Winter Park “Sunset Paint In”

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The public was invited to come by as Winter Park Paint Out Artists gathered on the shore of Lake Maitland, hosted by the Winter Park Racquet Club (2111 Vía Tuscany Winter Park, FL 32789.) There the artists captured a beautiful Florida sunset from the west-facing shores Lake Maitland. Guests settled in with friends and family as dusk drew near and they watched the magic unfold across  canvasses. This was the perfect opportunity for members and non-members of the club to invite guests and check out this one-of-a-kind event. Artists painted along the shoreline as well as throughout the lush and festive grounds. Guests could grab a drink and share the vista and watch as these outstanding artists created a vivid sunset memory on canvas. Artwork was available for sale the night of the event and you can also see the evenings completed artwork in the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens (633 Osceola Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789) “wet room” gallery through April 28, 2018.

I set up in the shade of a bush to sketch the artists working in the shade in front of the mansion that is next to the Racquet club. It turns out I was right next to the admissions tent which is where everyone picked up their cup and a comment card to see which wines were the best. Since I was right at the entrance, quite a few people stopped to look over my shoulder. The multiple conversations were as enlightening and fun as getting the sketch done. I met a water colorist who knew of my work from Instagram. I also ran into Cher Cloude Topps, a former student who was experiencing the paint out for the first time.  Robert Willson asked me quite a few questions about the fountain pen I was using. It turns out he hand makes fountain pens and we spoke about having me take one of his pens for a “test drive” and giving him feedback on how the pen works for creating art.

The artist in the red shirt was Don Sontag from Winter Park. He was working on a painting of the admissions tents with the sunset behind them. The other artist I believe was Scott Heistand from Ormond Beach. Unfortunately he left before I got a chance to see his finished painting. By the time this sketch was done, the sun was about to set. I was given a sandwich and some chips, so I stood closer to the water to watch the final moments as the sun hit the horizon. The temperature immediately dropped, so I decided it was time to turn in my wine voucher. The red wine warmed me up a bit as I joked with a few of the artists before I left.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for March 17th and 18th 2018.

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Saturday March 17, 2018

10 AM to 1 PM – Free. Sketchbook Project at the Park. Winter Park Station, Amtrak/Sun Rail Station, 148 W Morse Blvd, Winter Park, FL 32789. With #Connection being the theme of the Orlando Urban Sketchers #SketchbookProject, they will take it to the Winter Park 59th Sidewalk Art festival – http://www.wpsaf.org/ where they’ll document in sketches the connection between people, art, and the festival spirit on location, from observation! If you wish to be part of this project or just wish to sketch on location please join them at 10:00am. Sketching into the project sketchbook pages is not mandatory.

Will meet at the Sunrail train station at 10:00 am. After the
traditional meet and greet, they’ll disperse to points of interest
around the park as a group or as individuals to begin sketching. Will meet back near the Sunrail station at 1:00 pm for the Sketchbooks Throw down ceremony. To those who wish to participate in the project on location:

How this will work: The sketchbook we’ve received from the project
organizers will be disassembled and reassembled. Each participating
sketcher will receive one page- 7 x 10inch- with potential of 4
sketching pages (front and back folded in half).

You can pick up a
page from Margaret Gibson on location at the event or use your own
paper, keep within the dimensions of 7 x 10 inch and keep in mind the
paper will be folded in half.

If you cannot attend our sketch
outing on Mar. 17th and still are interested in contributing your sketch
to the project please contact Margaret Gibson for additional details,
and as indicated here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/USkOrlando/permalink/755567521299156/

Submitting our collaborated sketching work to the worldwide collection at the #BrooklynArtLibrary
will greatly define us urban sketchers artists and the global art
movement we represent and are part of! We are proud to take part in
this project!

www.sketchbookproject.com

What to bring:

Your own sketching/drawing/painting supply

Your sketchbook or painting paper to sketch more

Sitting stool

Hat and drinking water

A friend or family member and anyone who likes to sketch

All skills are welcome!

11 AM to 11 PM –  Free. 3rd Annual Crooked Can Celtic Festival. Crooked Can Brewing Company 426 W Plant St, Winter Garden, Florida 34787. The biggest party of the year is coming back to the Crooked Can Brewing Company for its THIRD YEAR! Join them for Three Days of Live Celtic Music, Irish Dancers, Local Vendors, Delicious Eats and so much more. Oh, let’s not forget about the Crooked Can Brews!!

