In the evening I arrived at the Afa Gallery where the Drawing Social was to be held. I helped Angelica put out some chairs and slowly artists began to arrive. The sketch shows Jason Smeltzer playing an instrument called the Theremin. You would have heard this instrument in any 1950’s science fiction film it had a haunting otherworldly sound. Chris Gratz is playing the piano. When Ted walked over to me and introduced me to the group of artists, Chris started playing an accompaniment and the introduction turned into something of a show tune. I joined in adding lyrics as they popped into my head. This was a fun start to the evening.
The point of the Drawing Social is that musicians are bought to the artists who have a front row seat to sketch at will. It is a fantastic idea that results in plenty of lively and spontaneous sketches. In the second half of the Social, Steve Kurilla showed up and set up his drum set. I never worked him into my sketch since he sat directly in front of me and would have blocked out some areas that were already established in my sketch. Steve began his performance playing the triangle and walking around the room. On the drums Steve threw himself into the performance like a man obsessed. As the energy built he would let symbols and cow bells fall to the floor. A musical earthquake. All this energy affected every line as it was thrown down. This was art inspiring art at it’s best.
During a break I walked around and looked at what other artists were working on. Ted can be seen in the sketch right behind Chris working away with his ink dropper. Everyone went out for dinner after the Social. There was plenty of laughter and ted continued drawing on his place mat catching the artists seated around him. I had decided that I would drive south as far as I could to make my way back home. As I got up to pay my bill, Angelica shouted out something complimentary and everyone clapped. I said my good byes and was soon back on the road. I wanted to get south of Washington DC to avoid any morning traffic and so I drove till 5AM. I finally pulled off the highway exhausted and found a quiet suburban street and parked my truck in front of someones home. I unfurled my sleeping bag and curled up in the back of the truck. I woke up several hours later and then drove the rest of the day till I got to Orlando that night.
Scranton PA – Mini Crawl
When I was in Honesdale, I checked my Facebook page at my sister in laws house and got a message from Ted Michalowvski. Ted is an amazing artist who like me is constantly observing and sketching life around him. He invited me to an art opening at Marywood University. It was about a forty five minute drive to Scranton and the final mile or so I called Ted and he talked me in to a friends house where they were having some wine before the opening. Teds friend is an art collector and had several of Teds drawings in a back room. Ted pointed out that he uses an eye dropper to drip paint on the drawings instead of using a pen. This is what gives his line work such unexpected vitality. At the opening Ted introduced me around to a bunch of people. He really knows how to work a room. By then end of the evening he had introduced me to several of his students (He teaches drawing) and they all convinced me that I should stay in Scranton for one more day to experience what Ted Calls a “Drawing Social”. I had studied pictures of past socials from Ted’s Facebook page and this was an idea that I want to bring to Orlando so I decided to stay.
The next day we met for a mini sketch crawl at Border’s. Ted scouted out several comfortable leather chairs and then went to talk to someone. As I got out my art supplies, a large man shuffled over and sat in Ted’s seat sitting on his sketch pad. I pipped in and said the seat was being saved for a friend. The man then moved over to the other chair ted was hoping to save and once again sat on the art supplies. At this point Ted was back and he grabbed his art supplies. Kelsey Winterbottom, a student of Ted’s joined us as did Angelica Cordero. I let Angelica use my tablet PC since I wasn’t using it and she took to it like a fish to water. She did a sketch of Kelsey and then e-mailed it to herself. Dominique Kozuck joined us later but she never did sketch.
I couldn’t resist sketching the rather rotund, crumples and rude man that had taken the seat next to Ted. My view of him was straight on and thus rather flat, but I rather enjoyed sketching him since he was clueless to everyone around him. He actually fell asleep behind the magazine he was holding so he stayed nice and still for the longest time. You can see Teds sketch pad over to the right in my sketch. Ted was just as infatuated with this man and was glad to get a sketch of him.
Once we finished the first sketch, Ted and I agreed to have a sketch off where we sketched each other at the same time. Ted’s sketch is wonderfully expressive. He did a very rough watercolor to start and then used the eye dropper to lay down some thick lines. I worked faster than usual trying to catch Ted’s frenetic energy as he worked. Kelsey at the same time began to sketch us both as we faced off and worked. There was plenty of creative energy flowing.
Someone that Ted knew, a few seats away got a cell phone call and he started laughing. This man had a booming laugh and soon Ted started to imitate him. Kelsey angelica and myself then followed suite with out own bellowing laughs. The laughter was infectious and soon other people in the coffee shop were joining in. By the time I stopped laughing, I was in tears. A few minutes later the man laughed into his cell phone and the echoing laughter resounded once again.
Soon it was time to head out to the Drawing Social. Ted left first since he had some planning to do and then I followed Dominique and Angelica so I could find the place…