Boat Ramps

One of my online students canceled their 4 to 6pm class on Saturday, so that gave me time to get to Hickory Point Recreation Park before sunset. Stella Arbelaez had suggested I go there to sketch the fishermen.

I didn’t find the fishermen but was fascinated by the army of boats being hauled out of the water at the boat ramps. The setting sun lit up one Spanish moss coated tree a bright orange. The parking lot was full of pick up trucks with boat trailers. There were so many trucks and trailers that I couldn’t find a spot to park. The small road connecting all the lots spiraled in circles. At one pint I turned in and found I was driving the wrong way, since there were arrows painted on the roadway. I finally just parked on the grass.

There was a big private event going on at the clubhouse. I just walked towards the water to see what I could find to sketch. I settled on this view of the boat ramps. This is where there was the most activity. I sat in the shade next to the public bathrooms. Early on in the sketch a fellow walked up behind me and asked with a thick southern drawl, “You mind if I peak at yer sketch?” I held it up though it was only half started. He was delighted regardless. “Well hell that looks gooood.”  A mother and her tow daughters approached much later in the process. Mom explained that if there was one talent that she could have, it would be to make art.

A Lake County utility vehicle parked right in front of me blocking my view to much of the scene. He walked away leaving the engine running. I considered putting the vehicle in the sketch but decided her would drive off soon. I looked at what could be seen around his vehicle to keep pushing my sketch forward. Sure enough maybe 15 minutes later he drove off.

It was fascinating watching the endless stream of boats being hauled out of the water. There was a line of pick up trucks behind me waiting to get to the water’s edge. I was impressed by one man who used the ramp to launch his kayak. The kayak was set up with all sorts of fishing implements. Now that looked like something I might want to try someday. The Highway 19 bridge had a polite and consistent flow of traffic. Most folks don’t tail gate around these parts. This was the last sketch in this Stonehenge panoramic sketchbook. It goes on the bookcase today. I need to find another one of these sketchbooks. Most scenes out here in Yalaha are undeniably wide.

As I was exiting the spiraling parking lot, I saw a fisherman walking towards the water. He would get to his fishing spot just as the sun was setting. I will need to return to Hickory Point just a touch later in the day to find that sweet fishing spot. There are also hiking trails I haven’t discovered yet.

Sun Eden

This is a sketch of the entrance to Sun Eden which is my little slice of paradise in Yalaha Florida. This little Fast Food Mart has the best price for gas in the area, so this is where I tank up my Prius after long road trips back and forth to Orlando. The owners of this mini mart must be doing pretty good since they have a large house down by the lake with a large pool. 48 is the busy road in front of the Mini Mart and it is challenging turning into Sun Eden since there isn’t much of a turn off lane and most traffic is going 55 miles per hour. I almost missed the turn the first time I drove into Sun Eden and thought I might slam into the community sign but I braked hard as I swerved right.

After the move I realized a large table I had, just didn’t work in the studio space. Stella Arbelaez had IKEA shelving in the garage that wasn’t assembled yet and we decided it was a much better solution. It was a good choice. I will have to get the same shelving the next time I need to move. It is hard letting go of something that has worked so well in the past. To save weight when I was packing the uHaul to move out of the Chatswoth studio, I left one piece of the table behind. It was a large slab of metal that extended down the middle of the table between the sets of legs. I figured I would have more space to store stuff under the table without that metal piece in the way. Well, when I reassembled the table as the Yalaha Studio  it wobbled like a drunken sailor. Without that metal support the table was useless.

Rather than have the heavy and solid table go to land fill, Stella took a short video and posted it on a community site. The table was free to anyone who wanted to pick it up. I kept it in my Prius as we ran errands.  we were ready to go to the landfill, when a couple expressed interest to the online posting, and arrangements were made to meet in the mini mark lot. I parked near the air pressure station, which I couldn’t get to work. The table exchange happened like a clandestine drug deal but in broad daylight. It felt good knowing the table would have a new life probably sporting antiques or flea market goods.

