National Cathedral

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Terry and I flew to Washington D.C. to get some time away and to see the fall colors. The Saturday after we arrived, was International Sketch Crawl Day.
I hooked up with the Washington D.C. artists online and arranged to meet them at the National Cathedral.Terry and I got a rental car for the week.
We were given directions to the Cathedral by Terry’s cousins who had put us up for the night. We of course got lost in the maze of D.C. streets but we got to the Cathedral.I jumped out of the car and Terry drove off searching for a parking spot.It was such a gorgeous morning, crisp and cool.

As I walked towards this imposing structure, I noticed someone sitting on a portable stool.I introduced myself. He was Christian Tribastone the Washington D.C. correspondent for Urban Sketchers.Christian was half finished with his sketch of the Cathedral.I was the first artist to arrive. I breathed a sigh of relief. After we talked for a bit, I wandered off searching for my sketching vantage point. I decided Christian had the right idea so I walked further back on the green lawn and started to block in my sketch with Christian in the foreground.

Artists stared to arrive one at a time. A young woman named Meredith sat down not far from where I was working. Terry came back and told me Meredith had a very accurate way of drawing.I wanted to walk over and introduce myself but I resisted, keeping my focus on my sketch. By the time I finished my sketch she had moved on.
I texted Terry and we met near the steps of the Cathedral.
She had coffee that morning so we searched for the public bathrooms which we found in the catacombs under the building. I peeked inside the building, but I knew there wasn’t time for another sketch. Instead, we explored the garden which was beautiful.We found several artists sketching and took a peek as we walked by.

One artist showed me his fountain pen which was called a pen and ink sketch pen from Berkley. Christian texted letting me know all the artists were gathering to move to the next location. I arranged a group photo and then we all hiked down Massachusetts street past all the embassies toward Donovin Circle.We stopped at several embassies but never long enough to sketch. The Iraqi embassy was deserted…

Scranton PA – Mini Crawl

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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…

There Goes Swifty!

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February 27th was the 26th Worldwide SketchCrawl and I put out an invitation on Facebook for artists to spend a day sketching the betting establishments in town. The first stop was the Dog Track in Longwood. The morning of the Crawl it was pouring outside and I wondered if the dogs would be allowed to run under such conditions but I had made the commitment, and so I packed my art supplies in the truck and headed out in the rain. I also realized that I was running a bit late and as I got closer to the track I worried that I might miss the post time. The entrance to the dog track has cheesy white dog sculptures perched above the doorways so I knew I was in the right spot.

The ground floor of the facility had large plate glass windows that all face out on the now muddy track. I wandered around trying to decide where to sketch. There were multiple areas where fans could watch a wall of televisions all broadcasting different races. I finally made my way back to the bar where I knew patrons would most likely perch for an extended period. As I worked a woman walked up to every person at the bar and offered them “The Luck of the Irish”. She was selling Irish themed candy to help raise funds to help find homes for retired greyhounds. When she approached me she became infatuated with the sketch and asked if I drew dogs. I of course said I have drawn dogs in the past. Mary LoBianco introduced herself to me and I offered her a seat. Her organization consists of 6 volunteers and they are responsible for helping the dogs find loving homes. She said 30 dogs were to be sent to Canada and each dog requires a $75 fee. Using any means possible these volunteers help raise the money needed. I gave Mary my card and told her to contact me so I can follow up and see more of the work they are doing for these dogs.

When I finished my sketch, I decided to go outside to watch one more race before heading back to the studio where I had work waiting. The dogs were walked out to the holding gate and then one of the handlers waved his hand in a circular motion and the announcer said, “There goes Swifty!” The yellow stuffed rabbit on the end of a metal pole accelerated and flew around the track. The metal wheels of the contraption were louder than I expected. When Swifty rounded the curve and went past the holding gate, there was a metallic thunk but the starting gate didn’t raise as expected. All of the spectators groaned. The dogs thrashed around inside in a frenzy yelping, screaming and crying out. The announcer let everyone know about the mechanical failure of the starting gate. Handlers started taking the dogs out of the starting gate enclosure while the rabbit decelerated around the far bend. One dog managed to shake free of his handler and in a moment of glory he dashed out onto the empty and muddy track. One spectator shouted out, “Hey that is my dog!” With no competition the dog ecstatically ran towards the rabbit, finally guaranteed to catch his elusive prize. When he rounded the bend, the rabbit was dead still. He leaped forward and went to snatch his prize. His head hit the metal support pole at over 40 miles an hour and his limp body splayed out in the mud spinning to a stop. A handler slowly walked out on the messy track and lifted the limp form. Inside at the bar, men were saying that the dog had been a real champion, cut down in his prime. A fallen gladiator.

