Pre-Pandemic: Panera’s

Posted on by Thor

Prior to the pandemic, I often took Elite Animation Academy students to Panera Bread. The lesson we learned this was was how to do thumbnail sketches rather than a larger sketch. Right now I am teaching classes virtually.

All of these thumbnails were done from the same table as we sipped a drink and watched people come and go. Some people spend time at Panera Bread doing work which makes them the perfect subject to sketch. If a group is just eating, then I pay attention to how much food they have and how high their drinks are to try and judge how much time I have to do a sketch before they leave.

I haven’t sketched in a restaurant or bar for over a year. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has allowed restaurants and bars to re-open at full capacity but I am not tempted to partake.

An MIT study showed that people who maintain 60 feet of distance from others indoors are no more protected than if they socially distanced by just 6 feet.  This study challenges social distancing guidelines adopted across the world. There really isn’t much of a benefit to the 6-foot rule, especially when people are wearing masks. The researchers have developed a method of calculating exposure risk to Covid-19 in an indoor setting that factors in a variety of issues that could affect transmission, including the amount of time spent inside, air filtration and circulation, immunization, variant strains, mask use, and even respiratory activity such as breathing, eating, speaking or singing. The most important factor is how long you are inside with an infected person. The longer you are inside, the higher the chance of transmission. Weather 6 feet or 60 feet, distant,  you are at a higher risk of infection if you are in the room with someone who is infected.

On April 23, 2021 Florida saw 5,464 new COVID-19 infections, and 63 more Florida residents died. 34,759 Florida residents are now dead.

 

Urban Sketching at Panera

Posted on by Thor

At Elite Animation Academy (8933 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL) I have a really talented student who is catching on to my sketch a day mantra quickly. Before class she shows me sketches she had done during the week and at the end of class she asks for home work. That is the kind of dedication that is truly needed to gradually grow as an artist. For the last class I took he out of the classroom and introduced her to the challenges of sketching in an American style cafe like Panera Bread.

My first works of advice wasn’t about techniques, or what tools to use while sketching, but to watch to see how much food and or drink remained on peoples tables. She laughed, but realized why I had mentioned it when the woman she had been sketching got up and left the restaurant. She lucked out however because the woman in red that I had been sketching moved to the empty table once again supplying my student with a model.

I ordered a fountain drink and focused most of my attention on the college students plugged in at the corner table. They surfed the web and maybe did some homework. It is hard to explain the joy and challenges of sketching on location to someone who is just stating out but my student this semester is very much up for the challenge. I also let he know that she should pay attention to the art on the walls and let the work inspire her as she develops her sketch. Proportions, composition and setting the stage were all covered as she progresses quickly in this class outside the classroom. When I get a student like this who is exited to explore the work while sketching I realize that I can really make a difference in another artists life.

Panera and Urban Sketching

Posted on by Thor

On Sundays for the next 6 weeks I am teaching an Urban Sketching class at Crealde School of Art. One of the first venues we explore with or sketchbooks is Panera Bread (2516 Aloma Ave, Winter Park, FL.) Each class begins with about an hour of instruction in the classroom along with some sketching exercises to apply the new principle taught. Then we head out to sketch on location. Paneras on a Sunday morning starts off rather slow and by the time the lunch hour approaches the place becomes packed.

This allows for a relaxed first hour to sketch the interior setting without worrying about the human element. Then as people file in we sketch people at the tables that were established in pencil. I teach the students to pay attention to how much food was ordered and how full peoples glasses are, to get a sense of how long the person might be at the table to be sketched. People come and go while the sketch is in progress and the goal is to make it seem like a moment in time had been captured. Catching fellow sketchers in the sketch is an advantage because they are on the same time table, lingering rather than rushing to finish eating and get out.

I don’t always take the time to do a sketch myself since I circulate and give each student notes that might help them with the composition or gestures that can be caught. I  have a very talented crew of students for the next six weeks and I am excited to share my thoughts on how to capture life in a sketch. One of my students showed me a fordable devise with magnets that can be used to hod a palette and water jar. It is a smart design and I might incorporate something similar into my work flow. By teaching I often find that I learn things  as well.

Animal Kingdom

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Because I taught a workshop at the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, I was issued two free tickets to the Disney Theme parks as a thank you. Cleaning up around the house, Pam Schwartz and I found the tickets and realized that there was just one week left before the tickets expired. We decided to go the next day which was a Sunday. The Animal Kingdom was our destination which I had only been to once before. We watched the movie Avatar the night before, and made a commitment to go to the new Pandora Land in the Animal Kingdom.

As we drove south toward Disney it started to rain. We wanted to get some breakfast at Panera Bread, but when we got there the restaurant had evacuated the building. We got crummy overpriced breakfast sandwiches at Starbucks instead. I checked the radar and realized that it would be raining all morning. We put a positive spin on this by thinking the park might be empty when we arrived. We were dead wrong. Nothing stops the flow of humanity to the theme parks. Parking was $25. As I had my bag checked by security, a waterfall suddenly poured down on my shoulder from an umbrella that gave way its weight of water.

