Trinity Lutheran Church Downtown – Analog Artist Digital World

I had a meeting at Trinity Lutheran Church Downtown about teaching a sketch class. I got to the downtown location rather early and decided to have a Subway sandwich before the meeting. I’m sure I ordered a ham and Swiss cheese along with some chips and a coke. I always do. I am fascinated that people I draw in public paces are almost always on their cell phones. Even seated across from each other the two ladies in the corner were on their digital devises instead of talking to one another.

It is hard to say weather the kids learned something from my one lesson in which we sketched the courtyard outside. But I do know that for once they were focusing on the world around them rather than staring at a screen. Some people never look up and are never even aware of their surroundings except in a superficial way. If I sway just one child to appreciate the everyday world around them through direct observation and interpret what they see then I have done my job. When we can open our eyes to the beauty in everything then life gets exciting and becomes an adventure. I’ve become a bit of a minister preaching this over and over with the tenacity of a drill sergeant.

This is a sketch of the Sunday service at Trinity Lutheran Church Downtown (123 E Livingston St, Orlando, FL) near the courthouse. The church reminds me of the Methodist Church my family used to attend in Dumont New Jersey. The lighting and exposed beam ceiling are almost identical. There is something calming about sketching the vertical space that insists you look upward.

This was toward the end of this pastors stay at the
church. Every couple of years the pastors have to move to a new parish. The sketch was given to him by the parishioners as a parting gift. I
found this print in my files an realized that I had never posted the
sketch. Christmas seemed the right time to finally share this warm
inviting interior. Trinity has a 10am worship service on Christmas Day.

I was raise Methodist by my mother Elvira, but my father us a non-practicing Catholic. He later beam a practicing Methodist when he married my stepmom Ruth. In researching my family history, it seems that my family’s religion changed every other generation. When I researched back to the Thorspeckens in Germany, the documents come from Lutheran churches.

Part of me has wanted to do a series of sketches of church services in Orlando. There is certainly no shortage of churches. I would simply seek out a different church ever Sunday. However, Sunday is also a day of rest and I made a commitment to not sketch on Sundays and instead devote that day to family.