Rollins Dock

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I was sketching with an Urban Sketching student at the Rollins College campus.The student was just working with pencil so we ended up sketching about three different locations. I had to pick up my pace to get something resembling finished sketches for each. I am used to going to a location and spending all my time completing one sketch during the course of an event.

In this sketch I was pointing out the perspective in the scene. I put a lone house on the far shore where the vanishing point would be for the boats in the foreground. Since my student was seated to my right, his vanishing point would have been slightly different. We spent a moment figuring out the perspective from his vantage point.

I also pointed out that just the closest boat had to be rather accurate. If that boat read as dimensional then the other boats would seem dimensional even if they were just quickly sketched in.

I have taken sailing courses so I could probably handle one of these sail boats fairly well. I was discussing this with Pam this weekend and we came to the conclusion that the course I passes was over 20 years ago. I am not sure if sailing is like riding a bicycle and you never get rusty.

Cornell Fine Arts Museum

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I don’t always have time to finish a sketch.This sketch was done with a student of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum on the Rollin’s College campus. The goal of the lesson was to fit as much of the building on the page as possible along with the much smaller jeep and motorcycle parked out front. We didn’t go in so I am not sure what is on exhibit. I haven’t been inside the museum since long before the start of the pandemic.

My student lost interest in the building long before the sketch was complete. Since my idea of a complete sketch included color and value, it tends to take longer that a student just using a pencil. I got enough of the sketch done of that there are 3 values, namely black, mid tones and the white of the paper. Since time was limited much more of the paper is left white to save time.

After this sketch was “complete” we wandered behind the museum where a crowd of maskless woman were having an animated conversation, I assume about art. We set up on the lawn lakeside and sketch a gazebo across the way. That sketch was also incomplete but a good lesson on how to quickly block in elements of a scene.

Knowles Chapel

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Knowles Chapel on the Rollins College Campus is a beautiful structure. My advanced Urban Sketching student agreed to meet her to sketch. This largely became a lesson in one point perspective and I pointed out to the student that the red sculpture that was a block down the sidewalk was the vanishing point. For this reason I included the red sculpture in my sketch. The other lesson was that the Chapel did not need to be in the middle of the sketch. A large tree dominated the center of my sketch and I went with it, relegating the chapel to the background.

The campus had expanded since I sketched here last. I used to park down by the Rollins Museum but that parking lot was demolished to make way for another building. I had to drive several more blocks to park in a parking garage. By the time I hikes my way back to the chapel I was a sweaty mess but at least I am getting some exercise.

Construction on the chapel began on March 1931 and it was dedicated on March 19, 1932. At that time it was located in the center of the campus. The architect of the chapel was the famous ecclesiastical architect, Ralph Adams Cram of the firm of Cram and Ferguson of Boston. Cram also designed the Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. St. John the Divine opened in 1941 and thus didn’t make my list of the 50 oldest churches of NYC. Knowles is actually a rather modern building compared to the historic churches I sketched in NYC.

Rollins College

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While walking back from an event I sketched in Winter Park, I heard activity over at Rollins College and I decided to cross over Fairbanks Avenue to see what was going on. The large football field was illuminated with stadium lighting. A soccer practice was under way and I had to stop to sketch. The chapel was illuminated a bright blue with spot lights and the upper bell tower windows glowed a golden yellow. A full moon helped lighten the scene as well.

I was sketching trough the chain link fencing for the sake of convenience. One of the players saw me sitting and taking in the scene and he asked me if I was a talent scout for a professional team. Another player had a better guess of what I was up to and I showed him the sketch in progress when he asked to see.

There were a few drills and shots at the net but the huddle in the middle of the field dominated the time I spent sketching. The practice was over and the players dissipated before my sketch was complete. I didn’t linger long since this was a simple landscape scene but the lighting of the field at night would make a good plein air study should I decide to return. The Knowles Memorial Chapel at night is an amazing sight.

Billy Collins Reads at Rollins College

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Billy Collins was appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to
2003 was New York State Poet Laureate from 2004-2006. In 2016 he retired from his position as a Distinguished
Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York after
teaching there almost 50 years.

He read a selection of his poems at Rollins College, Tiedeke Concert Hall. His poems about everyday occurrences are witty and direct yet they often unveil something sublime and profound. Humor and insight mix in fun and unexpected ways.

I have had the pleasure of having dinner with Billy and Suzannah Gilman on several occasions. They both inspire me to want to continue to create every day. That is a rare gift from a friend or acquaintance. Billy has published 10 collections of poetry and they have garnered an amazing following. His work speaks for itself, go pick up one of his books and enjoy. His latest publications include Ballistics, Horoscopes for the Dead, Aimless Love, and The Rain in Portugal. I had Billy sign my sketch since they both will be worth something someday.

