Prints at Art Systems.

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When clients order prints of my work I get them made at Art Systems (1740 FL-436, Winter Park, FL 32792). The great thing is that the store is just a 10 minute drive from my Winter Part Chateau. Nadia is an animation major at UCF and is an artist. She likes to flip through my sketchbooks when I have them on hand, which is always. She gives me prints with perfect color matching to the original. Watercolors are tricky because color is created from light shooting through thin layers of pigment and then bouncing off the white page.  When I paint opaque paint on the same sketch it throws of the color that the scanner and computer see. It takes a keen eye to spot and correct the limited senses of a computer.

There has been a change in the print shop. The former reprographics manager left and all the prints were removed from the walls. A new manager, Sarah Jane Rozman  took his place. She is an artist who loves to paint birds. She is a pretty amazing artist. She handled the print I brought in and got the colors spot on. A person running the print shop is much like a barber or bartender. The client waits as the print is being made and conversation lightens the wait. Sarah and I started talking about events following the Pulse shooting, and I found myself in an emotionally charged conversation that I didn’t expect. Sarah listened with compassion and understanding. Hopefully this is happening all or Orlando as the city heals. Three months after the tragic event I am more caught up in trying to understand what happened than ever. I am sketching Pulse employees and survivors from that night and the conflicting stories keep me thinking as I lie awake and try to sleep at night. 

I leave behind some piece of myself  everywhere I go. I forgot my umbrella at Art Systems and Sarah held on to it for the three weeks or so when I returned to make another print. Nadia was there as well and she insisted I see an animated film by Leica Studio called Kubo. I took her advice and it as an amazing film. Go see it! Characters are given time to breath and think. Stop motion, CGI and traditional animation are all used to breath life into an incredible hero’s journey. I went to a late night screening alone and was blown away. ” When we grow stronger the world gets more dangerous.” 

So my trips to the print shop for clients are not just business as usual. I go knowing I might learn something new, become a bit more emotionally grounded, or be inspired. A trip to to the print shop is an adventure.

Adult Workshop, Patterns in Life

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On Wednesday July 24 from 6-7:30 p.m. I went to the Mennello Museum of American Art (900 East Princeton Street, Orlando, Florida)  for an adult workshop called Patterns in Life. After last summer’s success, the museum brought back a series of one-time classes for adults (and mature high school students). The classes are taught by UCF art students and include coffee in the morning sessions and a glass of wine in the evenings.

Patterns in Life explored intriguing designs created by the Florida Seminoles. Their native patterns are often inspired by plant motifs and other aspects of the natural world. Attendees tried their hands at designing symbols of their world. The four UCF Student Instructors were Mary Joy Torrecampo, Charles Morrison, Kristine “Kiki” Esdaille and Lujan Perez. I was impressed that Charles was doing the same thing I was doing, by documenting the workshop with a sketch. Lujan, seated at the head of the table was working on an orange painting that evolved into a portrait. It was encouraging to see students doing impressive figurative work. I told them about the World Wide SketchCrawl and Charles seemed intrigued.

The Cunningham paintings on the walls seemed to glow on the dark purple walls creating a vibrant pattern. Spanish moss draped off the branches of the huge Live Oak behind the museum. I never got a closeup look at any of the five attendees paintings. But everyone certainly had a fun time.

UCF Book Festival

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On April 13th, Terry and I went to the UCF Book Festival in the UCF Arena. We actually had to take separate cars since I had to teach at Full Sail right afterwards. The central court area of the arenas was jammed full of booths full of authors selling their signed books. Terry actually knew one of the first authors, Elizabeth Allen, who wrote a book called, “Who Got Liz Gardner“. The book is about the sexual exploits of the young author. I haven’t read it, but Terry loved it. Liz sat at the table with her husband who was also an author. The table had a divider down the middle. Liz met her husband at an acting workshop where actors had to break up into teams. Liz wasn’t paired with anyone, and the instructor asked the class, “Who got Liz Garner? The title implies the question, “Who married Liz Gardner?”

We bumped into a lawyer who is also an author, He advised me to start putting large watermarks on my sketched to avoid people using my work online for free. I am experimenting with watermarks now but really want to avoid a rude symbol that dominates every drawing. The lawyer was saddened by some of the authors who self published books and had no distribution plans other than at small book festivals like this. Large areas of stadium seating were blocked off with black cloth drops. I took up the challenge to sketch the overall view of the cavernous space while Terry explored more authors talks. Several authors in my sketch were giving a talk to three or four people seated in the stands. The audience might have just been family.