Artists & Writers Crawl

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The Artist & Writer Crawl I hosted made for a very fun evening. I met so many new artists and writers. After all the Crawlers saw “The Singing Menorah” we headed up to the Peacock Room at 1321 North Mills Avenue. I reloaded my water brush in the men’s room an then sat at the end of the bar so I could get a good view down it’s length. Karrie Brown and Tod Caviness are shown in the sketch diligently putting images and words to paper. Tisse Mallon followed the Crawl taking photos along the way. I would estimate that there were about 20 Crawlers all together. People came and went throughout the night. After a while it became impossible to distinguish the Crawlers from the regulars. A large group of people showed up, all of them coming from Bold Hype Gallery, where they saw the work of Andrew Spear. I spoke with someone named Nelson Martin who was trying to get the bartenders attention. It turns out he is a web designer and fine artist and we discussed art while I continued to sketch.
The walls of the bar were covered with paintings of women with really large eyes by Patrick Fatica. The work was highly polished, surreal and haunting. The paintings had long titles which would make you pause and wonder like “The angels have slipped through our landslide and filled up our garden with snow.” This painting has a large eyed woman holding a towel over her bare breasts standing in front of a mist filled white landscape.
I had a beer at each bar we went to and after this sketch I focused a bit more on socializing than sketching. At the end of the evening only 5 artists remained. As we stumbled across the street from the Funkey Monkey towards Wally’s we were almost all killed when a police car came screaming down Mills in the center turn lane at 90 miles an hour. It really was a close and sobering near miss. With our crossing attempt thwarted we had to run back to the sidewalk to avoid the new line of traffic approaching.
In Wally’s I ordered my last beer for the evening from the sullen bar maid and sipped it while watching a man and woman who were rubbing noses and making out. When they left the woman tripped on a bar stool and could bairley keep her eyes open. Tod didn’t like the music playing on the jut box so he got up and remedied the situation. It was 2AM when we all decided to call it a night.

The Singing Menorah

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Brian Feldman had been ribbing me for some time about all the Singing Christmas Trees sketches I have been posting here on Analog Artist Digital World. At an 8 AM Meeting of MOOM (Meeting of Orlando Minds) on Friday, Brian suggested he might stage a performance of the Singing Menorah at the Track Shack which is at 1104 North Mills Avenue right in the area where I planned to host an Artists and Writers Crawl. He pointed out that Track Shack had one of the few storefront Hanukkah displays in Orlando. The Crawl was only a day away but Brian managed to throw together a stellar performance. He had help from Omar Delarosa who co-wrote many of the lyrics and performed on guitar. Knowing the times of the stops along the Crawl route we agreed that he could start his performance around 8PM when the Crawlers were moving from the first stop, The Peacock Room to the Second stop, Wills Pub.
The Crawl developed a glitch from the start, when Tisse Mallon and I arrived at The Peacock room to find that it would not open for another two hours. I wrote a note and stuck it on the door so other Crawlers would know to go to the second stop, Will’s pub. Because I wandered around and introduced myself to all the people who arrived at Will’s, my sketch was not a very focused. When it was time to wander up to the next stop, I was still splashing watercolors on the sketch. Other crawlers headed out but I kept working. When I arrived at Track Shack where Brian was to perform, there were a crowd of Crawlers sitting in lawn chairs on the sidewalk looking into the storefront window. Omar was playing guitar. At the appointed time Brian walked out having to squeeze in the space between the plate glass and the display wall.
The performance was hilarious and fun. New Hanukkah lyrics had been written for a number of pop tunes. The Menorah that Brian was sporting consisted of cardboard tubes wrapped in tin foil. There were Hanukkah cards leaning up against the storefront window and for some reason a small Mickey Mouse sat watching the audience. Emma Hughes handed out dreidels to everyone in the audience when Brian sang a dreidel song. For the final number, Brian called in his back up dancer named Willoughby Mariano. It seemed most appropriate that she had a cast on her left leg from her foot up to the knee, but she still performed and gave a new meaning to the saying, “Break a leg”. Later, Emma handed out sparklers and when the performance was over everyone lit them up and the lights and sparks danced. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a sparkler since I was still scratching away in my sketch book.
Several times, cars stopped dead on Mills Avenue to see what the excitement was about and several cars honked. However, my attention was sharply focused on the show. This is without a doubt the greatest Singing Menorah performance I have ever seen. Well, yes, it is the only Singing Menorah performance I have ever seen. For the remainder of the Crawl I heard people commenting on how surprised they were that Brian had such a good singing voice. Brian truly gave the Singing Christmas trees a run for their money.

Artist & Writers Crawl Revised

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“The itch to make dark marks on white paper is shared by writers and artists.” -John Updike.

Escape the Holiday rat race by attending this FREE event hosted by Mary Ann de Stefano of MAD about Words and Thomas Thorspecken of Analog Artist Digital World. We’ve joined forces to create time and space where your poems, stories, and art can happen, where you can push yourself past your usual limits, where you can connect with other creative people.

Thanks to Tod Caviness for his help with planning our Mills 50 Neighborhood itinerary. The route is detailed in the graphic above. Join us for the whole night or any part of it. We reversed the order of the locations where we will meet. Be sure to check this post for the correct information.

Everyone is welcome! Don’t be shy! This will be a friendly, fun event!

There is no fee or registration required, but if you’re planning to come, it would be fun if you’d let us know.