Billy’s next reading will be, What Poets Talk About When They Talk About Love, in the Tiedeke Concert Hall on February 17, 2019 at 2pm. Tickets are $25.

Dueling Dragons at the Global Peace Film Festival.

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I went to Rollins College to sketch a piano recital. As I walked past the Bush Auditorium, I heard my name shouted out. It was journalist Michael McLeod. He pointed out that it was the last day of the Global Peace Film Festival. He had just seen a film he loved called Accidental Courtesy, about Daryl Davis, a black musician, actor, author, and lecturer who befriends white supremacists and because of that friendship, they left the Ku Klux Klan. How can you hate someone you haven’t met? Rather than sketch the recital, I decided to blindly see a film at the Global Peace Film Festival. The film about to screen was called Dueling Dragons.

The Global Peace Film Festival, established in 2003, uses the power of the moving image to further the cause of peace on earth. From the outset, the GPFF envisioned “peace” not as the absence of conflict but as a framework for channeling, processing and resolving conflict through respectful and non-violent means. People of good faith have real differences that deserve to be discussed, debated and contested. The film festival works to connect expression – artistic, political, social and personal – to positive, respectful vehicles for action and change. The festival program is carefully curated to create a place for open dialogue, using the films as catalysts for change.

Michael had told me that because of Hurricane Irma, the film festival has had very low attendance this year. I decided to sketch the close to empty theater but people kept arriving to populate my sketch. The theater probably became close to half full. I didn’t have enough time to sketch everyone before the lights went out for the screening. The front row filled up with the musicians whose music was used in the film.



Dueling Dragons directed by Brett Gerking runs 65 minutes. Orlando police officers and inner-city
children form a dragon boat racing team and reveal their emotional
journeys as the program grows. This ancient sport is rooted in Chinese
culture, and is introduced at a critical time in the lives of both cops
and kids in some of the city’s toughest neighborhoods. Success in dragon
boating comes only when all 20 paddlers are in complete synchrony. Told
from their straightforward perspectives, these cops and kids, they are transformed from wary participants to steadfast
teammates. Along the way, they build trust and mutual respect, compete
for gold medals and deal with the tragic loss of one of their mentors,
Orlando Police Department Officer Lt. Debra Clayton. 

I had sketched a makeshift memorial for Debra at Walmart but seeing this film finally hit home for me how beautiful a person she was and how much of a loss her being shot in the line of duty was. She appeared throughout the film, smiling and beaming her love and support for the youth who became a team and each time I saw her my heart sank, because I knew what was to come. Life is so short and precious. Don’t waste a moment. The Orlando Dueling Dragons team is the only rowing team in the country that has police and youth working together. I am intent now to find a dueling dragons race and shout for their victory.

Absinthe Jazz Trio at Lil Indies.

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The Absinthe Jazz Trio performed at Lil Indies 1036 N. Mills Ave. Orlando Fl. This sketch was more challenging that most since I discovered that my pen didn’t have waterproof ink in it. This made it so that black ink would bleed out anytime i put a watercolor wash down. I started to adjust to the new look and started to enjoy the more painterly approach as I let the pigments flow down to the jazz beat. The group tends to perform on the first Monday of every month. I recognized one of the guitarists from a performance I had sketched at Rollins College.

I could have lingered and had a drink, but decided to wrap up the sketch when the band finished their first set. Drawing to great jazz is endlessly fun and results in spontaneous and often unexpected results.

Adam Braun discusses how he founded Pencils of Promise.

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Adam Braun is a New York Times bestselling author and the Founder of Pencils of Promise, an award-winning organization that has broken ground on more than 300 schools around the world. He also leads the Global Education Platform, an initiative conceived by the UN Special Envoy for Global Education to produce breakthroughs in learning innovation. His talk at Bush Auditorium, in Rollins College outlined how he got started.

Adam began by showing a photo of his family in the 1970s. He got the crow laughing by zooming in on his dad with his thick mustache and dark eye brows and said that he as the model for Borat. On a more serious not he outlined the family values that came from having grand parents who had survived the holocaust. His mother instilled in him a refusal to accept mediocrity. Failure is important in anyone’s growth. As a child Adam collected playing card and he figured out how to trade his way into getting the rarest cards. It turns out this isn’t much different than what happens in the stock market, so this became his passion right out of college. In college he read books about rock Stars, and he realized that their greatest works came in times of struggle.

True self discovery begins where your comfort zone ends. Adam traveled over seas and he saw incredible poverty. He asked a young boy, “If you could have anything in the world, what would it be?” The boy responded, “A pencil.” Adam happened to have a pencil and he gave it to the boy. A pencil can write about 40,000 words before it is spent. It can also create thousands of sketches. The simplest tool holds so much promise.