Storm Troopers invaded the children’s reading area and then patrolled the show floor along with some Jedi and Sith Lords. I take Star Wars as a movie franchise not a classic novel, but I suppose the kids didn’t care. A UCF football uniform was set up as a photo opportunity where you could wedge your face above the shoulder pads to look like you were in uniform. I later discovered that authors, Bob Kealing and Jeff Kunerth were at the Book Fair and somehow I missed them.

On the Center stage a poetry slam began with a half full audience in 5 rows of folding seats. After the sketch was done, Terry and I got some free Slurpees. Terry had seen enough so we headed out. We grabbed some lunch a Logan’s Steakhouse and then I went off to work.

Natura Coffee and Tea

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When I work till 9PM at Full Sail I tend to go out and sketch Jazz which pops up all over town. Natura Coffee and Tea is a hole in the wall coffee shop right near UCF (12078 Collegiate Way Orlando, FL). The front window proclaims, “Self expression welcome.” The place offers music, art and film. All the clientele are young college aged kids. Students smoked hookahs on a couch to the left. An older woman got a whole cup of hot coffee spilled in her lap. There was quite a commotion to get her cleaned up.

The jazz was lively but I never caught any of the musicians names. The guitarist just told me that he and Reagan on the keyboard had gotten the group together for the night.  I desperately want to return to sketch the students smoking the intricate and ornate hookahs. I may have to work late next month so I might be back.

Taste of Jazz

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Every Monday night starting around 8PM, there is a jazz jam at Taste Restaurant (717 West Smith Street).  I arrived straight from work. The drum set was just being set up, so I sketched the pieces as they fell into place. Several performers were UCF professors. Tracy Alexander performed on the drums, Greg Zabel on upright Bass, John Krasula on guitar and Joe Young on Trumpet. As the evening wore on more musicians entered the bar and they would step in on different riffs. I ordered tater tots and a Blue Moon. The dipping sauce was on the hot side so I needed the beer to negate the heat in my mouth.

I recognized some of the regular patrons from past sketching trips to Taste. The guy seated next to me asked a question I hear quite often, “Did you do that here?” Since the sketch is of the musicians we both just saw perform, it would seem quite obvious that I didn’t do it out on the sidewalk or in my car. Anyway, the music was great. Each performer in turn launched into a long solo and when the moment was right the rest of the performers would join back in. I stepped out after the first set to rush back home.

Jazz on the Green

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Bank of America was the host for Jazz on the Green held on Saturday October 20th at the UCF College of Medicine (6850 Lake Nona Boulevard). Terry had VIP passes since Merrill Lynch had paid for a corporate table. VIP parking wasn’t much different than regular parking since the event didn’t seem to be very crowded. Food trucks and their loud generators crowded much of the lot. Corporate tables were arranged on either side of the stage. The Merrill Lynch table was empty. There was no shade and it was hot, so Terry and I abandoned the table and sat in our lawn chairs in the shade cast by the stage. We had to move several times as we lost shade.

We were offered a free bottle of wine and a large cheese and fruit platter. Each table got one of these platters and since we were the only ones at our table, there was too much to eat. The Lake Nona Middle School Jazz Ensemble was performing on the Travistock Green when we arrived. It was hard to listen to all the missed notes. The audience, baking in the sun on blankets, loved them however. They all must have been parents of the kids in the band. Next up, on stage, was Jeff Bradshaw and his band. Their jazz had a subtle taste of Cajun Zydeco. During one number, the folks at the table next to us started dancing as they waved their napkins above their heads. Jeff came off the stage and marched up to the table still playing his saxophone. He lead them in a Cajun march through the audience and more people joined the line. Terry got up and joined in. Last to perform was Ken Navarro. He played gentle, smooth jazz as the darkness rolled in. Ken is the act I managed to catch in my sketch. It was a relaxing way to spend a Saturday afternoon. All the money raised from the event benefited the Lake Nona YMCA and the UCF College of Medicine Scholarship programs.

