Orlando venues that promote clean air, please let me know.

Life: The Rainforest

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This new Rainforest exhibit in the Orlando Science Center used to be the former Kids Town. The temperature controlled environment is warm lush and humid.

Birds flew overhead. They were just quick flashes of color and movement, so I didn’t catch any in my sketch.

A sloth rested in a circular shaped hammock and never moved the entire time I was there. If he did move, he did so so slowly that I never noticed. Ropes up inn the branches were highways for a tamerin monkey.

A marsupial was quite curious about me and chomped on some of the foliage. I heard he is a bit of an escape artist. I named him Houdini.

One of the handlers was kind enough to dig out a turtle from his hidden cave. I had a few minutes to sketch him in the corner before he crawled back inside. Behind me a 17 foot waterfall cascaded down into a pool filled with freshwater fish. I must say this was the most relaxing exhibit to sketch and I never knew where some wildlife might pop up. All the live landscaping seemed to be thriving with all the light pouring in through the huge windows covered with blue and green art.

Life: The Ocean

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The new Life exhibit at the Orlando Science Center, 777 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL, features three habitats, the Swamp, the Amazon, and the Ocean.

The Ocean features a huge cylinder shaped aquarium. The top is open and I am left wondering how long it will take before people start throwing coins in the tank. Of course the exhibit is still under construction.

There was one lone hammerhead shark swimming in the tank the day I drew it. I knew that the rest of the fish were in quarantine, waiting to be introduced to their new home.

The coral isn’t live. It consists of sculpted replicas. To grow live coral would involve a huge investment in bright halide lighting or direct sun light. I am guessing that the challenge of keeping fish alive is enough without also trying to grow live coral. Live coral is so beautiful though. I had a live coral tank and it was rewarding but a challenge. Granted 180 gallons if far less that this huge 10,000 gallon tank in the museum.

Since the fish were not in the tank yet, I contented myself with sketching the metal fish silhouettes hanging from the ceiling.

Life at the Orlando Science Center

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The Orlando Science Center recently completed a huge installation called Life. The exhibits cost 13.5 million and was paid for by private donors along with $10 million from Orange County from Tourist Development Tax dollars.

I was asked to come in and sketch in the final days of construction. I started with the Swamp. The body of water and the huge cypress tree trunk at the base of the stairwells was already there but other animals were added along with the baby alligators and turtles. The gators spend much of their time sunning themselves under the heat lamps.

Life is the largest and most complex exhibit the Science Center has ever built. The exhibit teaches the story of the planet through the animals that call it home. The exhibit focuses on three distinct environments, the Swamp, the Rainforest and the Ocean.

A habitrail was set up in the ceiling of the Swamp which will allow squirrels to scamper above guests heads. The squirrels had just been introduced to their new home and were too shy to venture out while I was there sketching. A small owl watched me warily the whole time I sketched. Since the exhibit wasn’t yet open, I felt quite at peace working away on the sketches. I could hear crowds of screaming children running up the stairs of the museum but from where I was it was quite peaceful. I wondered what the owl though of all the screams.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for January 18 and 19, 2020

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Saturday January 18, 2020

10am to 6pm Art Deco Weekend 1001 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, Fl 33139. Free. A free community cultural festival with more than 85 events during “the best 3 days on Ocean Drive” each year. Come sketch with us! For those who enjoy sketching or would like to learn how. All skill levels are welcome! We
are thrilled to include for the first time the Urban Sketchers in our
Art Deco Weekend program with a series of Sketchwalks, urban sketching
demonstrations and “drink and draw” events. Join
us as we draw the architectural gems of the Miami Beach Historic Art
Deco District and the essence of the 1920s Art Deco Weekend Festival
Events.

Instagram: @urbansketchers @urbansketchersorlando @uskmiami

10am to 4pm Free. Camellia Show. Orlando Garden Club Clubhouse at Loch Haven Park 710 E. Rollins St., Orlando, FL (between Advent Health and US 17).