4 PM to 8 PM -Free. Cruisin’ Downtown DeLand Car Show! East Indiana Ave Downtown DeLand, Deland FL.  Classic cars and rods. Live DJ, giveaways, shopping and dining. Fun for the family! Every 3rd Saturday night!

Sunday March 18, 2018

 9 AM to 5 PM – Free. Friday Saturday and Sunday The 59th Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. Central Park in Winter Park. The
Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival is one of the nation’s oldest,
largest and most prestigious outdoor art festivals. Over 1,100 artists from around the
world applied for this year’s Festival. An independent panel of three
judges selected the 225 artists exhibiting their works. The Festival
consistently ranks as one of the top juried fine-art festivals in the
country. Recent accolades include the #4 ranking in Art Fair Calendar’s
“2016 Best Art Fairs” and Art Fair Source Book’s listing in their “Top
10 Fine Art Shows, 2016”. The Festival is also listed in Sunshine Artist
Magazine’s “Top 100”. 

The Festival features a wide variety of fine arts and crafts
in the following categories: clay, digital art, drawings and pastels,
fiber, glass, graphics & printmaking, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed
media 2D, mixed media 3D, painting, photography, sculpture, watercolor
and wood as well as our Emerging Artists. Artists complete for 63 awards totaling $72,500. 

Girls and boys can create their own artwork at the Children’s
Workshop Village. Easel painting is very popular, and local art centers
and museums feature a variety of fun, hands-on art activities for
children. Admission is free and participants may take home their
artistic creations. The Children’s Workshop Village hours are 10 a.m. – 4
p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Easel painting is from 10 a.m. – 3
p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

1PM to 8 PM – Free. Will’s A Faire Spring Market. Will’s Pub 1042 N Mills Ave, Orlando, Florida 32803. Will’s A Faire, the one day retro, vintage, local and handmade market is back at Will’s Pub on March 18th for Spring 2018. Will’s A Faire is the Biggest Outdoor/Indoor vendor market in Orlando, with 50 to 75 Vendors, Live Music a la Southern Fried Sunday, Craft Cocktails, Craft Sodas and Craft Brews from Will’s Pub and lil indies, Food Trucks andFree Fun for the Entire Family! Bands, Food Trucks and Specific Vendors: TBA! The Market runs from 1pm until 8:30pm.

3 PM to 5 PM – Free. Lutheran Cantata Choir and Chamber Ensemble. Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church (2021 West SR 426 Oviedo FL. Lutheran Cantata Choir and Chamber Ensemble. A Voice from Heaven – Claire Hodge, Director. Reception for the audience after the concert.

Cypress Tree.

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On rare occasions, I take time off from sketching events to seek out natural forms that are pleasing to my eye. This Cypress tree sweeps upward from the shore of Lake Virginia in Winter Park. Some of the branches are not round but instead shaped like streamlines surf boards. One of my Sketch Tours students, Louis Degni, recognized me and stopped to say hello.He had a painters easel under his arm and was off to sketch some scene lakeside as well.

The challenge in this sketch was to capture all the subtle warm greys and cool grays in the bark of the tree. Other than light pencil, I let go of any line work.

Out on the dock just beyond the tree I was painting was a musician just performing with no need for an audience. With my sketch done, I waded out into the water and enjoyed the unexpected concert. As often happens, I couldn’t stop from swaying to the beat. it was cloudy while I was painting the tree, but as the sun set to my right, the lake captured the orange golden glow and fractured it. Blue grey Spanish moss swayed in the breeze. Some bald cypress trees can grow to be up to one thousand years old. That makes my hot flash of a life seem rather short in comparison. That means I need to kick off my shoes more often and slow down to enjoy the natural beauty that is often ignored. I understand the attraction to working plein air, just finding natural beauty with no concern for mad rush of humanity, but I still find myself always drawn to crowds.

History in a glass.