I made a similar mistake with my Disney Feature Animation table. I left behind the heavy metal hardware that is used for adjusting the angle of the flat desk surface. I figured I don’t use any other angle that lying the desk flat to support my computers, so I could just hammer in some supports myself and spare myself the heavy hardware. It was a stupid decision and I rushed back to Orlando the next day to recover the hardware. Thankfully it hadn’t been removed. On the lawn it liked a bit like a lizard with a large square head. It took me hours to assemble, but I am glad the integrity of the desk remains intact.

Porsche Road Rats Rally

Stella Arbelaez suggested we go to sketch a Porsche Road Rats Rally going at Bountiful Farms (27314 County Road 33, Okahumpka, FL). The event was almost over, so we had to rush to get there. I reasoned that men would still be talking about their fancy engines, and chrome with hoods open long after the closing time for the event.

In part, I was right. There is a small outdoor cafe called Bountiful’s Bestro, under a giant 300 year old live oak on the property. The outdoor seating was crowded, presumably full of Porsche owners bragging about their cars speed and many modifications. My ex wife used to drive a Porsche so I know that speed is everything. Stella set up near her car to sketch the cafe and huge tree, and I wandered over to sketch the Porches parked on the grass parking lot.

As I sketched, car owner after car owner walked to their car and drove off. A distant Porsche had the car owner come out and open the hood. He showed his engine to a friend. I had to stop sketching when it started to rain. At that point every car owner rushed over and drove off. I went back to find Stella and she was still sketching. We decided to head over to a small fresh market where we brought some produce. I wanted to get some cucumbers since I had recently picked some in a field nearby. The woman behind the counter explained that cucumbers were out of season, which I suppose was true since the crop was now in supermarkets rather than in the fields. There is a weekend farmers market that happens on Bountiful Farms and Stella discussed the possibility of having art for sale at the market. I will have to return to sketch that farmers market some weekend.

By the time we left the fresh market it had stopped raining. We then had a fantastic soup and grilled cheese sandwich lunch under the gorgeous live oak. We had the place to ourselves. The waitress kept offering us free Cokes since we were creating art, but in the end we paid. Despite the brief rain, it was a great outing. We both wished we had spent more time sketching, but it is the experience that counts not how polished the sketch looks. Stella’s sketch of the Bistro and live oak is really good and could easily be finished some weekend. My sketch, as usual is a panicked mess.

Art in the Alley, Mount Dora

Art in the Alley on the historic Roylleau Street in Mount Dora, Florida, is held every 2nd Friday. The alley runs for two blocks between 3rd Street and 5th Street. The alley is one block west of Baker Street and ends at the Donnelly Park, right at the Mount Dora Center for the Arts.

I had forgotten my artist stool, so I sat in a tangle of live Oak roots to sketch the entrance to the alley. All the trees were still lit up with Christmas lights. I took my rag and folded it up to add some cushioning against the hard knobby roots.

Several weeks prior, Stella Arbelaez had a portrait on exhibit near here which we visited, and then we went into this Van Gogh themed bus to look at the art of Richard Barrenechea.The entire city was ablaze with Christmas lights and after the bus Stella and I went to the tai restaurant right next to the bus. To me that outdoor seating area reminds me of Van Gogh‘s painting of a provincial outdoor cafe. The Miso Soup warmed my soul and the Pad Thai noodles were sweet and delicious. Overall it was a great night on the town.

Richard had painted an entire house to look like Van Gogh’s Starry Night. On this night, driving into Mount Dora from Yalaha, I saw the house first time right before entering the historic downtown. Sketching the house would be tricky since a large road runs right in front of it.

