ICEBAR

Posted on by Thor

Pam Schwartz and I went to a media taste testing at ICEBAR (8967 International Dr, Orlando, FL 32819). ICEBAR is a below-freezing room with a bar built from ice and an adjacent Fire lounge with dancing for warming up. The girl responsible for putting on the security bracelets had such long glittery nails that she struggled to pop the clasp in place.

They have rolled out a new menu and were curious for some feedback. I ordered a Toasted Coconut Martini which consisted of Ciroc Coconut Vodka, Bailey’s Irish Cream, Frangelico, Dark Creme de Cocoa, with a Chocolate Sugar Rim, which was fabulous. I was offered the option to try other drinks, but kept sucking down the martinis. I  loved rotating the glass with each sip to get the flavor bursts.

Much of the menu items consisted of flat breads. The first had goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes. This menu item was a bit too dry for my taste but had the advantage of making me want to sip my drink more often. My favorite of the flat breads was the Caprese, with roasted roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, garlic puree, and a drizzle of balsamic glaze. The Caprese is even better when re-toasted the next day at home.

Beside us was a news caster and his wife. Pam had a wonderful conversation with them as I worked. All four of us put on Faux fur coats and went into the ICEBAR itself which had an ice throne a central bar and walls of ice. The manager let us know that the ice bar would be getting a complete overhaul in about a month. Drinks were served in ice cups. We didn’t linger too long in there. If I wanted the cold I would move north.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Roses and Rosé At ICEBAR Orlando and Fire Lounge all weekend long February 14-16, 2020. The Love Potion Package for the VIP Section includes 1 bottle of Moet Rosé in the Fire Lounge, 2 ICEBAR Entries, 2 ICEBAR Drinks, 2 Faux Fur Coats, 2 Appetizers and deserts for $250 plus Tax and Gratuity. The Dose of Romance includes 2 glasses of Moet Rosé in the Fire Lounge, 2 ICEBAR entries, 2 ICEBAR drinks, 2 Faux Fur Coats, 2 Appetizers and deserts for $120 plus Tax and Gratuity.

Nude Nite 2019

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Nude Nite Orlando was held at the Central Florida Fairgrounds on February 14-16. Pam Schwartz and I went on Valentines day, the opening night. I wanted to go nice and early to sketch before the place got really crowded. A ticket at the door is $35 and I didn’t have that much cash on hand. We had to get cash from a cash machine in the parking lot. Note that the bar a Nude Nite also only accepts cash. I didn’t get a drink since I was sketching the whole time I was there.

Nude Nite feels so much smaller than past years. It was at the fairgrounds last year as well, but I didn’t sketch because I got the dates wrong. My feeling walking around the event was that the event had grown smaller in scale. I have to say however that artists were just setting up for the night. I quickly decided to sketch Mandi Ilene Schiff as she was body painting. She was set up right in the middle of the warehouse which offered easy sketching access. She was painting a tiger face on they model’s chest. The color she added was a greenish glitter paint.

An art installation by Aubry Roemer consisted of a long roll of white paper on the floor. He painted nude models with blue paint and had them lie on the white paper to create body prints. He then also outlined the prints with large blue brush strokes. He also wore a mask although I am not sure why. A coffin with a plastic skeleton was set up. The premise was that guests could write notes on pages from a book and then put them in the coffin.  The notes would be burned after Nude Nite. I suppose that burning negative thoughts could be a form of therapy.

As we were getting ready to leave, one performer, Sarah Jade, languidly hung from the ceiling with an aerial sling. She did splits and spun. When her routine was finished she gracefully floated down to the floor as if weightless. Performances were just beginning.

My favorite art was simple nude sketches on some form of Mylar. They were on sale for only $150. On the far wall behind Mandi was a huge photo mosaic for about $5000. A woman arched her back as if the Pieta. Another similar mosaic had lots of Bambi fawns. I lost interest since performances didn’t get under way until after 9pm. We decided to go out for dinner to finish off the Valentines evening. We went to Phò Vinh (657 N Primrose Drive Orlando Fl 32803) and I had Bún Càri Gà which is a delicious soup with rice vermicelli with chicken in a coconut curry broth. It was sooooo good, the highlight of the evening.

Parkland, Florida Memorial

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I spent the morning sketching jury selection for the Noor Salman Trial here in Orlando and then Pam Schwartz and myself drove south to Parkland, Florida where 17 students and faulty had been killed on Valentines Day in a mass shooting. Now, one month later memorial  items had to be cleared because an event was planned for this main stage in Pine Trails Park. The first impression of the town was that it is highly manicured giving the impression of suburban affluence. Seeing the memorial of course immediately reminded me of Pulse. 17 angels stood on stage with golden wings. I read the names of those killed on poster boards for the first time. In the field behind me there were 17 event tents protecting the 17 crosses. Some crosses had been switched out for stars of David.