The first order of business was to get a plastic bag to protect my sketchbook. With that done, we wandered the park towards Pandora – The World of Avatar. The land is impressively designed and landscaped. The floating islands were amazing and I wanted to sketch, but not in the rain. The wait time for Avatar – Flight of Passage was like 190 minutes, How many hours is that? We skipped that ride and decided to find rides with shorter wait times. Every ride we tried was shut down. We also had fast passes to some rides. The fast passes kept getting canceled. As we got turned away from attraction after attraction we both got pretty grumpy. WTF.

Then we decided to get some food to get away from the rain. All the sit down restaurants we approached had insane wait times. Clearly every family in the park had the same idea of using the restaurant as a place to stay dry for a bit. The smaller food carts weren’t much better, I couldn’t stomach the idea of paying $15 for a hot dog. A majority of the “affordable” quick grab food stands were also closed. We would have to hide under a gutter overhang to try and stay dry as we ate. We finally did split a macaroni and cheese.

My sketch is of Up, a Great Bird Adventure in Asia. We went in simply because the audience had cover from the rain. The stage however was still getting soaked. The announcer wasn’t sure the show would go on. The Disney cast did come out and performed at the front of the stage which was barely under the awning. Russel and Doug from the Pixar movie, Up were amongst the cast. A bird flew out and turned on the radio on stage. A green parrot did manage to belt out a tune. But the peacocks were divas and refused to go out on stage in the rain. The show was cut short and everyone was ushered back out into the rain. I kept working on the sketch until the cast practically had to drag me out.

Theme parks are a special kind of hell. Screaming children were having tantrums everywhere. You got to see the worst in parenting. We were on a theme park death march from land to land in the endless rain. My feet were soaked all day. We sought cover in every stage show we could find. In the afternoon the sun finally broke through. We waited for an eternity going through endless switchbacks to get on the back of a Banshee and fly. I have to admit that the all too brief ride was the best thing we did that day. It was a 3D motion simulation ride that really did an amazing job of making it feel like we were flying. I kind of wish there was truly some control so that each ride was unique, but it is what it is. We ended the day at Rivers of Light which was impressive, but could have used a story line to tie together the animal-themed projections. Would I return to Animal Kingdom any time soon? Hell no. Disney would have to pay me (again) to return.

Elite Animation Sketch class.

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This week I have been teaching a summer sketch class at Elite Animation, (8933 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL 32835). I have 16 students and the goal of the class is to encourage the students to carry a sketchbook everywhere they go.  The first class we went over basic shapes and perspective and then for the afternoon we took a field trip across the street to Panera Bread. With 16 students we pretty much filled up the restaurant. It was encouraging to see many of the students using one point perspective for the first time while drawing on location. I remember when I first started drawing on location in NYC. I would circle the block multiple times until I worked up the nerve to start a sketch. Getting these kids started early means they are less likely to be concerned with sketching in public as they grow older.

For the second class, we went to a local retention pond to draw the ducks and bucolic scene. A family of ducks were very cooperative, with the mama duck and her chicks perfectly happy to pose for the intrepid young artists. It was hot however, even in the shade, so attentions wandered. One student started herding the ducks rather than sketching. It was a typical case of leading them to water but it was up to them to drink. Several students took in the entire scene and were right on task. We left a bit early to get back to the air conditioned classroom.

For the afternoon, I taught them the basic proportions of a face and then we set out to do 16 sketches in which students faced-off and did a sketch of each other. I tend to throw out the tasks rather fast and one student unfortunately got intimidated. I thought the student was acting when their head went down on the desk in agony. I later learned that another student had told him that his drawings weren’t any good. I’m of the opinion that any drawing if closely observed and sincerely done has value. The interns reassured the student for a bit and then I offered a personal lesson which gave him the confidence to return to the group and start working. It was reassuring to see the student that had been crushed only an hour before laughing as the next sketch was completed. Honestly art is a game, it is challenging, but can always be fun if approached with the right attitude.

Elite Animation Academy’s slogan is, “Developing young minds through the art of animation.” I’m proud to be part of a team that helps keep art alive in the hearts of students here in Central Florida.

Panera Bread by Lake Eola.

Posted on by Thor

I’m starting a series of paintings of Lake Eola. The plan is to do consecutively larger oil painting to break away from the watercolor I do every day. Panera Bread at Lake Eola (227 N Eola Dr, Orlando, FL 32801) has become a place where I like to eat and relax before or after painting. There are alwa5s people hanging out and working on their computers which makes them captive models. I am also working on a book about sketching on cafes, so there will be many more sketches and articles about Orlando’s best Cafes here on Analog Artist Digital World.

I have also discovered that the Saturday Lake Eola farmer’s market is a vibrant place to sketch. There was a health and fitness fair last week and the huge grass lawn in front of Panera was filled with people doing yoga. There were three groups, the beginners, intermediate and then the advanced students who were paired up and doing calisthenic poses. (the person would lie on the mat and 6se their legs to elevate their partner. The partners pelvic bone would be supported and when they leaned forward they would look like they were flying. Really ambitious students did hand stands with their shoulders supported by their partners feet. There was a spotter on hand in each case to be sure no one got hurt. I’m not that ambitious, but I do want to catch the gestures. 

