The Inspection

Posted on by Thor

A home for sale in Azalea Park caught my eye and I was considering buying it. I liked that the front and back yard were full of native plants rather than grass. The front yard had a huge Live Oak which was hundreds of years old. The home was almost invisible from the street due to all the dense growth. I liked that. The home was built in 1947 and I have been researching events of 1945 at the end of WWII extensively.

When I first saw the place with my broker Rebekah Carr we did a quick walk through, and I noticed cosmetic issues but figured I could fix the place up in time. I was enamored with the yard which felt like an oasis. There were bamboo, firecracker bush, orchids and ferns amongst plenty of native Florida plants. Even more than the house, I was excited to maintain and expand on this plush landscape.

The air conditioner filter had not been changed for years, that is one thing I noticed and there were structural cracks in the walks and ceilings. I figured those could just be patched.  The shower didn’t work and a makeshift shower had been set up outside. That was odd, but I figured I could fix that in time. I noticed a hole in an overhead beam in the carport. I poked my finger inside and found the wood hollow. A chunk of the wood fell off when I pulled my finger out. Embarrassed, I delicately wedged it back into place hoping no one noticed.

I went to see the place for a second time with my sister and her husband. He has been a contractor his whole life so I wanted to get his thoughts on how much it might cost to fix the place up. He found a number of issues and in the end gave me an estimate of about 70,000 dollars for the repairs. He was talking about removing some walls and putting up new sheet rock and the carport had major issues. I wanted to use that estimate to bring into the negotiations. He said that if there were termites, he would be able to see little piles of sawdust and he didn’t notice any. I thought I saw termite damage in the carport but he said it was mostly water damage.

I went ahead and made an offer which was reduced by 25 thousand dollars. Before the sale could be finalized I had to have an official inspection. I went out to the home the day the inspector went there. He took drone footage of the roof and inspected every detail inside. I followed him around for a bit. While he was working the owner came home. The owner was slurring his words. That is when I decided to go outside to sketch and let the inspector do his work.

After the sketch was done, the inspector came outside and was packing his supplies in his SUV. He said to me, “I have some very bad news, there are rat droppings in the attic and more important termite damage in the roof rafters.” The home sale documents I had read showed that the owner did not believe there was any termite damage. I now knew that there was extensive termite damage. The roof would have to come off and be rebuilt from scratch. I considered getting a camper and parking it in the driveway while the work was done but the carport wasn’t tall enough for most campers. The place was far from move in ready. I don’t mind the idea of making repairs, but this was going to be a major rebuild. If termites were in the roof rafters, they very well could have also found their way into the wall joists. The place was going to be a money pit.

I had drawn up a floor plan from measurements I took on my first tour through the house. My studio fit, but with little room to spare. Now thinking back there really wasn’t enough light in the place. I dropped out of the sale and got my escrow back. The owner wanted to get rid of the property “as is.” He purchased the place years ago for 40 thousand dollars and ultimately sold the place to someone for a little over 300 thousand dollars.

I am glad I got out of the deal but I am still looking for a place that can work as a good studio. I want to be close to a downtown area where I can sketch arts and culture. I’ve been staying in Airbnb’s in Orlando and I like just walking to theaters and restaurants. Downtown places often feel cramped like the money pit I just avoided. After the sale collapsed, I lost interest in finding a home in Orlando.  New York State has been on my mind and my decision to stay or drive north is being reserved until the end of May when I finish my series of sketches documenting the Orlando International Fringe Festival.  Last night I started thinking about getting a rental place with a friend that could work as a studio for both of us. That prospect is exciting. I’m torn between New York and Florida but in general living in America has become less enticing.

David Plotkin Memorial

Posted on by Thor

I have been staying in an AirBnB in Thornton Park Orlando Florida for the past week. It has been wonderful to be able to walk to venues each day to sketch. One of the first places I wanted to sketch was at Stardust Video and Coffee. At this coffee house, Doug Rhodehamel has been assembling a magnificent display of brightly colored cardboard fish in honor of a dear friend David Plotkin.