Artists Process

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As part of the Corridor Project‘s first show, Walk on By, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, a UCF art instructor, sat in a thrown outside Urban ReThink starting at 6pm on September 5th accepting trash offerings. That evening artists gathered at ReThink to talk about their art and process.

Wanda was dressed in a tight red corset and had a huge wig of purple hair which was woven and balled up. Red and white jewels glistened in her hair. From the moment I entered, I knew I wanted to get close to her to sketch. Wanda’s regal performance piece had previously been done at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.


She began her discussion by asking the audience what they felt her performance was about. I hadn’t seen her performance, so I kept quiet. Her question rang forth like a challenge. The room was dead silent. A little boy started shrieking and complaining in the corner. With a regal flair Wanda raised her hand and shouted out “Excuse me!” The mom ushered her son out the door. Wanda explained that people often dump their shit on the people closest to them. She said her performance art was about intimacy. In one performance piece she invited people to lie in bed with her. In the quiet moments, some people cried.


Jessica Earley who yarn bombed the front of Urban Rethink discussed her art. She is soft spoken and began her talk by warning us of her shyness. As she discussed her art, she was never at a loss for words. She gazed at the far wall of the room as she spoke. Her thoughts and passions rang true. The projector wouldn’t work but Dina Mack helped her get it running. Jessica showed us some of her more controversial paintings that she had done. One painting she did was actually censored by a costumer in a local restaurant. Her paintings often visualize woman’s issues. Some show a woman’s longings to someday have a child. A painting showing a nude woman and child couldn’t be hung. The woman had some knitting covering her lap and a single strand of yarn lead to a baby who had on a knit cap and diapers. Black crows then flew up from the child’s head towards a flaming blue cell. Jessica has been painting for the past three years and her work is astonishingly intimate and sincere. A common thread through the evenings discussions was that artists love to experiment and explore different mediums. Jessica wants to continue performance art, music, dance, installations and visual art. Self expression can come in many forms.

Artists Party and Street Market

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Affect Art held its first Artists Party and Street Market at Taste Restaurant (717 W. Smith Street College Park). The purpose of Affect Art is simply to help artists help themselves. A few artists were set up inside the front room in Taste and everyone else was set up outside under the awning. Clouds loomed, threatening rain as the evening grew dark. Parker Sketch had some paintings on display in the gallery inside. I met Terry for dinner at Taste before I started a sketch. I liked the tatter tots but the fish tacos were too hot for my taste. I had to wash them down with plenty of beer. Parker walked some patrons through the gallery and on his way out he saw us and stopped over to say hi.

Some sort of performance was going to happen in the gallery. A petite dancer was getting ready to perform. I found out she was a silks dancer who would be performing her aerial act.  The event was a fundraiser for YAYA, a youth and young adult Network of the National Farm Worker Ministry. It cost $5 to enter, so I opted to go with a free sketch outside, besides, catching a girl spinning and flipping as she is suspended from the ceiling would be a difficult sketch.

Outside, Parker was busy painting a skateboard with a Pabst Blue Ribbon logo. The board was for a show at City Arts Factory. Just about every gallery is filled with skateboards that have been painted by local artists. The show, curated by B-side artist Tr3 Harris is called Boarded up – The Art of Skateboarding. It is an impressive show hanging till July 14th.

Whitney Broadaway had an ingenious idea of letting passers by make their own prints. She had lino cuts already prepared and a young couple stopped to try their hand at print making. The woman rolled out the ink and applied it to the print plate. Only the high ridges would print. A sheet of paper was applied on top of the inked plate and then Whitney set it inside the press. The crank was turned applying massive pressure. The costumer was given the thrill of the big revel. Both Whitney and the costumer signed the print.

Although not much art was sold, it was a great opportunity for artists to mingle and talk art. One artist was talking about how the DADA movement was “the punk rock of art.” He admired Jackson Pollack who finally said, “F*ck this I’m just going to do what I want.” An artist who was dressed like a rough Harley Davidson biker lamented how he was an outsider in high school. Whitney’s table became a social hub for artists who had studied with the same teachers at UCF. A friend walked by and didn’t notice me sketching. I suppose I become a bit invisible when I sketch and I was camouflaged by large potted plants.

