Crealde Urban Sketchers in Panera’s

Posted on by Thor

One of the last classes of my Crealde Urban Sketching Class is held inside a Panera Bread on Aloma Avenue in Winter Park just a block from the school campus. The goal is to get the students familiar with sketching in a restaurant.

On a Sunday, Panera Bread has few customers in the early morning but as noon approach people start to arrive many from church. Some retirees are here every weekend it seems. Most people were on their digital devices. Only my students held paper pencils and pens. Since tables are set square to the room, this is often a lesson in one point perspective for my students. My sketch is sett up as a one point perspective with a hint of a second point off to the left off the page.

I move from student to student and kneel down to do thumbnail sketches helping them at any point that has them stumped at the time. My time working on this sketch is therefor limited. An older couple sat right in front of me. After they had eaten, I liked that they were both on their cell phones at the same time facing one another but speaking to others. It is a sign of our times. A digital divide.

When all our sketches were complete, we went outside and lined up all the sketches on a table. It is so rewarding to see the amazing variety of approaches each artist takes. Even though they were all given the same information to start, they each interpreted what I told them in their own way. This is what makes sketching from live so exciting. I am often asked, “do you take a photo and work from that?” NO! There is an energy that you get when working directly from life. It is that energy and excitement that I hope to share with the students. Granted sketching on location isn’t as popular at Crealde as ceramics, but the students how embrace sketching, will have a new way of interacting with the world.

Sign up for the next Crealde Urban Sketching classes which will start up in the spring. The winter class was canceled since no one signed up. Perhaps Florida students fear the cold. It is 56 degrees out there right now. Brrrr!

Winter Park Village

Posted on by Thor

On Easter Morning I sketched at the Winter Park Village. For a short time I lived across the street from Winter Park Village on Gay Road. I rented a condo from a snow bird. While there I re-tiled the whole place which was a monstrous job. I lived there shortly after the Pulse Nightclub shooting. I remember sorting the 49 portraits on the newly tiled floor. I had to make prints for a play produced by David Lee.

I usually go to Winter Park Village to go to the Regal Theater. The Florida Film Festival uses that theater as one of its venues. I am planning to return to the Winter Park Village to get much needed camping supplies for my emergency evacuation gig bag. I realized as I was packing for Hurricane Milton that I don’t have candles for my candle lantern and I need Coleman fuel for my mini camping stoves. I also think I need to get a good backpack which will fit under an airplane seat for my many trips to Film Festivals. I have just been using my art bag, but on the last trip, my sunglasses popped out mid flight. At least that is what I assume happened. The backpack would have the advantage of having zippers to secure such items in storage pockets.

Run for the Trees

Posted on by Thor

I am beginning to be hired to cover some events again. I rolled out of bed at 5:30am to get to this 5K run in Winter Park. Sketching in public in Winter Park is illegal according to a city ordinance, but I managed to pull it off on this sunny morning. I knew event organizers wanted a view of the start of the race, so I didn’t have to think twice about what was the best option for a sketch to document the event. There were an assortment of merchant tents set up to my left but I kept my focus on the starting line.

I sketched the setting and then slowly people filled in behind the line for the start at 7:30am. Some folks stood in front of the starting line for selfies and for a moment I considered sketching the guy who held an American flag for the Star Spangled Banner. I decided he was blocking the forward progression and I replaced him with a woman who was doing some sprints before the starting horn blew.

After the crowd of runners sprinted off, I focused on adding water color for another hour. It was a pleasant morning. The usual suspects, photographers, and videographers had to get a shot of the artist at work. As is fitting, the tree is the star of my sketch. Every runner would get a tree sapling to plant after the run.

 

New Winter Park Bandshell

Posted on by Thor

I met a new Urban Sketching student at Central Park in Winter Park. It turns out that the band shell is getting a facelift. I set up in the center of the field and started sketching. My student found a shady spot off to the side.

In June of 2022 the old 1980s structure was demolished. The original structure had one upgrade due to hurricane damage in 2004. I was sketching the new band shell which looks pretty much like the old band shell. The chain link fence will remain around the construction site through September of 2022.

The new band shell is supposed to “complement the charming architecture of the nearby Winter Park Train Station.” A grand opening event to celebrate the new stage will be scheduled in late September 2022.  The fabric roof has however been replaced by plywood. Compared to the band shell in New York City’s Central Park, this looks like a few two by fours thrown together.

 

Casa Feliz

Posted on by Thor

On May 13, 2021 the CDC had announced that fully vaccinated people can participate in many of the activities that they did before the pandemic.

I still refused to hold Crealde School of Art classes indoors choosing instead to take my students to outdoor sites to sketch. On this weekend we went to Casa Feliz in Winter Park.

My first lesson was to make sure you are always in the shade because the Florida sun can be hellish. Most of my students scattered to shady shops under trees but this student decided to sit on the stone wall around the back patio. Within 15 minuted she was baking in the sun.

No one wore masks outside but I wore my mask any time I approached a student. I approached this student and suggested she back up into the shade since the basic outlines of her sketch were established. Adding color to a sketch needn’t always be done in the exact spot where the sketch was started.

