ODD2 was held at the Thirsty Topher on Alden Road in the artsy warehouse district which is part of Ivanhoe Village. This bar along with the Fringe Festival offices next door and many other art studios will be facing the wrecking ball this fall. In there place, a high rise condominium will be constructed.
All told, about 8 artists stopped out to drink and draw. When I arrived, Gay Geiger was already at work sketching the beer she had selected. She had just changed jobs and sketching seemed a good way to celebrate. I ordered a Southern Tier beer which was dark and had a citrus aftertaste. Carlos Basabe, an artist I hadn’t met before, joined me at the bar.
Artists sketched each other, shared their work and sketched the bar scene.
I introduced myself to each artist as they arrived, but I didn’t have any agenda for the evening other than drinking and drawing. The bartender, Sam knew of me from a past sketch I had done. She introduced me to Viking Blod which is a meed made from honey and it is delicious and strong. That became my drink of choice for the night. lt is made with honey and the honey combs which are buried underground for at least a year to ferment. Meed is apparently one of the oldest liquors in the world. lt really tastes like life blood, and it packs a punch.
After quite a few drinks, several artist recruited an unsuspecting patron to join in and do a sketch. He drew a character called a Cactopus. It rules the land and sea. On land it is a water conserving Cacti and at sea it is an octopus. It’s side kick was an angry looking spider-fly and they were joined by a tumble bunny. Carlos began sketching the characters as we all joked about the characters. After a few Viking’s Blod and a Southern Tier, it seemed like a glorious idea.
The next Orlando Drink and Draw will be September 7th at Redlight Redlight (2810 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL) from 6pm to whenever. Carlos gave me some ideas for some artistic socializing and I’ll arrange to try one of these ideas at the next ODD.