Printmaking Workshop

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The Mennello Museum of American Art (900 East Princeton Street) is exhibiting IMPRINTS: 20 Years of Flying Horse Editions through August 12th. Here in Orlando for the past 20 years, the University of Central Florida has nurtured Flying Horse Editions, a collaborative research studio committed to creating significant works of art by leading and emerging artists who fuse traditional and innovative printmaking processes. Artists come to Flying Horse Editions to work in the graphic media of intaglio, woodcut, lithography, letterpress and silkscreen.The results are highly collectible, limited-edition, handcrafted fine art prints and books. There are only a dozen or so fine art presses in the country, and Flying Horse Editions is one of the most distinguished on the East Coast.

Artists from Flying Horse Press have been offering workshops at the Mennello museum. This session was about making monotypes, which is the specialty of UCF “Artists in Action” Michelle Garay and Anna Cruz. Michelle showed us Nathan Redwood’s Like Air, as an example, the print used a lino-cut for the tree trunk, collograph for the ground and a mono-print for the sky. We learned
how to manipulate printer’s ink so that it looks like brushstrokes along with other tricks of the trade that make unique, one-of-a-kind prints.We were introduced to Reductive Mono-printing. Nathan’s a print on display in the Museum.

Students were given two sheets of paper. They cut out simple shapes on one sheet. For instance the woman seated in front of me cut out a leaf shape. The negative shape, or the paper outside the leaf shape, was placed on a sheet of Plexiglas and a brayer was used to roll the ink onto the Plexiglas. When the paper was removed, only the leaf shape was inked. Q tips were used to smear and remove some ink to add texture. The positive leaf shape was then placed over the inked leaf shape and a new color ink was rolled down. When the paper was removed the printing plate was ready. A clean sheet of paper was lightly spritzed with water and placed on top of the printing plate. The plate was rolled under pressure. Then came the reveal, as the paper was pealed off. Mono means there was only one print made. One student went so far as to print a rendition of the human brain. There is an undeniable childish delight when the print is finally seen.

Printmaking is not just for kids! The museum has set up its own print studio. Enjoy coffee and pastries in the morning while you create your own art prints, . No previous experience is necessary. Cost is just $12 per person. Each class will have a different focus.

You have one more opportunity to create art and treat yourself to something new!

Get up bright and early July 17, 9-10:30am, with coffee and pastry.

Printmaking Workshops for Adults

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Work with “Artist in Action” Cara Pentecost, UCF Print Collective, in the Mennello Museum’s Printmaking Studio. A group of industrious UCF students helped Cara with the workshop. Inspiration for the workshop came from the large-scale work by artist Tanja Softic. In A Morning of the World, 2006, Softic pairs images from the natural environment with an image from the man-made environment to provide a study in contrasts. Using “tools” from nature, such as plants, we’ll emulate Softic’s soft, blurry flowers and branches to create personal prints of our own. Later, you might wish to add a photograph of a man-made object to complete your artwork. Enjoy wine and cheese as we enter the world of printmaking. Printmaking is not just for kids!

The exhibition of “IMPRINTS: 20 Years of Flying Horse Editions” was in the entry hall with three dimensional prints housed in glass cubes. Large prints were to the right of the reception desk and then the back gallery was converted into a working print studio. Students started by doing loose watercolors on paper. These watercolors were then used as a background for a collograph print. The collograph print plate was a sheet of corrugated cardboard. Creating the plate was an additive process. Faux plant materials were hot glued to the surface creating an organic floral pattern. Anna demonstrated the inking process. She used a rubber roller to spread the ink out on a plexiglass sheet. The ink took on a velvety look as the roller thinned it down. The ink was then spread onto the plate touching all the high points. When the prints were done, then were hung on two strings with clothes pins.

Wine and cheese was on the reception desk for print-makers and patrons. No previous experience is necessary. I actually think I might go back to experiment with the process myself. Cost is $12 per person. Each class will have a different focus, so join us for all of them if you like!

Other dates and times are as follows:

April 17th, 9pm – 10:30am with coffee and pasty

May 1, 6pm – 7:30pm with wine and cheese

May 15, 9pm – 10:30am with coffee and pastry

June 5, 6pm – 7:30pm with wine and cheese

July 17, 9pm – 10:30am with coffee and pastry

What a great opportunity to create art and treat yourself!

Call the museum to RSVP: 407.246. 4278