It was a very windy day. Several tents had been blown over and more would do so as the storm progressed. Loose paper items from the memorial were blowing around, only stopping when they got wedged up against a fence. I heard that someone from a home in the neighborhood brought back items that had blown into her yard. Pam inspected the memorial and then began to return items and anchor them down.

Two high school students were looking at the memorial as I sketched. The girl collapsed to her knees. The boy put his hand on her shoulder waiting for her to regain her composure. It had only been about one month since the shooting. Then he approached me. I braced myself, he might consider my sketching to be disrespectful. Most people don’t understand why I do what I do. What he said took me off guard. He said, “I appreciate that you are sketching. We need to remember. People view sketches differently than they view photos. Thank you.” Considering that he must have been in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on the day of the shooting, this was an incredibly enlightened view. I got choked up, but cleared my eyes so I could finish the sketch.

Jeff Schwartz who heads up the Parkland Historical Society had invited Pam and I to stay at his home for the night.  Later that evening we would be meeting at City Hall so Pam could share her experiences and offer advice on how to collect and preserve the items from the memorials in Parkland.

Art Opening at Maxine’s on Shine.

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Right before Valentine’s Day I went to Maxine’s on Shine (337 Shine Ave, Orlando, FL 32803) for an art opening. The art for the evening was all predictably heart shaped. All of the canvases had a heart or several hearts as the center of interest for the composition. This local eatery has always supported local artists. I had a solo show there several years ago and it was a great experience. All of the nails used to hang the art are in place so hanging a show can take less than an hour. There is no careful measuring or aligning works along a line.  The artist was Ronda Richley. She paints with a heartfelt passion. Pieces are priced up to $12,000.

Artists were gathered around a table top showing their support for the art on the walls. The wine flowed and conversations flourished. Other heart art was by RV (Robin Van Arsdol), a local urban artist who had a book which featured his wor, along with renowned artists like Keith Haring. I flipped through the book, excited to see the graffiti art work from the booming 1980s.

DRIP Presents The Blind Date Experience.

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Last year I painted nude couples portraits on Valentines Day. This year I went to DRIP (8747 International Dr Suite 102, Behind Denny’s and Senor Frogs, Orlando, Florida 32819) to sketch couples embracing during The Blind Date Experience. It was a challenge to convince couples to hug for ten minutes at a time. The black lighting in the venue added another challenge, since I couldn’t judge values or color. It was a grand experiment and I plan to try again despite the challenges. I’m thinking of working digitally next time working with filters to push towards a fast finish that I can paint and manipulate. It is worth experimenting.

Featuring interactive stations, gorgeous performers, full DRIP show with dancers performing in paint, flying water, colored sand, live rock band, and a Miracle Berry after party experimental taste testing, dancing, and 10 foot paint shower!

INTERACTIVE STATIONS

BLUE STATION: A new twist on Paint and Take. Be your own artist and show off what you got.

RED STATION: Come in blindfolded and relax as you experience the touch of your partner. Can it get spicy? Maybe….

YELLOW STATION: Know what you want to say, but cannot come up with the words? We make it easy

KISSING BOOTH: Snap all the selfies and group shots that you want in the photo booth area that is filled with X’s and O’s

CREATE YOUR OWN VALENTINE: Use upcycled materials to craft your own special valentine for your sweetheart.

T-SHIRT PULL: Feeling lucky? Take your chance at the T-shirt pull wall. Pick a crop top and see if you win the grand prize!! (Additional fee per pull)

FULL THEATRICAL SHOW

The show features a sordid love story with dancers performing in paint, flying water, and sand to a LIVE rock band. It’s a standing room experience. DRIP’s live rock band played.

THE COLOR BAR

Enjoy drinks by the color! DRIP’s Color Bar has Red, Blue, Orange and Yellow beer, cocktails, shots, wine and non alcoholic beverages for sale. This Valentine’s Day, a special flight of shots will be added that will not be as they appear to the eye.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

All Tickets Include:

-A Blind Date Blindfold to use at the event and take home.

-Special Edition DRIP Blind Date Experience T-Shirt for you to get colorful that night!

-Paint Station to paint yourselves and your sweetheart

-Kissing Booth

-3 interactive stations with souvenirs to take home

-Make your own upcycled Valentine station

-Full DRIP show with dancers and live band

-After party featuring the Miracle Berry

-Dancing

-Interactive Paint Shower

All Inclusive Tickets also include:

-Custom t-shirt cutting (have your special edition Blind Date shirt turned into a tank top, dress, corset, etc.)