Night Hawks Orlando Sketch Crawl

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The 24th Worldwide Sketch Crawl is going to take place in the Milk District of Orlando. This is a Night Hawks Crawl where we will close down one establishment and then move on to the next. Die Hards like myself will stay up till 5 in the morning, finishing up the evening at Pom Pom’s which is open 24 hours that day.
Sportstown has a huge room full of pool tables and other games. Bull & Bush had darts and a rustic old world bar with plenty of character. The Social Chameleon has delicious pizzas and tapas style menu items with an emphasis on flavor. They have a huge beer selection as well. Pom Pom’s is a cup cake shop for the folks who never sleep.
Don’t know how to sketch? That is fine, come along and lift a few pints.

SketchCrawl, Stardust Lounge

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Scott Fuller, A Full Sail student, and myself were the last artists still at Eola Wine Room at about 7 PM. We finished the sketches and decided to get to the last stop on the Crawl which was directly across the street. A huge thunderstorm had rolled in and it had just started to pour. We figured, we wouldn’t get to wet if we made a mad dash across so we sprinted across. I was soaked within the first two strides. I started to curse and shout. Time slowed down and I could feel every rain drop as it pounded down on my head. When we were across, winded and soaked to the bone, two women who were waiting at the top of the stairway down to the Lounge were having a good laugh at our expense. They asked us to do it again and with that, I had to laugh as well.
When I entered the Lounge I couldn’t see a thing. As I gained my sight again in the dark interior I saw several people sketching so I introduced myself. Jean Michelson and her husband had traveled from Jacksonville to escort their daughter to a Rock and Roll Summer camp. Jean had read about the crawl and this was the only stop on the crawl they could attend. They picked a good stop since the Lounge has lots of retro color.
The Stardust Lounge is straight out of the fifties. Rat Pack movies are playing non stop on the wide screen flat panel screens and all the furniture feels like it was salvaged from a Vegas 1950’s club. I sketched the crawlers at work. The manager kept dimming the lights so it became harder and harder to see the lines and colors as they hit the page. Half way into this sketch Kattie Windish and her husband arrived. They sat in the red leather booth in the background of the sketch and I decided to sketch them in as well. The place became more and more crowded as the night wore on. I think I called it a night around 10pm after 15 hours of non-stop sketch crawling. It had been a very productive day. I can’t wait till the next Crawl.

SketchCrawl, Eola Wine Room

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When the crawl arrived at the Eola Wine Room around 4 the place was rather dormant. The artists had their choice of tables. I decided to sit with a good view of the main bar area. At this point in the crawl there were nine artists so we did a good job of filling up several tables. KC sat outside and did a sketch of 4 women who had an amazing number of mimosa glasses stacked on their table. It was a scene straight out of sex and the city. Most of the other artists kept me company. I ordered a glass of white Riesling wine and sipped it while I worked.
The strange thing about this place on a weekend is that about every 15 minutes a young couple would arrive with a baby and the parents would order wine. I sort of envied these couples just starting a family, feeling secure and living in a ritzy downtown neighborhood. But then after a short time the child would start squirming, complaining, and screaming until the parent s felt they had to leave. This scene played over and over again. I joked to another artist that the Wine Room had more infants as clients that adults on weekends.
One of the waitresses was an artist and I tried to convince her to come out to the next Crawl. For many artists this was the last stop on the crawl. As we all said their goodbyes storm clouds rolled in and just as I got ready to head across the street to the final destination, it began to pour…

SketchCrawl, Panera Bread

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At 10 Am Orlando Sketch Crawlers headed to Panera Bread for breakfast and a chance to share sketchbooks and talk. Megan, an artist I had sketched before, showed up with her mom and was taking photos of the event. Our group filled up these three front tables and people talked art while others sketched. I was sitting on the long leather bench shown in this sketch, but after eating, I decided it made more sense to get up and sketch our group. Ricardo the photographer for the Sentinel sat behind me the whole time I sketched watching every line and wash as I put it down. Usually I get distracted with such attention but I had to get this sketch done, so I lived with it. Kristen or Kelp as she refers to herself online, can be seen sketching the photographer and myself. She has the art of clandestine sketching down because I never actually noticed her glancing at me directly. I am sure this is a skill I have as well.
As I was sketching, artists slowly got up and headed out for the next leg of the crawl. There were artists sitting in the two empty chairs when I started the sketch. By the time I was splashing on the final washes everyone was gone. The photographer said he had more that enough shots and we said our goodbyes. When he left, a woman who was seated in a leather chair behind me, introduced herself. Her name is Dina Mack and I knew of her work through a friend named Summer who had told me of an artist journal workshop that Dina was going to organize. Dina and I spoke for close to an hour about art and journal keeping. Sketching on location isn’t something Dina does often, but she said she liked having the time to fully soak in the environment. We joked about how Panera’s is such a sterile place with harsh glass cases and coffee dispensers that look like space station refueling depots. A cafe in Europe would have a much different feel. The smells of the pastries is pleasant however and I kind of wanted to sketch them and the cashier but we had to get to the next stop on the Crawl route…