Pre-Pandemic: Fridge Repair

Posted on by Thor

This is the first sketch I did in a sketchbook that was returned to me after if fell off my bike on a cross country bicycle trip 35 years ago. Someone found the sketchbook packed away in a box and realized I had signed the first page.

The pages are rather thin and don’t hold watercolor very well, but I am attempting to full the remaining pages. This is a sketch of Jimmy John’s sandwich Shop in Downtown Orlando. The fridge was on the fritz and a repairman was trying too get it back up and running. I sketched as I enjoyed my sandwich.

The sketchbook ha once again been put on hold since I am no longer going on location to sketch each day. Now Most of my sketches are illustration having to do with the COVID-19 virus and America’s mishandling of this health crisis. Those illustrations are being done digitally. That work could also be lost to time if I don’t keep on top of backing up files or making prints of all the work I am doing. I remember a film historian mentioning that the early silent films of Thomas Edison are the only samples of very early film because film degrades and burns up in time. Thomas Edison thought ahead and made paper prints of every frame of film and those paper prints make it possible to recreate the films of the time, remaining the only samples of early film.

I am thinking that making prints of digital files may be the only way to have digital art stand the test of time.

Windermere Arts Festival

Posted on by Thor

The Windermere Arts Festival is held annually in a lakeside park nestled among the chain of lakes. There were artists tents, a boat show, antique cars and a wake boarding competition. Local authors read from their work.

; Rhoade on his red bicycle told me a little about the mission to try and save Nehrling Gardens. The Gardens are
the former home of famed horticulturalist Henry Nehrling, who
purchased the property in 1885 to establish a garden where he could
experiment with tropical and subtropical plants year round. It is
located in Gotha, Florida, a small community near Orlando that was
founded by German Americans in the 1870s. The 1880s frame
vernacular style home and semi-detached kitchen were moved by
ox-cart to the site in the early 1900s.

 

Palm Cottage
Gardens was Florida’s first experimental botanical garden where Dr.
Nehrling tested over 3,000 new and rare plants for the USDA. By the
early 1900s it was a popular destination for thousands of tourists,
nature lovers, and new Florida settlers. Many prominent people of
the era, such as Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Liberty Hyde
Bailey, Theodore Mead and Dr. David Fairchild, marveled at the
garden and celebrated Nehrling’s extraordinary work. Of the 60
plus acres purchased by Henry Nehrling between 1885 and 1897, only
the 6-acre homestead site remains; a portion of this extends into Lake Nally. Remnants of the original 100-year old tree canopy and
many of his plantings still exist, and the house is a charming and
authentic example of pioneer Florida life.

  

The Mission of the
Henry Nehrling Society is to preserve Dr. Nehrling’s historic home and
gardens in Gotha, Florida, and provide a History and Horticultural
Education Center focusing on environmental conservation and to:

  • Honor Dr. Nehrling’s horticultural and ornithological achievements.
  • Preserve the remaining historical home and gardens in Gotha, Florida.
  • Recognize the community’s historical and German-American cultural heritage.
  • Teach environmentally
    sound gardening and landscaping practices through horticultural classes
    and demonstration gardens; provide education for wetlands restoration
    and conservation.