David who was a close friend of Doug’s was a former Orlando Weekly staffer, WPRK DJ, a political activist and a cultural mover. Doug was asked by the Casselberry Arts & Sculpture House to do a solo show and he enlisted the help of David to come up with a concept for the show. Unexpectedly David died on April 1, 2025 from heart failure before the brainstorming session. Doug considered canceling the show, but decided instead to make the show a tribute to David.

Doug wondered what Dave would want to see if he were to go to the show. David was on a pickle kick. He had old drawings that Doug called war pickles. Doug decided he would build the show around pickles but also allow them to become something else. He ultimately decided to create a huge school of pickle fish swimming through the void. The fish are light and vibrant reminding anyone seeing them that there is light and wonder in the world which is often all too dark and drab. Besides the large school of pickle fish, Doug created a green pickle moon and blue corrugated cardboard columns that resembled coral. The opening reception for Flight of the Pickle Fish was on July 18, 2025.

It took Doug close to a year to cut out all the fish out of corrugated cardboard. I am familiar with Doug’s fish because he mails out a fish each year as a Christmas ornament to friends and supporters of his work. I look forward to seeing each unique fish each year. Some time in the future I hope to have a Christmas tree to display all the ornaments.

The David Plotkin Memorial Aquarium was unveiled on March 22, 2026 at Stardust Video and Coffee. Doug plans to keep making changes to the installation over time. The Stardust installation recruits many of the fish that were on display in the Casselberry Pickle Fish show along with new exotic species.

I went to Stardust Video and Coffee first thing in the morning to sketch. The online Stardust website showed photos of delicious looking waffles. At the front counter I asked for a coffee and the waffles. The woman behind the counter apologized. They no longer have waffles although they are listed in chalk on the blackboard above the counter. There was also an item on the blackboard called the Rhodehamel. I asked what the Rhodehamel was. I imagined it must be some kind of delicious sandwich. Maybe it was a pickle fish sandwich? She had no idea. The kitchen also does not open until 11AM. At least I got my coffee and set about doing the sketch. I was fascinated by a woman at the bar who was on a Zoom meeting about wine sales. Her earth toned dress had fish shapes all over it. When the sketch was complete, I went back to downtown Orlando to grab the waffles I craved.

Venetian Gardens, Leesburg Florida

Posted on by Thor

I went to Venetian Gardens in Leesburg Florida with a friend to paint. We made the mistake of getting to the gardens right before sunset. The golden hour light illuminated the far shore of the lake a golden orange. Two fishermen were out in small boats pulling in the last of their catch. It was a beautiful scene but we had to work supe fast to try and catch it.

The second it got dark, the mosquitos came out with a vengeance. We both scrambled to pack up our art supplies while getting bitten from all angles from clouds of mosquitos. I don’t even mind getting bitten, I just hate when the mosquitos buzz into my ears. I swear that every mosquito takes a kamikaze run at my ears. Hitting myself on the side of the head to try and kill the culprit is useless and deafening.

We both managed to get something 0n the page in the limited time we had. I of course would have liked more time to mix richer colors. I am considering making changes to my daily sketch kit to include gouache colors which can be applied opaque. With watercolors I can cover the page quickly with thin washes but there are times when I want to paint lights back into the sketch or mix rich pure colors. My watercolor palette is always rather dirty so finding pure color is a challenge.

In this same park there was a magnificent Christmas light display. Lights would flicker on and off in tempo with the music, and a series of reindeer would turn on in sequence making it seem like they were galloping across a bridge. I wanted to return to do a digital sketch of that display but I never got around to it. There were a few magical places to sketch in Lake County, but I have returned to downtown Orlando to search for the types of events that I have loved to sketch for years. I am on a sketching staycation in Thornton Park right now. I am staying at AirBnBs each week and walking downtown  to explore and sketch. My goal is to stay in Orlando long enough to sketch the Orlando International Fringe Festival in May.