-DRIPdanna Headwrap for you to wear and paint

-All you can drink until 11 PM (2.5-3 hours)

-Free pull at the T-Shirt Wall to win a prize

THE BLIND DATE TICKET PRICES

*Limited to 40 couples per show

General Admission Tickets:

Feb. 10: $39

Feb 11-25: $49

All Inclusive Tickets:

Feb. 10: $79

Feb 11-25: $89

More Info and Tickets.

The Mennello Museum Indie-Folkfest.

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The final assignment for the Valentines Day Sketch Tour was for all the artists to explore and sketch the very crowded Mennello Museum Indie-Folk Festival. This was a chance for me to finally get out my own sketchbook. I immediately sat in front of the outdoor stage l sketch The Brown Bag Brass Band. I had just danced the night away several nights before, listening this band at a Mardi Gras celebration at Dexter’s in Winter Park with a friend. We danced to the point of exhilarated exhaustion. That same energy was very much alive at this outdoor performance. Dancing however seemed reserved for the kids.

Indie-Folkfest puts a twist on the Mennello Museum’s traditional Orlando Folk Festival turning it into a Valentine’s Day-themed family folk picnic that features local music, art and food. The museum partnered with East End Market for food, Joseph Martens for the music lineup, as well as local bars to throw a fun-filled picnic in the beautiful Sculpture Garden of The Mennello Museum of American Art. Approximately 3,000 guests, including plenty of dogs and kids, spread out picnic blankets, made Valentine cards and enjoyed a daylong lineup of music against the backdrop of Lake Formosa in the winter sunshine.It was the second annual day dedicated to Music + Art + Picnic + Love.

All the artists gathered back at our lakeside classroom to share our sketches and experiences. Sketching on location always opens the possibilities of meeting someone new or learning something new. It is a way exciting to go out in to the world and do what you love and share it with others. This is the message I keep trying to convey to a new generation of artists. We all posed for a group photo before class was adjourned.

Valentines Day Sketch Tour notes.

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These are thumbnail studies made at the Valentines Day Sketch Tour. Kelly Medford from Rome was offering advice on making simple value studies. I used a blunt black colored pencil to quickly fog in some grey valves and line work. Although the exercise wasn’t about color, I couldn’t resist adding a few watercolor washes. The color swatches were added to show the colors available with the palette we gave each student. First a thick swatch us added with plenty of pigment. Then the color was thinned with to of water to show how light values cool be achieved. Our lakeside classroom felt a be in like a Colosseum with the gentle arch of the shoreline.

After all the mornings sketches, we all took a lunch break an found food from vendors in the Mennello Museum’s Folk Festival. After lunch it was my turn to inspire artists to try and populate their sketches. I posed and the had several students pose to give everyone an idea of how to quickly block in a figure. Then I explained one and 2 point perspective and had student create a for grid plane. They then took the figure studies the Did and added them to the grid plane. Large figures were is the foreground and small figures were is the background. Then we all explored the crowded Folk Festival, with the objective to incorporate as mane figures in one sketch as was possible. We agreed to return to our quiet lakeside classroom to share the results.

Valentines Day Sketch Tour.

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On Valentines Day, Kelly Medford, a plein air painter from Rome came to Orlando and co-hosted a Valentines Day Sketch Tour at the Mennello Museum Museum of American Art. The Mennello Museum was having it’s annual Folk Festival. All the artist met by the lake close to the foot bridge.

We gave each artist a Strathmore Sketchbook, a travel sized watercolor palette, a pencil, pen and water brush. Kelly began the morning by introducing the supplies and getting everyone started doing Blind contour drawings. From there we started doing simple thumbnail studies. It was nice to sit back and be a student again.  I did these two sketches using just watercolor washes followed by minimal line. I usually finish the whole drawing in line be for I start adding watercolor, so this was a liberating departure. of course with more time, I could refine and ad detail, but I like the freshness of splashing watercolor first. My challenge now is finding ways to mix larger puddles of color to cover more of the sketch at once. I’m considering just using a bowl as a palette.

We had a good crowd of artists show up for the day. It is wonderful to see everyone unique approaches. The Folk Festive was just setting up as we were doing these sketches. You can see the first tents popping up just on the on the other side of the wrought iron fence. All of these loose instructional sketches were shared with everyone in the workshop online. I will not post them all on this site. There are far to many events and news to report on.

Golden Body Painting at Nude Nite.