As I finished up my sketch, a mom was waiting to get her children across the very busy street. She wasn’t crossing the street to see art, rather she was crossing the street to get ice cream cones for her kids. A beautiful hostess encouraged people to enter the bus. Richard has converted this bus into a mobile art gallery of his work. The pop culture paintings are shiny with thick layers of varnish. I stumbled up the steps of the bus and lost my balance. I used my left hand to catch myself from falling. I asked Richard if I could just get a card and he said, “You are leaning on them.” Sure enough my left hand was right on a pile of cards. I laughed. I wonder how many others had lost their balance getting up those bus steps and stumbled upon the cards. That is some golden marketing right there.

Other than Richard’s bus, I only noticed one other artist with a table set up half way down the first block of the Alley. The central building in Donnlley Park had signs for a Highwayman exhibit. I peaked my head in but there was only a retirement party going on. Weather you are looking for ice cream or Art, downtown Mount Dora is buzzing on a Friday night,

Post Milton

Hurricane Milton knocked down 4 trees in Stella Arbelaez‘s Yahala studio yard. One tree fell up against the shed in this sketch damaging the roof line but not yet hitting the ground.

I consulted with Paul, the leader of the tree removal crew of 3 and he felt I would be fine sketching from this location.

Paul had a thick utility belt with more gadgets than batman. He clipped on a chainsaw to the belt and kicked the metal cleats on his boots into the thick pine bark.

At the base of the tree a thick rope was braided and tied with a sort of  Tee shaped metal device that the rope could be wound around. Paul made his way up cutting off smaller branches as he went. His goal was to get to the very top and tie another road braid which must have had a pulley set up.

Paul had a blue rope tied to his utility belt. Large branched would be securely tied to the blue rope and at the ground level, a red rope was tied to the blue rope to allow one or two men to use the pulley system to lower the branch to keep it from crashing down at full force. They were a well oiled machine and Paul was always in charge making sure no one was under a branch that might fall. Paul was also always secured to the top knotted rope so he would only fall a few feet and swing rather than fall all the way to the ground. When he came down to climb another tree, he said the trees were swaying at least a foot at the very top. It was a windy day. That is a job I would never have the nerve to do myself.

The most exciting moment came when Paul cut off a large group of branches at the top of the tree all at once. The ground shook when it hit, only a few feet in front of me. After that I decided to pick up my artist stool and move back a few feet. With the largest branches they would do what was called a quarter turn with the red rope which would cause the fallen branch to swing around the main trunk away from Paul. It would then be lowered slowly to the ground by the ground crew.

When all the side branches were down, then the main trunk came down in about 16 foot sections, which fell with brute force shaking the ground each time. They were then cut on the ground into 4 foot sections which were transported to the street. It rained twice, which interrupted the work. It took a day to safely cut down 2 trees. Another smaller tree is slated to be cut down and the large root balls from large fallen trees will eventually be removed with a large crane. A neighbor across the street asked Paul to split the large logs and dump it all on his front lawn. It is a shame this house doesn’t have a fireplace, because nights have been cold this week and it is a shame to waste such a massive source of fuel.

I am excited by the possibilities at the Yahala studio. I’ve learned quite a bit about composing, and the myriad of uses of bamboo for construction. I am going to start making some bamboo path edging soon which should look awesome, while keeping leaves from littering the pathway. While large tree roots were ripped up by the hurricane, I am starting to realize how good it would be to put roots down, and start new growth, through hard work, while using materials already available on the property. Maybe it is just a dream, but it is nice to dip my toe into the infinite possibilities of sustainable homesteading.

Yalaha Florida Studio

In the driveway of the Yalaha studio is a pile of sand for sandbags acquired before Hurricane Milton hit. That sand will be used to fill the hols left behind once the root balls are removed from the fallen trees.

Stella drives a silver Prius which is identical to mine. Since she was parked a bit in front of my car it wasn’t visible from the spot where I did this sketch.