Howie in the Hills Christmas Festival

Posted on by Thor

I went to Howie in the Hills to sketch a small town Christmas Festival. I fell on love with a home in Howie in the Hills which looked like a 1920s Hollywood hacienda. The home was on the main road where traffic is supposed to travel at 35 miles per hour, but the huge 18 wheelers seem to roar by at 55 miles per hour. The studio would have faced out on that main road.  I returned to the home a second time to see if the noise was an issue. The first time the real estate brokers had been talking constantly. This time I wanted a moment of peace to stop and reflect. There was a tall grouping of bamboo between what would have been the studio windows and the road. I considered planting more bamboo to further muffle the roar of traffic.

On the second floor the real estate broker confided for the first time that there was termite damage to a door frame. The termites had infested the home starting in the kitchen and then migrated through the walls upstairs. The door frame was so hollow that the door higes had nothing to hold onto. The door was resting 0n the floor. I hadn’t tried closing the door on my first walk through of the home. I abandoned the idea of buying that home. It was also too far from the events that I love to sketch each day. I like being able to walk to coffee shops and arts venues to sketch at a moments notice. Howie in the Hills is about an hour and a half drive from any Orlando events.

I am 0n a staycation at an AirBnB in Thornon Park, Orlando Florida. Since staying here, I have been doing several sketches every day. After I teach a virtual class tonight, I will be walking down the street to City Arts Factory to sketch Story Club. If I was still out in the country the hour and a half drive would have made the sketch opportunity a no go. The AirBnB is in a great location, but it has no WiFi, so I have to move again in a couple of days.

I parked across the street from the Howie in the Hills home I had decided was all wrong for me and I walked to the Christmas Festival. There was a stage for performers and I leaned against it to sketch the inflatable bounce houses. One of the staff who were supervising the bounce houses and slides set up beside me to eat lunch. He explained that he had to ask one kid to leave because the kid was bullying other children. By refusing the bully admission, the other kids could play without the harassment. If only politics were so easy.

I enoyed watching the kids trying to scale the rock climbing tower. One boy kept trying and failing at reaching the top. I admired that he never gave up. An older girl managed to get to the top on her second try. She raised her hands in victory and was lowered to the ground swaying on her safety rope. The little boy looked on in wonder and then attempted his climb with renewed determination. He failed again. He was dropped to the ground swinging on his safety rope with his arms dangling. I don’t know if the little boy ever made it to the top of the tower. As I packed up my sketchbook he was in the midst of another attempt.

I walked down the street filled with tents where vendors offered their Christmas knick knacks. I wasn’t tempted to purchases anything. To be honest I kind of skipped Christmas this year. My Christmas highlight this year was a Christmas market in Plettenberg Germany and sipping mulled wine while overlooking Wiesbaden Germany from a mountain top. This small Howie in the Hills estival felt overly commercial and shallow in comparison. There wasn’t much history behind the festivities. Being single and completely unattached, the holidays have less meaning. I might just treat myself to a new sketchbook or some new tubes of paint. I can’t order them online, since I don’t know where my next address will be.

No Kings Protest Orlando Florida

Posted on by Thor

Stella Arbeláez Tascón has wanted to build a large puppet for some time. When she found out that a No Kings Protest was being staged nation wide, and in Orlando Florida, she decided it was time to build a 14 foot tall puppet of Donald Trump as a Jailbird in Chief. Such large puppets are often build in Europe but it is a tradition that has not yet taken root in America. I became Stella’s studio assistant to help bring this behemoth to life.

Stella found many videos online that showed how these large puppets could be built. She borrowed from various puppet workshops to come up with her n. A walker was cut apart and when turned upside down to became the spine of the puppet. She borrowed the shoulder straps and belt from an existing backpack and miraculously they fit neatly onto the walker.

The Trump head was constructed from 1/4 inch plastic tubing which formed the three dimensional framework. Paper mache was then added to create the skin of the face. The result was a highly stylized and expressive head. In the final night of construction, I was tasked with building the hands and painting Trump’s’ Orange face. When Stella gave advice on using thin washed of red over the nose, and ears, the face started to gain a ruddy life. Bruises and blotchy skin were replicated. By 3 or 4 in the morning I had to drop off to sleep, but Stella kept working. She had to sew the huge orange prison jumpsuit by the time we would have to leave for the protest in the morning.

The rib cage of the puppet had to be cut back to allow the puppet to fit in the hatchback of her Prius. The giant head could just fit in the passenger front seat. It is an absolute miracle that the entire fourteen foot puppet managed to fit in her Prius.