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If you missed Nude Nite here in Orlando this Valentines Day, keep in mind that it will also be happening on March 3-5 in Tampa Florida. The sketch opportunities are clearly limitless. On my second night going to the venue, I decided to focus on Base Orlando body painters. I know Lori Babson Jessup, the body painter in the foreground from sketching dancers in town. Spiraling filigree were painted in Lori’s cleavage making it hard not to look there. Base Orlando is a group of Body painters who gather regularly and paint their models with a given theme. A recent Base Orlando event had a steampunk theme. It was clear the steampunk inspired Lori’s body painting on this Nude Nite. The model had golden chain mail on her shoulders and breasts and gears interconnected on her  legs.

Lori had an assistant to help with the work. Photographers would move in for their shots and the disperse like waves crashing against the shore. Some couples were concerned about the paint, perhaps because of the scene in Goldfinger in which a gorgeous woman died because she was painted head to toe in gold paint. Lori would reassure people that the paint water based theater paint that. completely non-toxic. Lori would at times stand on the platform with the model and other times she stood below on the floor. One time she was on the platform and so focused on her painting, that g almost tumbled off the platform. She laughed and then curtsied to the assembled crowd. “Thanks folks, I’ll be here all night.” As if the slip was all part of the act.

With my sketch done, to was tempted to try another, but I was exhausted. t had been teaching an Urban sketching Workshop all day with Kelly Medford at the Mennello Museum. We had 14 students and it was such a gorgeous day. Nudc Nite was the icing on the cake of a perfect day.

Do Good Date Night at Quantum Leap Winery

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Happy Valentines Day. 

Kristen Walmsley-Manieri, founder of Orlando Date Night Guide, has organized a wonderful series of “Do Good Date Nights“.  This sold out evening, right before Valentines Day had couples putting together sanitation. kits for Clean the World. The event was held at Quantum Leap Winery (1312 Wilfred Drive Orland FL).  A core value of Quantum Leap’s business
plan is to find an environmentally friendly solution for transporting
wine to markets and ultimately the consumer. They have reinvented the wine-to-market delivery process. They search for good quality, sustainable grown wine, wherever they are around the world but transport it in large vessels to the Orlando winery.
It is in this facility where wine is stored, finished, blended and
packaged. This process substantially reduces the
carbon footprint associated with traditional wine production.

Clean the World gathers soap, shampoo and other disguarded items from thousands of hotels world wide and recycles them to create clean hygiene kits for third world countries. Most hotel guests stay for just one night and all those bars of soap used to go to landfills. Now that soap saves lives. They recycle soap and create hope. Nearly one in 5 child deaths in third world countries is due to diarrhea, about 1.5 million lives lost every year. Diarrheal diseases also contribute to malnutrition, stunted growth, burden in healthcare costs and time lost at school or work. Research studies have demonstrated that the risk of diarrhea can be reduced 44-47% through hand washing interventions. Promotion of hand washing with soap has been shown to reduce the risk of acute respiratory infection in children below the age of 5 by half. Handwashing promotion campaigns are increasingly being implemented as part of an effort to improve child survival.

The couples gathered at long tables topped with hygiene products. The person standing at the wine barrels started the production line by grabbing a plastic bag and putting a bar of soap in. The bag was then passed down the line where other items were put in the bags. The stakes were heightened when it was announced that this was a race, with prizes. Laughter and competitive joking ensued as everyone raced to do good. The first full box of packaged goods brought a cheer from the leading team. Other teams rushed to catch up, while the foreground team seemed more concerned with pristine and neat kits. Full boxes were stacked on a skit beside me and before you knew it, that skit was full.

After the Clean the World packaging was complete, everyone was given a tour of the winery. I listened in as I continued to splash watercolors on the page. Several couples admired my sketch. One woman thought she was pictured in the sketch, although it wasn’t her, I placed black striped on her shirt in the sketch to match what she was wearing as she spoke to me. That delighted her and she called her husband over. One of the Clean the World marketing people came over and he said to me, “How does it feel to make people happy everyday.” I don’t actually think many people notice what I do daily, but his comment certainly warmed my heart.

After the tour, couples went in the front of the winery where tables were set up to create a perfect blend of wine. The winery’s best wine is named after a co-owners rescue dog named Kaley. This perfect blend of wines was developed over many months. The couples were given samples of the wines that were used to create this magical blend. The table that came closest to matching the blends taste would get a prize. There was another prize for the table that created their own delicious and unique blend. One person had to be the mixer and measurer and the most important member of the team had to be good at math to calculate the percentages used. Crackers and cheese were also on each table to cleans the palette. The excitement in the room bubbled up even as the rules were explained. The expert wine tasters would remix the blends based on the percentages couples gave them. The race was on to discover the perfect blend of tastes. Taste and smell are my weaker senses. On top of that I’m not exactly a math wiz. I left as the room buzzed with excitement. I know I’ll be back however to get a bottle of that magic blend.