I had to do this sketch super fast since I spent most of my time visiting each student and offering feedback and suggestions. The backs of most of my sketches in this sketchbook have the rough sketches I did for each student to advise them on how to set up compositions.

On July 18, 2021 it was reported, that the latest Covid-19 hospital patients are unvaccinated and increasingly younger. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 1,008 daily coronavirus cases with just one week to go before the start of the Olympics.

Casa Feliz

Posted on by Thor

I took my Urban Sketching students from Crealde School of Art to Casa Feliz in Winter Park to demonstrate using perspective to sketch a building on location. This sketch was done to show which visual clues to look for when trying to decide where a vanishing point would be on the sketch.

Casa Feliz was designed by James Gamble Rogers. The building was constructed in 1933 and has become known as Winter Park’s parlor. Prior to the pandemic, the music series hosted weekend concerts in the ground floor living room behind the blue bay windows in my sketch.

My intrepid students kept their masks on as they sketched, but driving down Park Avenue in Winter Park, very few residents wore masks.

On November 15, 2020 the United States had surpassed 10.8 million cases  and 245,000 deaths, as states continued to break daily records. Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine told CNN coronavirus “fatigue” was a serious problem. Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, said he was “terrified” about the imminent holiday season. “We’re going to see an unprecedented surge of cases following Thanksgiving this year, and if people don’t learn from Thanksgiving, we’re going to see it after Christmas as well,” Phillips said.

Starry Variants

Posted on by Thor

I am seeing signs that the arts in Central Florida are looking to make a come back. I have been invited to mount an exhibition in Winter Park at The University club at the end of next month. April Fools Day, April 1, 2021 is the opening date. Rather then having an in person opening reception, I plan to have a virtual tour of the exhibition online.

Van Gogh Alive, was an exhibition that was mounted at the Dali museum in Tampa during the pandemic. The exhibition features more than 3,000 Van Gogh images at enormous scale, viewed through high-definition projectors and synchronized to a powerful classical score. The exhibit remains pen through April 11, 2021.

Snap Orlando now has an  exhibit called the The Van Gogh Affect. Photographers Lynn Johnson and Patricia Lanza followed Van Gogh’s footsteps through the places he lived, studied, and paid tribute to what they see as his “most enduring muse, the sun.”

As the country races to vaccinate as many Americans as possible against COVID-19, both New York and California are reporting new virus variants that might be more contagious than the original strain. Florida is still leading the country in coronavirus variants, with more than 400 cases have been reported to the CDC, far surpassing any other state.

Pre-Pandemic: Hotto Potto

Posted on by Thor

Hotto Potto (3090 Aloma Ave. Winter Park, FL 407-951-8028) is a Chinese eatery and dim sum spot specializing in hot pots served table side with house made sauces. You get a soup stock base and add any ingredients you want to your soup and then you cook it at your table. On top of that a cart is rolled up to the table offering jars and jars of delicious sauces to add to the dim sum, Pam and I tried everything. Yummm.

Stock Base

per person: choose from:

Meat Stock

$3.50

mild, med or numb Spice

Vegetarian

$3.50

mild, med or numb Spicy

Tom Yum, Miso Soup, or Tofo Tomato Soup

$4.50

Vegetables

Cilanto

$1.50

Scallion

$1.50

Fresh Pepper

$1.50

Lime

$1.50

Green Lettuce

$2.50

Iceberg Lettuce

$2.50

Napa Cabbage

$2.50

Turnip

$2.50

Fuzzy Squash

$2.50

Fried Taro

$2.50

Broccoli

$2.50

Carrot

$2.50

Tomato

$2.50

Potato

$2.50

Sweet Corn

$2.50

Bok Choy

$2.75

Spinach

$2.75

U Choy Sum

$2.90

Chinese Broccoli

$2.90

Watercress

$2.90

Enoki

$2.95

Oyster Mushroom

$2.95

Beech Mushroom

$2.95

Straw Mushroom

$2.95

Shitake

$2.95

King Oyster

$2.95

Snow Peas

$2.95

Bamboo Shoots

$2.95

Water Chestnut

$2.95

Baby Corn

$2.95

Lotus

$2.95

Knotted Seaweed

$2.95

Meat Balls

Chicken Balls

$2.50

Pork Balls

$2.50

Beef Balls

$2.50

Beef Tendon Balls

$2.50

Fish Balls

$2.50

Fried Fish Balls

$2.75

Octopus Balls

$2.90

Shrimp Balls

$2.90

Lobster Balls

$2.90

Vegetarian

Chicken Balls

$2.75

Pork Balls

$2.75

Beef Balls

$2.75

Meat Tofu

$2.75

Mini Sausage

$2.75

Veggie Shrimp

$2.90

Fish Balls

$2.90

Fish Tofu

$2.90

Squid Balls

$2.90

Stewed Lamb

$2.90

Roast Beef

$2.90

Supreme Balls

$3.25

Dumplings

Fish Skin Dumplings

$2.95

XO Dumplings

$2.95

Wonton

$2.95

Chive Dumplings

$2.95

Pork Dumplings

$2.95

Chicken Dumplings

$2.95

Veggie Dumplings

$2.95

House Dumplings

$3.50

Meats

Pork Slices

$2.50

Chicken Slices

$2.50

Pork Liver

$2.50

Pork Stomach

$2.75

Pork Intestine

$2.75

Beef Tripe

$2.75

Beef Stomach

$2.75

Beef Slices

$2.90

Chicken Chunks

$2.90

Duck Feet

$3.50

Homemade Pork Balls

$3.50

Homemade Beef Balls

$3.50

Marble Pork

  • Market Price

Lamb Slices

  • Market Price

Wagyu

  • Market Price

Seafood

Fish Slices

$2.90

Squid Slices

$2.90

Krab Sticks

$2.90

Cuttle Fish Slices

$3.50

Calamari

$3.50

Sweet Shrimp

$3.50

Scallop

$3.50

Homemade Shrimp Balls

$3.90

Jumbo Shrimp

$6.95

Jumbo Scallop

$6.95

Whole Shrimp

$6.99

Sea Cucumber Meat

$12.90

Blue Crab

  • Market Price

Fresh Oyster

  • Market Price

Fresh Clams

  • Market Price

Razor Clams

  • Market Price

Abalone

  • Market Price

Sea Cucumber

  • Market Price

Live Shrimp

  • Market Price

Live Lobster

  • Market Price

Noodles & Such

Egg

$1.00

Steamed Rice

$1.00

Egg Noodles (Sm)

$2.50

Egg Noodles (Flat)

$2.50

Vegetable Noodles

$2.50

Rice Noodles

$2.50

Rice Sticks

$2.50

Rice Vermicelli

$2.50

Wumu

$2.50

Bean Curd Sticks

$2.50

Tofu

$2.50

Udon Noodles

$2.95

Taro Noodles

$2.95

Rice Cake

$2.95

Tofu Puffs

$2.95

Raw Gluten

$2.95

Fried Gluten

$2.95

Now during the pandemic Hotto Potto only offers take out.

41 Annual Christmas in the Park

Posted on by Thor

Pam Schwartz and I met at Winter Park‘s Central Park (150 W Morse Blvd, Winter Park, FL) for the 41st Annual Christmas in the Park hosted by The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art and the City of Winter Park.

At 6:15 p.m. nine century-old Tiffany leaded-glass windows were lit. They were scattered across the lawn with two framing the chorus on stage. When I arrived I voted against muscling my way up to the stage, instead I was fascinated by the lines of people who would needed to shoot cell phone photos of the stained glass. I recognized the docent who was cheerfully talking to people about the history of the stained glass panel.

On the Central Park main stage the 160 voice Bach Festival Society Choir performed. I was seated behind a hedge and a secondary stage so I never actually saw anything that happened on stage. However the constant stream of people pressing close to the stained glass was just as entertaining for me.

Anyone who stopped to read the tombstone label was illuminated a ghostly green from below. This particular Memorial Window created  in 1909 was for a chapel for the Association for the Relief of Respectable Aged, Indigent Females which provided housing and pensions for poor elderly women. The ARRAIF was located at 891 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, N.Y which was founded in 1883 and closed down in 1974.   In 1908, a Mrs. Sage gave the association a gift of $250,000, that was used to  extend the building south to the corner of West 103
Street. The architect for the addition was Charles Rich. The addition
included the installation of Tiffany windows to the Chapel.

Tiffany wanted to return the art of glass making to the glory days of Medieval churches. Each piece of glass has a variety of color, tone and texture that became known as opalescent. The glass has imperfections, streaks, bubbles and folds that become a part of the beauty of the finished piece. The design was symmetrical yet elements within that design stepped outside of the symmetry creating some tension. I love any art that accepts imperfections as part of the process.

The crowd on the lawn came prepared for the occasion. Some had entire picnics with bottled of wine and Christmas lights to decorate the tableau and themselves. One of the songs was of course Jingle Bells and people knew to come to  the concert with their own jingle bells that they jingled and jangled in time to the music.

Shady Park

Posted on by Thor

I went to Shady Park in Winter Park for what was supposed to be a community market. It was overcast and there was no one in the park when I arrived. It started to rain and I took cover under a gazebo and started to draw this dog made of balls. When the rain let up, a little girl climbed up on the sculpture to ride the dog while her mom shot some photos.

This area was recently gentrified converting this formerly black neighborhood into a posh area of restaurants bars and this park. This problem originated 100 years ago with the practice of geographically segregating populations by race. In recent years black residents have been pushed out of their
historic and family homes due to the rising cost of living, increased
property values, and the pressures of opportunist builders. The rich continue to march west displacing families who have lived there for generations.

Shady Park, (721 W New England Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789) is centrally located in historical Hannibal Square next to the
community center. It features park benches and a tranquil sidewalk pathway.
It is perfect for reading a book or hosting a special community event.
It also includes a “spray play” water feature.