Stella hired a second puppeteer to handle the extremely large left hand. She dressed like a secret service agent with a white dress shirt, black tie and sun glasses. Since I am living out of a backpack, I didn’t manage to pull together an equally stellar garb. I made due with what I had.

Assembling the puppet and getting Stella set inside was challenging. We practiced the assembly at her studio and then recreated the steps outside the parking garage near Orlando City Hall. The trickiest part of the assembly has snapping the bulk of the puppet onto the walker that Stella had strapped to her back. With the huge Trump head mounted on top, the puppet wanted to topple. I was grateful when everything snapped into place. Stella’s solid hips and low center of gravity were an absolute advantage.

The puppet was so tall that it could not walk under the covered awnings on the side of the skyscraper leading to City Hall Plaza. When we stepped out of the shadows into the open plaza people shouted out, “The hands are too big!” That is my fault, I built those monsters. The puppet would be so much more manageable with tiny little raptor hands. You know what they say about tiny hands, right? Anyway, that was the ongoing joke all day long.

We marched the puppet around every corner of the City Hall complex. In several places the tree branches were too low to allow passage. We found other ways to navigate around. Hundreds of people were gathered. I kept shouting out, “Jailbird in chef coming through!’ to help clear a path. Stella was the brains of the operation. She would let us know which direction to turn and make sure we were all lined up. If one of us walked too fast we could throw off the balance and cause the puppet to topple. When Stella wanted the hands to wave she would let us know. She then wanted us to walk the diamond shaped crosswalk in front of city hall. When we did that the honks and shouting from the cars waiting at the light became overwhelming. Crossing quickly with a fourteen foot puppet isn’t an easy task. The Trump puppet can’t break into a run when the time runs out on the crossing signal.

Since I was busy holding the rod that controls the puppets right hand, I didn’t get any sketching done at the protest. In one of the videos I saw of the protest, I overheard someone saying “Wow pretty awesome.” I was sure he was taking about my stellar puppetry performance in waving that right hand. I was a sweaty mess by the end of the day and muscles I didn’t even know I had were sore, but it was sooooo worth it.

I returned the next day to sketch city hall and then added protestors and the puppet when I got back to my Thornton Park studio. The Jailbird in Chef go plenty of coverage on the news and social media.

Milk District Christmas Market

Posted on by Thor

I was giving serious consideration to buying a property on Forest Avenue in the Audubon Park district of Orlando. After walking the home and taking measurements, I decided to then walk the neighborhood. Several blocks away was North Bumby Avenue. I walked towards the Plaza Live Theater. Within a block I ran into this Christmas market set up in a parking lot. I decided to just sit down and sketch. This is exactly the type of event I tend to seek out and sketch anyway.

It had rained recently and there was a big puddle in front of me. On sale were vintage records and various arts and crafts. This neighborhood where the home was located felt right. A short walk from the front yard and I was already finding sketch able subjects. The Plaza Live down the street was having a Krampus event and I was excited to get there to sketch as well.

The home I was looking at had a wild and overgrown front and back lawn area. There was no grass, which I like. It had all native plants including bamboo which grows like wildfire. The house is a small 1 bathroom and two bedroom place. I had already drawn out a map of the rooms to see if I could fit my art studio furniture into the place. It was a tight fit. A huge live oak tree cut off much of the light that could make its way through the studio windows. Looking back the place was kind of dark. I could have controlled the light with natural electric lights but that would have run up the electric bill.

After spending $700 on an inspection, I decided the place wasn’t for me. Termites had infested the carport and they made their way up into the roof rafters. Though the roof hadn’t leaked yet it was structurally unsound. Rats had also taken up residence in the insulation in the attic. I figured that I would have to invest well over $100,000 to put on a new roof and it is also possible that interior walls were infested. What I would have been buying was a pile of cinder blocks. It would be a long time before I could move in. This was far more work than I wanted to get my studio set up. It is a good fit for a contractor who wants to flip the place.