There is a property right next to this which is completely wild and undeveloped. As I sketched I felt calm and peaceful. Squirrels ran along the fence and birds were chirping It was a rare moment of absolute peace where I feel like I am part of the landscape. I need to search for such locations more often. The former neighborhood in Orlando where I had a studio that always had airplanes flying into and out of the Orlando airport. Being on the approach to the runway the airplanes roared over head.

Since being here I have slept like a baby every night. The only sound in the morning has come from a few cardinals who tap on the glass because of a mirrored surface. Stella purchased little decals that go on the outside of the windows which hopefully will discourage the birds from running into the glass.

Stella showed me around Yalaha. There is a neighborhood behind the post office which has really old cracker style houses that are getting run down. It is a poorer neighborhood, but there are many buildings with plenty of character. I might start hiking out that way for the exercise and to sketch.

Workmen cutting down trees will be in the yard tomorrow, so I suspect I will be sketching men with chainsaws. A new location should bring new inspiration for my daily sketch routine. I still have tons of boxes I still need to unpack but that will happen slowly over the coming weeks.

 

Milton Damage

Hurricane Milton caused some major damage in Florida.

Stella Arbelaez, a former Disney Feature Animation effects artist, lives north west of Lake Apopka and I have been helping her constructing a large bamboo sculpture.

There are many tall pine trees in her back yard and Hurricane Milton knocked over a bunch of them. Luckily none of them hit her house, but one is leaning precariously against a shed and several other fell over taking out fencing.

Stella and I both had work accepted at FusionFest over the Thanksgiving weekend. Stella volunteered to paint on location during FusionFest. I thought I had a cold after going to the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival to promote COVID Dystopia. I actually was infected with COVID-19 for the first time when flying back to Orlando on Delta flight 1652. I tested myself the first night back and now know that the test was a false negative. I proceeded to help with Stella’s project thinking I just had a cold. I didn’t feel healthy enough to go to Fusion Fest, so I stayed behind while Stella went to paint in Downtown Orlando.

Later in the day I sketched this tree which had been uprooted by Milton. The ripped open root ball reminded me of how my insides felt. COVID is an airborne vascular disease that affects the heart, arteries and fuses brain cells killing off grey matter. It effects just about every organ in the body. The “cold” had knocked me on my ass. The sun started to set as I worked on the sketch, so I rushed to finish before it got too cold out. The ripped open root ball reminds me of the unseen damage being done to my inner vascular system.

Mygration Films

I sketched the evening that the filmmakers met their subjects for the MYgradion film series. I was therefor excited to see the end results of these films that had to be shot and crafted over just 2 days.

At the filmmaker meet an greet, one filmmaker, David Yanovich, found out that because of a mix up, he didn’t have a subject to work with. He was asked to just hang out since sometimes a filmmaker might just not show up. Sure enough someone didn’t show and David was matched with a subject. This was his first time crafting a short documentary. He worked with Idrees Khan and created the film, Ties to Trinidad.

Of the 13 or so films I was most excited to see the film about Stella Abelaez by Michael Elliott called The Path to Healing. I had met Stella at Disney Feature animation back in the 1990s.  Of all the films shown at the screening, the film about Stella was the only one that had me wiping away tears and yet feeling absolute joy at the end of the journey. It was a five minute emotional roller-coaster. At the end of the screenings, the audience got to cast their vote for the best film of the series.

The winner of the best short film was Culture to Canvas, a film about artist Nelson Cardenas by Ariana Castillo. I met Nelson at an art opening of his large paintings on wood of healthcare workers wearing masks which were shown during the lull after the second wave of the pandemic at the Orange County Regional History Center. I liked the work since so few artists have documented the pandemic. At the time of that opening the number of COVID infections was far lower that they are today. Today we are coming down from the 9th wave of the pandemic and about every 45th person is infected. People have been groomed to think repeat infections are the new normal. I was the only person masked person at the screening.

