Nature at Barefoot

Posted on by Thor

“Congratulations, your artwork;  ‘Tree‘ and ‘Edge of Field‘

were accepted in the Nature Art Show at The Barefoot Spa.” wrote Parker Sketch who is organizing an exhibit at Barefoot Spa (801 Virginia Orlando FL 32803). The art drop off was on Tuesday after 5pm. I dropped off my art and then lingered to sketch the other artists dropping off their work. These shows used to have a $10 donation for the opening supplies, but that has been bumped up to a $15 required admission fee. Parker spends two days collecting the submissions and then hangs the show which can take 3 hours if all goes well. That is quite a time commitment on his part. Barefoot Spa has been and remains an amazing supporter of visual arts in Orlando. They collect no commission on any sales.

There was plenty of paperwork to fill out which mostly hold Parker and the venue not responsible should there be an act of god or vandalism that destroys art. The two pieces I submitted were rather dark, showing dead and decaying tree trunks in all their twisted agonizing forms. I figure the show would have plenty of bright and cheerful pieces showing natures wonder, so I offered decay.

Artist Jennifer Payne, arrived at the same time as me. She pulled up on her bicycle as I was lugging my rather large pieces up to the doorway and she offered to hold the door for me. She has been doing an amazing series of impressionistic pallet knife paintings of sunsets and landscapes. She tends to post her daily paintings on Instagram about the same time I post my daily sketches so I get to admire her work almost every day. Other artists were concerned abut how to price their work and one artist struggled trying to wire her painting  with no success. Parker had a long list of things he had to explain to each artist, which boiled down to the idea that the Spa would do its part to promote the show but each artist should promote the show as well and show up to the Opening which will be March 14, 2020 probably starting about 6pm. Each artist will get a drink, but otherwise it will be a cash bar. Jennifer jokes about bringing her own flask of a spiked drink and we all laughed. I’m thinking an IV bag might be my choice for medicating myself.


So stop out to Barefoot Spa on March 14, 2020 around 6pm if you want to see a couple of my darker pieces or if you want to buy me a drink. From the art that I saw arrive, this should turn out to be a fun show. Support the venues that support the arts.

Monthly Artist Critique

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I always enjoy going to the Monthly Artist Critique at The Barefoot Spa (801 Virginia Dr, Orlando, Florida 32803). Artists get a chance to share their work in front of an audience of their peers. It is a chance to learn about other artists work and a chance to find out how the work was created and the artists goals in creating the piece.

It doesn’t matter what kind of art you do, artists include oil painters, paper makers, glass artists, found object sculptors, video artists, watercolor painters, ceramicists, artists who draw and collage, jewelry artists, print makers, etc. It also doesn’t matter how much experience you have. Some artists have never shown and others are nationally recognized competition winners. The point is to get people from many different styles, backgrounds, and experience levels together to talk about everyone’s work!

The discussions have included pricing, finding materials, technique, framing, exhibition opportunities, and, yes, traditional critique. We are trying to mix different artists and get them talking about art! Everyone’s art is shown individually, and talked about for about 10 minutes. The idea is not only to get other people to talk about your art, but to spend the evening talking about everyone’s art!

The critique is about showing brand new art, the newest art that you have. And if more than one piece is shown, it should be part of a series. Or if they aren’t part of a series, make sure that you are prepared to talk about the art as a group.

Opulence at Barefoot Spa.

Posted on by Thor

“Opulence” features the work of 25 Central Florida artists. The connecting theme of this show is the use of “rooms of spectacular opulence” in art. Included are paintings, sculptures, photography and multi media pieces. The collection is diverse vibrant and interesting with plenty of golden colors.

This show will be up for the months of February and March at
The Barefoot Spa
(801 Virginia, Orlando FL, 32803).
Hours are 10am to 5pm daily (closed Sundays).

The reception was on Saturday February 25th from 6 to 9 PM. Most of the artists were available at the reception. I have a painting on exhibit in this show, so I stopped by the opening reception to sketch. My painting is of the National Arts Club in NYC.  Parker Sketch has several paintings in the show. He shared old photos on his phone of his punk days with an incredibly tall Mohawk haircut.  His parents got divorced when he was a tee and he decided to live a homeless lifestyle for a summer not because he had to, but for the experience. His parents never missed him. He explained how you have to sleep in a park during the day since you would get kicked out at night. This rock bottom conversation was a nice stark contrast to the opulence on display. One of Parker’s painting had alternating stripes of gold and gold sparkle paint bands with a painting of a highball drink as the center of interest.

LK Phipps, a fine art digital photographer was curious a bow my digital sketch.  She told me about an Art and Algorithm show that sounds intriguing. With the sketch done, I relaxed and enjoyed the company of friends for a while.

The Television art show at Barefoot Spa.

Posted on by Thor

I submitted a piece at the Television Art Show at The Barefoot Spa (801 Virginia Dr, Orlando, Florida 32803). This show featured art of television personalities, art of televisions, and art of anything related to televisions. There were classic television shows, cartoon characters, Atari, the evening news, and more. I submitted a sketch I did of a Brian Feldman performance done at Frames Forever. Brian set up televisions in the storefront window and watched TV all night as each station switched from analog signals to digital signals. Each TV showed static after the switch. It was the night when analog officially died. If you had an old TV with rabbit ears, it became a devise to watch static across all the stations. Since Brian was bored by the viewing options, he used his cell phone to tweet and research through the night.

The TV Art Show reception was fairly well attended, but more than there quarters of those in attendance must have been artists. Linda Saracino is an artist who paints quirky dress fashions and does intricate collages. She was talking to someone who ended up being deleted from the sketch, since he or she would have been standing in the centerfold of the sketchbook. Linda’s work wasn’t in the show, but I’ve seen her at about every art opening that I’ve ever sketched. John Glassman Gardener was busy signing colorful spray can lids that acted as magnets. He would place each on the metal column as he finished signing them.

The show featured 30 pieces of art by 18 different artists.

Bethany Taylor Myers

Brian Garnett

Carrie Perman

Chrissy Hufford

Cierra Hannah

Delores Haberkorn

Donna Harrington

Eric Wise

Glaucia Mir

Jamie Meagher

Jon Glassman Gardner

M Scott Morgan

Mark Goffe

Parker Sketch

Thom Solo

Thomas Thorspeken

Vanessa Bernal

Parker Sketch curated the show, and he did a great job logging the art as it arrived and when is was picked up. My piece didn’t sell. The problem was that I exhibited the original. Lets face it people in Orlando cant afford my originals. My prints at half the price do sell on occasion. Even the owner of a sports stadium decided to buy a print rather than the original painting that they commissioned.