Right now I am in between residences. I need a roommate situation or rental so I can stay in Orlando through the end of May since I plan to sketch the Orlando International Fringe Festival which runs from May 12 to the 27th . I am paying top dollar to stay in an AirBnB next week in downtown Orlando but that is very expensive. Apartments often want an 8 month commitment for the lease. I want to drive north in June to look at the possibility of setting up a studio in New York State. If anyone knows about short-term rentals in Orlando Florida, please let me know. I am living out of a backpack and scrambling to find a place. My studio and art supplies are packed away in a storage container and my Prius has my backpack a few groceries and my bicycle. I can view this as a problem or an adventure. I hope it is an adventure.

Waiting for the Flight to Paris

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The flight out of Orlando went to Atlanta, Georgia. There was a several hour layover before the flight to Paris. I had read warnings that flight to and from Paris would be delayed once the air traffic controllers went on strike. Thankfully that strike would start a week after my flight. I did not book a return flight since I am not exactly sure where I will be once the 75th Infantry journey is complete. I know for sure that I will end up in Germany. I just need to figure out which airport is best to fly out of. that is a choice for another day. My goal right now it so keep pushing forward, following in my father’s footsteps.

I thought my subject for this sketch was sound asleep. He must have had one eye open however since he stopped by to see how the sketch turned out as I was packing it away. This is Robert Varis who is a very accomplished artist. He was returning from a convention where he sold his work which is bold and fluid n a style that is easy to read from a mile away.

I wish I had the ability to drop off to sleep like this. My mind races at a thousand miles an our contemplating all that can go wrong. I can’t turn that sound track off an relax. Trust me, if things can go wrong, they do go wrong in my world. Every sketch is just a compilation of thousands of mistakes.

There was a duty free store being Robert as e slept. Do people actually buy duty free alcohol at the airport? What is the point? I didn’t have a lick f alcohol the entire flight, though I bet a single glass of red wine would have knocked me out. But would it e a good cup of wine? If it was a fine beautifully blended wine I might have considered it. I think airplane wines come in a box. If I drank wine then I might have to pee before we landed.  Those airplane toilets have that strange trap door and I always think it might rip open and I would fall thousands of feet to my frozen death. I didn’t pee for 8 hours. I am quite proud of myself, my body couldn’t have done that months ago when I had a softball sized prostrate making me have to pee like a pregnant woman every half hour or so.

When we landed, I got several hundred dollars in Euros as pocket change for emergencies. I should have gotten more. It turns out the trip has been one endless emergency.

Weather Delay

Posted on by Thor

by Thomas Thorspecken

Albany Airport in New York State, had some very serious security measures. When I went through the full body scan, my crotch showed up as a bright red block on the security screen. I had to be patted down. The security officer explained that he was using the back of his hand when he patted my groin and the inside of my calves. I turned back and front to have my aching leg muscles patted down. It was exciting, but he missed the weapon in my pants. What they really missed was a can of bug spray that I had mistakenly left in my art bag. That stuff is probably a flame thrower. I didn’t discover the bug spray until I got back to my home studio.

The flight out of Albany New York was delayed by an hour because of thunderstorms in Orlando, Florida. While we waited on the tarmac, I sketched. Rather than having TV screens on the back of seats, this plane had adjustable holders for people’s cell phones. People could attach to the internet and play movies on their cell phones. They had to have ear phones however which were not supplied. The two Germans next to me didn’t understand the flight attendant warnings about not playing video audio out loud. They eventually understood and stopped watching the Disney Feature Animation movie, Encanto.

Downtown Penguin

Posted on by Thor

Three inflatable penguins have popped up in downtown Orlando. They are on display through June 19, 2025. SeaWorld Orlando  teamed up with the Creative City Project to bring these giant birds to Downtown Orlando.

In June, guests to SeaWorld Orlando will have the rare opportunity to get up close to Emperor penguins in real life. For more than 40 years, SeaWorld San Diego has been the only place in North America to see and learn about these majestic birds.  Now, the Emperors are coming to the East Coast and will call the Orlando park’s Antarctica penguin habitat home.