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The first History in a Glass took place on June 22 at the Orange County Regional History Center, 65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801. History in a Glass pairs fun and fascinating historical collection
artifacts with delicious hand-crafted cocktails. Three bar districts –
Downtown, Mills/50 District, and Winter Park – battle for the championship to see
who can win people’s choice in designing the
best custom cocktail based on a story from the history of Central
Florida. Three ace mixologists from each district will go head to head
with their colleagues, the winner advancing to the series finale in
December.

In the first competition mixologists from three popular downtown Orlando establishments – Hanson’s Shoe Repair, The Woods, and The Courtesy Bar – received a brief biography of Billy Bluebeard, Orlando’s first swan to create their drink from. Billy was brought to Orlando in 1910 by Charles Lord and placed at Lake Lucerne with his mate Sally. They were a rather romantic pair and Billy took quite an interest in their domestic affairs. Sally would sit on their eggs, but each day Billy would come by to relieve her so that she might swim about the Lake and stretch her legs.  One day, Billy was running a bit behind and Sally decided to take off before his arrival.  Their eggs grew cold, Lord knowing they would be dead, removed them from the nest. Upon finding an empty nest, Billy was furious. He swam out to Sally in the middle of the lake, grabbed her by the throat, and held her head under until she died.

Billy was given a new mate, Mary, who was quite a bit younger than he. Billy grew ill and was taken to a veterinarian. Once he was better, he returned home to find Mary with another swan! Unfortunately Billy wasn’t quite the fighting swan he once was, and the new, younger Charlie wasn’t having any of Billy’s attitude. Lord made the decision to remove Billy to another lake where he eventually passed away.  Some say it was old age, others say Billy died of a homesick broken heart.

In 1933, the proprietor of W.H. Swan Company had Billy stuffed and placed in the foyer of his department store where he stood until becoming one of the very first donations to the History Center.

Mark your calendar! The next History in a Glass, “Hog Wild” Edition is Thursday, August 24 at 6 PM – 9 PM. Not far from the present-day History Center’s
door, razorbacks once rubbed their backs on the steps of Orange County’s
wooden courthouse in the 1870s,
when Florida was a wild frontier. Florida still has an estimated one
million feral pigs on the loose. Just recently in the news, wild hogs
are still running amok in Brevard County! Come cheer on your favorite bartender from the Mills 50 District in a competition to create the best history-inspired beverage. The winner will advance to the series finale in December.

Admission tickets include great music with a DJ, three hand-crafted cocktails, and tasty cuisine
from a local restaurant. Member tickets are $20, general admission $25. This event is for guests 21 and older. For details, call 407-836-7035. Doors open at 6 p.m., cocktail competition and drink service start at 6:30.

The Central Florida Fingerstyle Guitar Circle

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I used to live in Winter Park. The city used to mail out a community bulletin along with the water bill. In that bulletin I found the Winter Park Guitar Circle which meets at the Winter Park Public Library, (460 E New England Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789). I arrived pretty early to a room with a circle of chairs. Gradually, musicians arrived, and I placed them in the sketch as they sat down. The seats directly in front of me eventually did fill up, but I left the seats empty for the sake of opening up the staging.

Each guitarist in turn would perform and if the mood was right others would join in. One performer had a harmonica while another had a small head microphone since he felt his voice didn’t carry. Others joked that he might electrocute himself as he got ready to perform. The folk songs and music was relaxing and heart felt. It was a great free concert. There were varying levels of talent and experience but anyone who came and performed found a supportive and safe place to play. Similar song circles sprout up all around Central Florida and they are always a great sketch opportunity.

The Central Florida Fingerstyle Guitar Group meets on the third Wednesday
of each month at 6:00 P.M. til 8:30 P.M. in the community room of the
Winter Park Public Library. It is open to the public and free. Any
person interested in acoustic fingerstyle guitar is welcome and please
do come if you wish to listen and bring any friends with you. This is
always recommended to all levels of players because you will be exposed
to many styles and levels of skills. Bring your guitar if you wish.
The circle is very casual. We sit in a circle and share one at a time.

49 Globes.

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The City of Winter Park responded to the Pulse nightclub shooting but hanging 49 globes in Central Park around the Albin Polasek, “Emily Fountain.” These illuminated globes usually are hunk up and down Park Avenue during the Christmas holidays. This mini memorial garnered plenty of attention. During the course of doing this sketch people kept dropping at the fountain to take cell phone photos. Every color of the rainbow was used. It was a small visual hint of hope in the face of tragedy. Despite the cities over controlling and unconstitutional ordinances that limit free speech, they do know how to honor and cherish the memory of lives lost.