Panera bread will be closing at the Lake Eola location this year. Panera wants to have drive throughs at their restaurants and this lovely 1920s building doesn’t have that option. There is construction going on to improve the roofing but that probably doesn’t have anything to do with the move.

The Happy Hookers

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Moira Clinch an art director from London told me about the Happy Hookers here in Orlando. These Hookers aren’t turning tricks on OBT. They are busy creating crochet wonders with their nimble fingers. Moira wanted me to get a sketch of the crochet group to help promote a book on crochet at a book fair. I researched online and found the Happy Hookers Meet-up page and joined. This meeting was at Panera’s on Colonial Drive. I went there right after work. The Hookers meet from 6pm until the place closes down around 9pm.

I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and a Mountain Dew and I sat at a table next to where the hookers had started to gather. There was a box full of supplies that had been donated to the group and as people arrived they were encouraged to rifle through it. Some hookers were working hard when I arrived while others chatted to catch up. Tablets and iPhones were used to share photos of recent crochet creations.

They had been alerted that I would be sketching, and when I heard them talking about me, I introduced myself. I was promoted to “Honorary Pimp” for the night. There was one other man, Steve Hoel, who enjoyed crochet and he was hard at work. Catherine Nicklow-McGrath of Orlando, started the group in 2006. While sketching, I realized that everyone held the crochet hook differently. Some members worked with slow deliberation while others fingers moved so quickly that their hands were a blur. There was plenty of conversation and the laughter was infectious.

At the end of the evening, I was given a quick five minute lesson on how to use the crochet hook.  It looks like a relaxing process very much like sketching. There are 318 Happy Hookers members in Orlando, but ten to fifteen might show up on any given Thursday night. So, if you have dexterous fingers and you like to kibitz, Mark Your Calendar, the Happy Hookers meet every Thursday evening at Panera’s in the Fashion Square Mall (3463 East Colonial Drive, Orlando FL) from 6pm to 9pm.

Cinnamon Roll Hug

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Jessica Earley organized a Facebook event called the Cinnamon Roll Hug. Amanda Chadwick told me about this event only about an hour before it was to take place at Lake Eola near Panera’s. started called encouragement rules!. One previous event she talked about was a party where all the women created small time capsules in bottles which they then buried. The idea was that they would be burying any of the negative nonconstructive energies in their lives.
I got to Lake Eola about a half hour before the Hug was to take place. I went into Panera’s with the idea of getting a Cinnamon Roll to munch on while waiting for the crowd to show up. I had the image in my head of hundreds of women all joining hands. It would certainly make for a challenging and dynamic sketch. There was a line in Panera’s however and I gave up on the roll.
Here is the description from the event page of what I was about to witness…
Outline of Activity: Group stands in a circle holding hands. One person breaks her link with the person on her right. That person then walks to the center of the circle still holding hands with the person on her left. Everyone is still holding hands except for this one break. The person who had been on the center person’s right then begins to walk clockwise around the circle. Everyone follows her. They spiral in tighter and tighter until they are a snug pinwheel. On the count of three, the group gently squeezes.” Jessica explained to me that the best position to be in would be in the center of the roll.
When 6:30PM rolled around, I saw Jessica with two other women near the large flower bed. I walked over and said hello. The two women with Jessica were Marnie Sears Bench and Luisairis Soto. I asked Jessica how many people she was expecting and she said, “Twelve people confirmed on Facebook.” Deciding that would still make for a worthy sketch, I leaned back against a tree and started blocking in the elements of the grassy field where the hug would take place. Jessica wandered off and went to another grassy field where she felt some people might have mistaken for the event site. She returned empty-handed.
It was now well past 6:30 and time for the hug to commence. Jessica and Marnie walked across the street to Panera’s and asked people going in if they wanted free hugs. They asked a family of tourists, who replied, “Sorry we are from out of town.” The tourists rushed into he pastry shop to escape. Marnie then asked a small group of men if they wanted free hugs. She was shocked when they said, “Sorry not interested.” Back at the park Luisairis started shouting, “Free hugs!” I was afraid she might get arrested for disturbing the peace. She was after all shouting in Lake Eola Park. All this last minute advertising was not bringing any more people into the circle. Finally the three women stood out in the field and hugged. They knew I was sketching and stayed together hugging for probably five minutes of so on my behalf. I had not expected them to pose but I am grateful they did. Had I known they would pose, I would have moved much closer.
I consider the Cinnamon Roll Hug a novel and fun idea. I didn’t participate since I was busy sketching. I hope Jessica organizes this event again, inviting far more people. But honestly the number of people isn’t the issue; it was still fun and exciting to sketch this display of open friendship and affection. Jessica said, “Well there wasn’t really enough people for a Cinnamon Roll Hug, what you saw was more of a Donut Hole Hug.”