For my trip up north, I had to get a head lamp replaced since one had burned out. When I got to the Reed Nissan dealership, there was a long line of cars waiting to get into the repair shop, so I stepped out and walked up to a repair person to see if they had the parts and if so, how long it would take to repair. She was really nice, and had me pull my truck up to a third line which had no cars in it. When she drove my truck back to the shop, she told me that she had experienced a shudder and the truck lurched a bit. She also pointed out how bad the treads looked on my left front tire. I would be driving up into snow, and it was at this point that I decided I would have to get new tires for the trip.
The waiting area of the repair shop had a large plate glass window overlooking the garage where the work is done. In this sketch the mechanics are doing oil changes on the vehicles on the lifts. I never saw my truck, so it must have been in another garage. When the service advisor, Ellie Diaz, came back, she admired what I was working on. She said, “Now that is a nice way to pass the time.” I gave her my card and told her to check out my blog. She asked if I did portraits and I showed her the sketch I had just recently done of Hannah Miller. She wanted to know how much I would charge to do a sketch of her daughters and her. I gave her an affordable price and she seemed pleased, saying, “This would be a nice birthday present for myself.”
My next stop was the four wheel parts off road shop where I got my new tires. At this shop the mechanic was unable to figure out how to get at the spare tire so I had to go back and lower it myself. As I was sitting in the waiting area, I got a text from Hannah. She told me some stranger had asked to shoot a photo of her feet in her hip new shoes. He wanted to brag to friends that he had taken a photo of Cinderella’s sister’s feet. Hannah pointed out that my truck was getting new shoes, so it was a red letter day for shoes.
Walking Impossible
Orlando had been named the worst city for pedestrians in cities of at least a million residents according to a report issued by Transportation of America called Dangerous by Design. To focus attention on this problem, Brian Feldman plans to walk across the 12 most dangerous intersection in Orlando.
When I arrived at the corner of West Colonial Drive and Pine Hills Road, Brian was at a crossroads, literally. I could see his bright yellow reflective vest from a block away, and as I approached Brian was on his iPhone and walking away from the intersection. When he saw me, he started walking towards me. We spoke and he was considering giving up the project which would involve his walking across this intersection 51 times which is the number of people who had been hit at the intersection in the past two years, 5 people died crossing the intersection. He plans to walk across 12 other intersections over the next week. The number of people hit in the intersections culminates on December 1st with 110 people hit at the corner of Silver Star Road and North Pine Hills Road, with 11 people killed.
By the time I arrived, Brian had already walked the four corners of this intersection 12 times and now he was considering scaling back the project. He said, “This is what happens when you don’t have a girlfriend. She might have talked me out of this, or at least talked me into a more scaled back performance.” I told him I thought it was a fantastic concept but it is certainly very dangerous. He said to me, “I need a mask, I didn’t consider all the fumes.” I explained that a medical mask really wouldn’t cut back on the fumes. Then again, they wear masks in Japan. Maybe I was wrong. Does anyone have a mask to lend Brian? He had to make a call. He walked over to the intersection and started talking on his iPhone. Then without another word he started to walk the intersection again. I began to sketch.
There was a near collision between 2 cars at one point and there was the periodic honking of annoyed drivers in a rush to get somewhere. Brian noticed several cars that ran the red lights. One recreational vehicle took a sharp turn onto Colonial and a huge forearm sized chunk of metal flew off of it onto the street. As he crossed the street on foot Brian paused at the center median thinking he would remove the metal object from the road. Before he could however, a truck ran the object over sending it flying into the air as so much shrapnel. Another car ran it over and it flew to the far side of the road with a loud clang. A frail emaciated woman came strolling across the road ignoring the signals and I was sure she would get hit but she survived.
I began this sketch by drawing Brian on his iPhone and later I decided to draw him out crossing the intersection as well. Some driver on the far side of the road started yelling at me, “Hey!! Hey!” I looked at him and waited for him to yell something intelligent, but no intelligent comment was forthcoming. I lost interest and continued to sketch. When I finished, Brian told me he had crossed the intersections four corners 30 times. He is twittering his experiences and shooting photos on his iPhone. This is without a doubt the most dangerous project Brian has ever attempted. He needs some intervention. Someone please go out there and talk him out of this performance. It is far too dangerous.
P.S. A short video was made about the project.
The Hearse
Anytime I drive down Fairbanks this Funeral Hearse covered with graffiti always catches my eye. I finally decided to stop and do a sketch. The Hearse acts as a sort of billboard for Black Chapel Tattoo in Winter Park.
It was painted by Ken Deft from Pittsburg in about 4 hours. I found out that Black Chapel had moved however to downtown Orlando. The owner of Black Chapel Tattoo, Eli Tobias, accused Winter Park officials of running him out of town. After harassment for nearly a year from Winter Park Police, Tobias decided to move the shop to downtown Orlando.
As I sat doing this sketch a few people wandered by on the sidewalk that I was sitting on. Everyone seemed a bit down and out yet they seemed to appreciate what I was doing. One couple asked “Hey, are you a tattoo artist?” I shouted, “No”over the roar of traffic. A rather disheveled man in a red shirt and a beard who looked homeless, placed his hand on my shoulder, then subtly patted several times and smiled down at me. Without saying a word, he quietly walked away.