In this film I got to see some of the amazing paintings Nelson created about his emigration experience from Columbia. One painting of three men lying in the trunk of a car really stood out. He paid particular attention to the detail of one of the men’s stylish cowboy boots. Nelson and his mother had to squeeze into the same trunk with the men. Part of me is thinking that just this aspect of his story could be crafted into a powerful short animated film. The seed is planted, we will see if it will grow.

Mygration Films Meet and Greet 2

The first sketch I did of the Mygration Films meet and greet was done while the filmmakers were looking over the envelopes they had picked to learn about the subject of their documentaries. The room was quiet as they read and thought.

Once the artists entered the room and were introduced to the filmmakers the room buzzed to life. There was a definite excitement as plans were hatched for the following two days of shooting. Unfortunately I am not sure who the artists or the filmmaker was who was seated right in front of me. They stood in for all the excited conversations that were happening at all the tables in the room. I will learn the story about the creative people seated in front of me when the films are shown as part of the Global Peace Film Festival.

I introduced myself to the filmmakers at Stella’s table briefly but didn’t want to interrupt the flow of the conversation.  A creative marathon was about to begin. Mygration films will capture the stories of Central Floridians who came here from around the world in short 3 to 5 minute documentaries. The filmmakers had just 2 days to shoot the films. The title of the film about Stella Arbelaez is titled Path to Healing and I can’t wait to see how it turned out. The films will be shown on September 22, 2024 starting at 5PM at Afro TV, 7220 International Drive Orlando Fl. Tickets are $10. Stella’s wrote her story in Footprint Magazine should you want to read more and see some of her art. I am curious to see how such an epic story can be told in a 5 minute short.

 

Mygration Filmmaker Meet and Greet

Stella Arbelaez let me know about a filmmaker meet and greet happening at Full Sail. Lori Turchin was running the event.

Fusion Fest was having filmmakers create short documentaries about local creatives. The films had to be shot over the course of 2 days. It was to be a fast marathon of creativity.

I arrived at Full Sail a bit early to start the sketch. Lori explained that pairing so many creatives was an arduous process. Filmmakers would meet their prospective subjects in the Tree House, which was a student lounge with a small stage up front. When a filmmaker would arrive they would meet Lori who had a series of numbered envelopes they could choose from. Each envelope contained the name of a local artist along with biographies and other pertinent information. The filmmakers sat at their tables and poured over the material in the envelope.

Stella explained that she did quite a bit of work prior to the meet and greet. She acquired permits for the shooting locations and UCF required a script, so she essentially build a script around the questions the filmmakers would be asking. The theme of Stella’s short would evolve around her love of nature and the sense of place the brought her back to Orlando where she put down roots. She knows who she is creatively and she knows what brings her joy.

Stella’s filmmakers, M.D. Elliot and Ethen Paonessa, came from Ringling and after this initial met and greet they went out for dinner to continue to plan the filming production. The following day Stella’s daughter arrived. Five hours of footage might be shot which would need to be edited down to 3-5 minutes.

One aspect of Stella’s story  of healing that really fascinated me was her decision to walk the full 1,500 mile length of the Florida Trail. She had a home made backpack. Her small dog followed her on the journey. Hikers on this trail often are given nicknames and hers became acorn. She met up with other hikers along the way and there is a sense of community among those who feel the drive to walk the length of the trail. When blisters halted her progress, other hikers carried her gear so she could keep moving forward. COVID hit when she had just 80 miles to go to complete the trail. The trail was shut down. The open air of the trail was probably the safest place to be, but she had to return to civilization. That final 80 miles stretch was completed much later when lock downs were lifted. A person’s strength and resolve is tested on such a journey, and a love of nature is given room to blossom. The trail will provide.

All of the short films, which are referred to as Mygration films, will be screened as part of the Global Peace Film Festival on Sunday September 22, 2024 at Afrotainment, 7220 International Drive Orlando Fl. The screenings start at 5pm. Tickets are $10. I will be there to cheer on my fellow Florida Creatives.

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