When walking home from a quick sketch competition in Central Park, I saw a chalk outline of a human body on the sidewalk. On October 15, 2016  Roger Thomé Trindade a Brazilian transfer student at a Winter Park school was beaten to death by 3 youths. One of the three bragged about delivering the fatal knockout punch.  Two of the youths, Simon Hall, 15, and Jesse Sutherland, 15, were released on bail in February 2017 pending the trial. They were under house arrest. Authorities say Simon Hall threw the first punch and spit on Roger when he was down. The State attorney did report that Jaggar Guorda, 14, one of the three youths accused in the homicide, will receive his sentence on June 12, 2017. Gourda is accused of initiating the sequence of events that lead to the attack by spraying teens with spunk spray. He is also accused of threatening a middle school girl, saying if she mentioned the fight, she would pay. As of April 6th, 2017 there still was no sentencing in the trial of the three youths.

Pop Up Art Sale in Winter Park

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Winter Park has adopted an ordinance that makes it illegal to create art on the merchant side of Park Avenue. If you were found creating or performing on Park Avenue, an artist could face a $500 fine and or 30 days in jail. Winter Park’s Central Park, however, is considered exempt from the ordinance. It allows freedom of expression. Every day a religious group has brochures on display in the park, presumably to convert passengers getting off the Sun Rail. I decided to test the ordinance by setting up a small art pop up shop on the Central Park lawn. I used a red sheet as the base for the shop, and put out a few square and circular canvases and matted prints of Analog Artist Digital World sketches. I didn’t put out any price tags, so that sales were considered a donation. One sketchbook was put out for anyone to flip through, but no one touched it.



Several artists joined me and sketched while sitting on brick planters. The art was officially in the park, since it was on the grass. The artists, myself included, however, were on the sidewalk and thus might be breaking the law by sketching. I never noticed a police officer that day. It was a perfect day for an art sale. I only sold one drawing that day, which was a figure drawing.



An old man and his caretaker sat on the park bench next to the art pop up shop. The old man smiled at all the young ladies who passed by and he asked how they were. He was good for business, he slowed people down, who then looked at the art. Late in the day, I decided to test the ordinance a bit further. I put several dollar bills in my baseball cap and layed it on the carpet. Within minutes, a golf cart pulled up and a park sanitation worker got out. He frowned at the hat with several bills in it and said I wasn’t allowed to exhibit art in the park. I politely explained that it wasn’t his job to make that call. He decided to let the situation slide, and he drove off in the cart to collect more garbage. He didn’t point out that sketching was illegal, his sole concern was the hat with money in it. I put the hat back on my head to avoid escalating the situation. I was sure the sanitation worker would think twice, and come back. He never did.

I will keep testing this ordinance that limits freedom of expression. On April 4th, I am hosting ODD 22 the Illegal Edition. ODD stands for Orlando Drink and Draw. This sketch outing, will be at The Wine Room on Park Avenue (270 S Park Ave, Winter Park, Florida 32789). We hope to sit at an outdoor table at the Wine Room and quietly sketch while sipping wine. This will be civilized civil disobedience.

Artists
are lumped in with performers which means to engage in any of the
following activities: acting; singing; playing musical instruments;
puppetry; pantomiming, miming; performing
or demonstrating magic or acts of illusion; dancing; juggling; or the
public display of and composition or creation of crafts, sculpture,
artistry, writings, or compositions, including the application of brush,
pastel, crayon, pencil, or other similar objects applied to paper,
cardboard, canvas, cloth or to other similar medium. 

Prohibited
public area means the pedestrian accessed public areas of the Central
Business and Hannibal Square Districts along Park Avenue from Fairbanks
Avenue to Swoope Avenue, and along New England Avenue from Park Avenue
to Pennsylvania Avenue including the area within fifty (50) feet of the
public right-of-way of Park Avenue and New England Avenue on the public
lanes, streets, thoroughfares and ways, including the Winter Park train
station and the public property at what is known as the Winter Park
Farmer’s Market and the Winter Park Historical Association located at
200 West New England Avenue.