Big dreams begin with small unreasonable acts, When Adam got back home, he decided to found Pencils for Promise. He went to a bank and opened a bank account. The minimum deposit was $25. Since he was 25 years old he decided to open the account in that amount. Pencils for Promise has built 340+ schools that teach 35,000 students, increasing literacy three times. Adam showed a video of a 1mm domino. Each domino can knock over another domino that is one and a half times larger. In 29 Steps, that 1mm domino could knock over a domino as large as the Empire State Building. It is a good example of how a small act or inspiration can multiply and spread.

Adam showed a video of a dancing cow. the point he made was that you should commit to being the best in the world at what you do. If you are a sweeper, then you should be the best sweeper. If you are a mascot, be the best mascot. If your dreams do not scare you then they aren’t big enough.

Eric Schlosser spoke about his new book Command and Control at Rollins College.

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Eric Schlosser‘s new book, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety is about the insanity of keeping a nuclear arsenal. He began research on the book after hearing horror stories from enlisted men who are tasked with maintaining these aging nuclear weapons. Many documents have recently been declasifIed, making research possible. He told a story about a simple maintenance worker in a launch silo who was tightening a bolt and accidentally dropped his wrench. It clamored downward and just missed hitting a device which would have caused the bomb to explode.

The nuclear bombs that exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were apparently very inefficient devices. Only 30% of the uranium was part of the nuclear fission used in the blast. The rest of the uranium was just dissipated by the explosions. Had these bombs been better designed, the devastation of the blast would have been much greater. I didn’t realize that an atomic bomb is designed to explode in the air just before impact. This means that none of the blasts downward percussive force was wasted.

The arms race resulted in countries hoarding as many weapons of mass destruction as possible. There is something known as the Titanic Effect. Basically every machine eventually fails which is why we need to buy new cars or build new planes. No matter how many safe guards there are, a device will fail because of aging outdated components, or human error. If you have ever driven on the roads in Florida then you know that humans can’t be trusted to use machines with safety in mind. A recent airplane crash wasn’t caused by pilot error or the engine failing, instead the crash was caused by the seat back entertainment system failing and causing a fire. An airplane was used to transport a nuclear warhead from one storage facility to another. The plane crashed in the Carolinas and thankfully the bomb didn’t explode. A huge disaster was narrowly averted. Luck only lasts so long.  The bulk of our nuclear arsenal is using outdated technology from the 60’s and 70’s.

When the first nuclear bomb was exploded as a test, the scientist weren’t sure if it might burn away the entire atmosphere leaving a dead planet. Thankfully that didn’t happen but the incessant testing through the years has littered the atmosphere with harmful radiation that will last for centuries. Our need for bigger bombs as security is slowly killing us all. The Russians have created the largest bomb to date, the Tsar Bomba, with a 100 Mega Ton yield. If that puppy were to detonate above Disney World, the air blast radius would go as far north as Mount Dora and as far west as Bithlo. At 5 psi overpressure, most residential buildings
would collapse, injuries would be universal, and fatalities widespread. Of course the radio active fallout would drift further killing many more. Oh, Happy New Year!

Terry Teachout Interviewed at Rollins College.

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Terry Teachout, the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, was interviewed about his views on theater at Rollins College. He is also the critic-at-large of Commentary, and the author of “Sightings,” a biweekly column for the Friday Journal
about the arts in America. He also writes about the arts on his blog,
“About Last Night”. His latest book, Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, was published by Gotham Books. He wrote part of Duke at the MacDowell Colony and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012 to support the book completion. Satchmo at the Waldorf,
his first play, was premiered in 2011 in Orlando, Florida starring Dennis Neil as Satchmo. Dennis’s performance was powerful and convincing at that world premiere production.  It would be hard to imagine another actor filling those shoes. Since that production, Dennis moved to Los Angeles. Satchmo was
later produced last year by Shakespeare and Company of Lenox, Massachusetts,
Long Wharf Theatre of New Haven, Connecticut, and the Wilma Theater of
Philadelphia. 

Satchmo at the Waldorf transferred to New York’s Westside Theatre, an off-Broadway house, on March 4, 2014. It closed there on June 29, 2014, after 18 previews and 136 performances. According to The New Yorker,
“Teachout, Thompson, and the director, Gordon Edelstein, together
create an extraordinarily rich and complex characterization. The show
centers on the trumpeter’s relationship with his Mob-connected Jewish
manager of more than thirty-five years, Joe Glaser Thompson forcefully
inhabits both men, and throws in a chilling Miles Davis, delivering an
altogether riveting performance.” Thompson won the 2013-14 Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama Desk Award for “Outstanding Solo Performance” for his performance in the play.

After reviewing so many shows that didn’t work, Terry gained insights on what does work best in theater. The simple act of constantly writing made it possible for him to create any scene needed with honest compelling emotion. Sometimes simple persistence and perseverance is what is needed to keep the creative process going. Terry remains an inspiration, sharing his insights with Rollins students year after year.