7am – 10 a.m. Enter camellia blooms (ANYONE)!  Volunteers available to assist with registration. (Location: Orlando Garden Club)

10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Camellias plants for sale.  (Location: Clubhouse Area)

10 a.m. – 11 a.m. Camellia 101 Class – Robert Bowden, director of the City of Orlando’s Harry P. Leu Gardens (Locations: in Clubhouse Library)

1 p.m. – 4 p.m. Camellia Show is officially OPEN to the public.  See thousands of competition blooms up close! (Location: Orlando Garden Club

4 p.m. Camellia Show closes

6pm to 9pm Free. Chair-ity Auction. Wayne G Sanborn Activity Center, 815 S Alabama Ave, DeLand, FL 32724. Bid on one-of-a-kind chairs creatively altered by local artists to
benefit the Art in Public Places Program. Join us for music, silent
auction, beer and wine tastings, food and fun! Tickets can be purchased at City Hall/ 3rd Floor or online.  For more information call 386/626-7112

Sunday January 19, 2020

10am to 5pm $18 to $21. Otronicon Interactive Tech Expo. Orlando Science Center 777 E. Princeton St. Orlando, Florida 32803. Otronicon is a celebration of the intersection between science and
technology and shines a light on innovative technology being developed
in Central Florida. Otronicon highlights resources available through a
collaboration between educational institutions, the tech and
manufacturing communities and their impact on our lives and their
potential to drive the future, individually, regionally and globally.

10am to 4pm Free. Lake Eola Farmers Market. Lake Eola Park 512 E Washington St, Orlando, FL 32801.  Local produce and goods. A great start to the morning downtown.

1pm to 3pm $9 FREE for Enzian Members! Film Slam. Enzian Theater, 1300 Orlando Ave, Maitland, FL 32751. Central Florida Film Slam (CFFS) is a program designed to provide
filmmakers in the Central Florida region an opportunity to showcase
their work on the big screen at Enzian Theater! Held six times a year, the Central Florida Film Slam is an unrated,
independent film showcase and competition open to all regional
filmmakers and students.

Dinos In Lights!

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Stan the T-Rex and his fossil friends in DinoDigs have been outfitted with Christmas lights that change color in synchronization with music as they show off their twinkling talent in a festive display of music and light  at the Orlando Science Center (777 E. Princeton St. Orlando, FL 32803).

Dinos In Lights will be the Science Center’s feature attraction over the holidays. The show lasts about 5 minutes which of course made catching a sketch a slight of hand challenge. Three separate dinosaurs were outlined in colorful Christmas lights and when the music started the lights blinked and changed color. One song, Sleigh Ride by Arthur Fidler, featured the sound of a whip. Whenever the whip cracked the ceiling ice-cycle lights would flash white and bright. AS a grand finale snow was pumped into the space. This was my first time experiencing Dino In Lights and it was a blast to sketch.

WHEN:

Shows begin every 30 minutes between 11:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. daily from November 23, 2020 – January 7, 2020.

WHERE:

Orlando Science Center 777 E. Princeton St. Orlando, FL 32803

COST:

Dinos In Lights is included with daily general admission to Orlando Science Center, which is free for members, $21 for adults, $19 for seniors and students, and $15 for youth (ages 2 – 11).

Parking is available for $5 per vehicle in the Orlando Science Center parking garage.

INFO:

For more information, please call 407.514.2000 or visit https://www.osc.org/holidays/

Otronicon at the Orlando Science Center

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Otronicon just opened at the Orlando Science Center (777 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL 32803). The Orlando Science Center’s favorite interactive tech expo is back and better than ever. You can see Synthestruct’s audiovisual performance Viscerality, participate in workshops and hear from industry professionals. Plus, gaming competitions and a hair-raising Tesla Coil show!

I decided to sketch on my tablet since it is a bit high tech. I figure that was my way to blend in to the tech event. I walked the multiple floors of the exhibits and finally decided to sketch this slinky roller coaster exhibit. The nose of the pup was a photo opportunity with a small red platform that said, step up to be tall, sit down to be small. Parents loved to take photos of their kid on that red platform.