So, if you find this anti-art ordinance to be ridiculous, stop out with a sketchbook and pencil, and let’s break the law. If anyone wants a digital “Winter Park Illegal Art” logo for their sketch, just let me know.

Apartment hunting.

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It has been 10 months since I have been separated from my wife. The sketchbooks were the first thing to leave the house. The first apartment I looked at was one block from Sam Flax. The place had new tile and looked nice. It was only an 800 foot studio space however. With all my art, the place would be cramped. The day I looked at the place I sat on the front porch an waited for the realtor. The tiles on the front porch were being bashed up by a workman.

I was amazed that I was accepted almost immediately. I was also amazed when friend in Winter Park who is a snow bird, offered me a sublet when she moved back up north. I sweetened the deal by offering to replace all the living room carpet, and the tile kitchen and dining area with new Mediterranean tile. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Knocking up old tile using a chisel and hammer was way more work than I imagined. I spent six months living in a construction zone. All that blood sweat and tears saved me $200 a month on rent.

The lease was for 8 months, but the friend decided to return two months early. I explained all the work that remained to be done and the response was, “Just get it the fuck done!” So I rushed the job, completing the floor before the new deadline. There was plenty of touch up and cleaning up that needed to be done but I got it the fuck done. The floor looked amazing. Long story short, for reasons I don’t understand, unrelated to the job, I was told to leave and sighed a lease termination document. I considered that document a friendship termination document. Not my circus, not my monkeys. Within two days I had moved to a gorgeous Thornton Park apartment for a short term stay while I looked for a new place. Several friends offered me roommate situations. My Orlando friends helped me land back on my feet.

10th Annual Russell Athletic Bowl Parade of Bands.

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The City of Winter Park proudly hosted the 10th Annual Russell Athletic Bowl Parade of Bands, featuring West Virginia University and University of Miami. The parade was a prelude to the Russell Athletic Bowl game at 5:30 p.m. at the Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium that evening. School bands, cheerleaders and mascots marched through downtown Winter Park and performed a “Bandtastic Game Day Preview.” The parade started at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Park and Lyman avenues. School bands marched north along Park Avenue through downtown Winter Park. After turning west on Garfield Avenue, they proceeded to Central Park where they performed on the lawn in front of the band shell for all fans to enjoy.

I arrived a little early, and found a peaceful shady spot in the shade. Being in the park, I was safe from the Winter Park law that bans creating art on Park Avenue and Herald Square. The park is exempt from the Winter Park law which threatens 30 days in jail and a $500 fine for creating art in public. Excited children played near the fountain. People were seated curbside in lawn chairs waiting for the parade to start. By the time I had sketched the fountain, the bands could the heard in the distance. Bright yellow uniforms filled the street they marched by. Once both bands had marched by, everyone started walking towards the Central Park Band Shell. I walked over as well, but decided there wasn’t enough film for a second sketch. The event reminded me of my youth when we watched high school bands marching in my small home town. I remember covering my ears when drums marched by. The loud drumming vibrated my tiny frame. In all the Winter Park event had all the restrained charm of middle American ideals.

Mimi’s Christmas Birthday Party.

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Mimi Hwang lives on beautiful Lake Sylvan in Winter Park. Finding her house number was a challenge but there was plenty of side street parking once I got off the main road. Her back yard sloped right down to the lake’s edge. The night tin view off the lake we gorgeous with all the home lights adding a romantic glow. It was a chilly night and no one else used the rented tables and chairs she had set up on the hill. I poured a Proseco and started the sketch. The table was pitched an angle, so the wine glass kept inching down the table towards my lap. I found it could be stabilized by wedging a pine branch under the leading edge.

The back porch of her home had a DJ and a fire pit. It was also mission central for the bar which supplied champagne all evening. Candle light and Christmas lights supplied the only illumination. Mimi had tons of rich sweet roast duck and plenty of side dishes. A piano player performed holiday favorites which everyone sang along to. I finished the low light digital sketch in record time, so I could get back inside and warm up. Wendy Wallenberg pointed out all the walls of the home that she would rip out if she were to buy the home. She also took selfies with just about everyone at the party. By the time the birthday cake rolled out, every one was stuffed, drunk or both, and the cake went uncut. Being able to party outside in December is why we all love to live here in Central Florida.