Creative City Project first launched the massive, inflatable Big City Birds installation with local artist and Bungalower Editor-in-Chief, Brendan O’Connor when seven giant pigeons “landed” on rooftops across Downtown Orlando as part of DTOLive.  That first initiative took place from August to October 2024.

the streets of Downtown Orlando are seldom crowded , but the few pedestrians I saw while doing this sketch tended to not look up. If someone saw me sketching then they would turn and look up, surprised to see a penguin. One African American fellow carrying a bible, approached me. He said it was a blessing that he found me sketching at that spot. That morning he had reached out to God, saying he wanted to get back into the habit of creating art. I let him know of my one sketch a day habit and suggested he do the same. Part of me thought a sermon was about to follow, but he just thanked me and offered a fist bump. “Have a blessed day.” he said as he walked away.

A father and son stopped below the penguin. The boy looked up in wonder while the dad scrolled endlessly on his phone. Two workers were putting up a banner at a night club. The banner announced wild parties coming up in the week before July 4th.

Orlando Urban Sketchers are going to have a Penguin Sketch hunt on June 14, 2025 from 10am to noon. They are meeting at 30 South Orange Avenue and then branching out to sketch the three penguins. There will be a sketch throw down after sketches are done. It is a great way to get out and meet local artists. Unfortunately I will be in New York State at the time.

The three location where you can spot these Penguins are at,

  • Areo: 60 N. Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32801 (Adult Penguin – 14’ tall)
  • 55 W. Church Street, Orlando, FL 32801 (Adult Penguin – 14’ tall)
  • 30 S. Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32801 (Baby Penguin – 10’ tall)

 

Flight out of Pittsburgh

Posted on by Thor

Flying out of Pittsburgh there was a layover in Detroit. I knew I was heading home when I saw Mickey Mouse on someone’s luggage. One other person was masked in the waiting area. He was Japanese where there is no stigma against masking. I charged my iPhone so I would have juice to order a Lyft once I landed.

The flight to Orlando was the most crowded flight I took. I was glad that I was in an exit row and because of that I had plenty of leg room to stretch out and relax. My hope was to hunker down and sleep. I tried to sleep but really didn’t succeed. Two rows behind me, several people were coughing up their lungs. The risk of exposure rises on longer flights.

After getting back to the studio, the next morning my throat was scratchy and I started coughing. Of course my first thought was COVID, so I tested myself. Thankfully the pink Binax test came back negative. What I assumed was a cold however, knocked me on my butt for several days. I am still snuggled up on the couch under a blanket. I was experiencing shivers. I haven’t been sick for over 4 years. I forgot what it was like to be out of commission.

The days after the flight out of Pittsburgh, I felt like crap. I used an at home test kit and it came up negative, so I chalked it up to a bad cold. However after several days of hard work outside, with a friend. I returned to the studio and decided to test one more time just to be sure. That test came up positive for COVID-19. It was a strong solid red line. I was infected on Delta Flight 1652 flying back into Orlando fro Detroit. I  have to wonder how many others are spreading the virus around Orlando after that flight.

In the time I thought I had a cold, I managed to infect a friend which I feel horrible about. I now know I need to up my masking game when I travel by plane. The problem is that I have facial hair which breaks the seal of the mask. There are also small travel sized HEPA filters which I could pack in my travel bag and run during the flight. Though I take basic precautions, I now know they are not enough. When battling something as small an airborne virus, more precautions are needed. I need to buy new N-95 masks and I will have to shave my beard any time I travel. I may even decide to get goggles when I board a plane. More likely I will stop promoting my animated short film COVID Dystopia in person. Packing into a sardine can in the sky isn’t smart.

Since I am so sick, I decided to not go to FusionFest to sketch.  I still feel it is important to keep others safe, so I am social isolating at my  friend’s house. I was helping this friend with a huge outdoor sculpture, Since the first test came back negative, I continued to help. My friend however caught what I have, which is, as it turns out, COVID-19. I want to keep others safe but with my first infection I managed to fail horribly. I am social isolating in my studio now and will test myself again in 5 days.

So, is is safe to fly during an ongoing pandemic? F*ck NO. I managed to evade COVID for 5 years and now I have to up my game to evade it for the next 5 years.

We might be done with COVID, but COVID is not done with us.