The body of the slinky dog was set up like roller coaster cars. People could get in and then they were handed headsets. They were shown an interactive video that showed the slinky as it roared down the roller coaster tracks. The video people were seeing was also broadcast on a TV up near the pups head, so I could keep track of what the people were experiencing as I sketched. A line formed and people came and went quite often.

To my left was an exhibit for Polytechnic University. Their slogan is, “Imagine what you can accomplish.” Lori M. Huertas spoke to me about possibly stopping by the campus to show students how I use my iPad as a sketchbook. One woman was fascinated by my sketching and she asked me about the program I was using. Her son loves to draw and he already has an iPad. She said that finding me was the one thing that truly inspired her about the event and she plans to get the drawing program for her son. I just hope she realizes that the program wasn’t doing the drawing, I was.

Much of Otronicon is about kids who love to play video games. As soon as I entered I could see crowds of kids competing in their virtual worlds. They shouted their annoyance when they died. I am hoping to meet and help inspire kids to transition from being video game consumers to becoming creators.

Otronicon is at the Science Center through Monday, January 21, 2019. Hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. General admission to Otronicon is free
for Orlando Science Center members, $20.95 for adults, $18.95 for
seniors and students, and $14.95 for youth (ages 3 – 11). Purchase
tickets
here.

Climb Time Construction in Kidstown

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I returned a second time to sketch the construction of the Kidstown, Isaac’s Family Climb time at the Orlando Science Center (777 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL 32803). Protective screens had been added to keep kids from any attempted jumps from up high. It looked like a complicated maze and I am too tall to walk through any of the corridors without hunching over. At this point I believe the play area was close to being finished. I was impressed with how the structure filled the room. Construction  workers were still using ladders and the lift to get up high rather than crawling inside the structure itself.

Foam had been taped around one of the support beams. Perhaps the lift had been banging up against it in the commotion of construction. This was a chance for me to stretch my perspective muscles as I tried to fit the entire structure into the sketch. At the grand opening of Kidstown, I saw the kids climbing inside this structure for the first time. It is very popular with the kids.

This $5 million project opened to the general public in late October
2016. It signals the completion of the first phase of the $30 million
Unlock Science Campaign, a multi-year/multi-phase effort to renovate all
the exhibits and expand resources at the Science Center.

Explore It at the Orlando Science Center

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Explore It at the Orlando Science Center (777 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL 32803) allows children to build their own roller coaster. Loop de loops and bridges can be plugged together to create a dynamic gravity fed coaster. Kids have to really reach high after climbing several steps to get the red ball high enough for the launch. A dad decided to “help” his son build a coaster. It was clear the dad was more interested in the new design than his son.

The other device uses vacuum suction to inhale colorful bolts of fabric. The fabric snakes through transparent tubes and then is launched into the air where it floats down to the kids who catch them below. There was a constant line of kids waiting to feed the machine and then shrieks of laughter as they ran around trying to catch the fabric as it gently parachuted to the ground.Part play and part learning, Kidstown delights the youngest of visitors. Dads and moms get to play as well.

These sketched are going live because I am assembling art for a retrospective exhibit of my work at the Orlando Science Center which will open August 17, 2018. Each painting in the show will ave a label that links back to the article on Analog Artist Digital World. I am discovering that some of these paintings had not been shared before.

Drip Drop Splash Construction

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I was fascinated by the construction of Drip Drop Splash happening at the Orlando Science Center (777 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL 32803). Hydraulics has to be adjusted and everything perfectly balanced. One of the water columns required plenty of tweaking. In the end water would fill the pools and the columns would become the source for a cascade of water falling from above. If one element leaked things could get wet and messy, however the whole contraption was planted on a cement pool which had drainage just in case. Construction workers got used to me being on site and once in a while they would glance over my shoulder.

A group was given a tour to  show them the progress of construction. The area in the background of this sketch is the Toddlers Corner. Every worker had a task to complete and the place took  shape incredibly fast. Part of me wished that I had come in daily to watch the progress but I had to balance this assignment with other events happening in town. I am posting this sketch in preparation for an exhibit of my painting that will open at the Science Center on August 16, 2018.