Shin Sushi

Posted on by Thor

On Friday February 28th, I went to meet Julie Anderson at Shin Sushi (803 N. Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL) to discuss the Orlando Sentinel‘s new “HypeOrlando Blogs.” This can be found on the Sentinel website on the “Home” tab at the top of the page. Several months ago, Terry and I bumped into Julie and her husband Lars at an outdoor cafe in Winter Park. Over drinks, Julie first described the “Hype” concept. A newspaper in Chicago first developed the idea where a large group of bloggers all contribute to the same blog site. None of the contributors is paid, so the newspaper online site gets plenty of creative content for free.

In return, “Hype” contributors would get, a daily newsletter from an experienced blogger
on how to build audience (Search engine optimization, optimizing
Facebook, writing headlines that make people click, etc.)

Offline blogger community meetups. 

Free platform and technical setup.

Ongoing technical support.

Monthly incentives and contests for writing and audience-building.

I got to the Sushi restaurant a bit early since I had just done an interview with Seth Kubersky a few blocks away for a write up in the Orlando Weekly. The head waiter at Shin Sushi told me I would have to wait an hour before I could get inside. I had hoped to sketch the interior and fill the sketch with patrons as they arrived for the lunch hour. Oh, well, it was a nice day outside, so I sat across the street and sketched the barren exterior. As I was finishing my sketch, I saw Julie approach the restaurant and go inside. I packed up the supplies and rushed across the street. The restaurant was bustling now. I ordered some sushi combo which turned out to be much more food than expected.

HypeOrlando in it’s first weeks had about 30 contributors. Julie hopes to push those numbers up into the hundreds. My impression is that “Hype” is a great opportunity for beginning bloggers. All the layouts for the blogs are identical making it hard to tell one blog from another. The one established “Hype” blogger that I recognized was  Kristen Manieri who runs Great Dates Orlando. Over lunch, Julie pushed for the idea of having me channel all my future content over to the “HypeOrlando” site. This seemed like an extreme notion which would likely result in my loosing many readers in the transition. I can’t imagine giving up a site that I’ve built up over 5 years. Kristen still maintains her original site while occasionally contributing to “Hype”. The fact that I post creative content every day means that I would have to write a new article any time I wanted to contribute to “Hype.” I would have to add an 8th day to my work week! I asked about just posting an article on “Hype” that already ran or simultaneously ran on Analog Artist Digital World. Julie said that the Google search engine would label any re-purposed article as spam thus all content would have to be new.

I fired of a long list of concerns. I didn’t like having to give up a large header on the new site. Apparently the “Chicago Now”  site learned that letting contributors create their own headers resulted in some very bad and amateurish designs. The “Hype” site limits each contributor to a one inch square avatar. It results in trying to create a recognizable brand on the size of a postage stamp. I was also concerned that there is no right click copyright protections making it easy for Sentinel Surfers to copy any sketches I post to the site. This is an ongoing concern since even the Downtown Arts District and the City of Winter Park do not realize that it is wrong to copy and republish work without permission. The Internet is a lawless Wild West for theft and ripping. The fact that City organizations have no clue about copyright makes it appear that Orlando is a second rate city. Terry seems to feel there is no advantage to posting on “Hype”. Even the name seems to imply vacuous content with little substance. I’m still weighing the options. I might even cut back submissions to Analog Artist Digital World to 6 days a week and submit one article a week to “Hype”. I’ve been making adjustments to try and allow for more family time and contributing free content to “Hype” could be a step backwards. I was surprised and pleased that Julie paid for lunch.

Let me know what you think. Should I stay the course and keep AADW a daily, or should I also contribute to the “Hype”? Leave me a message below. One last note. Something I ate at Shin Sushi didn’t agree with me and I had the runs all afternoon. Not a good sign.

Wednesday Open Words

Posted on by Thor

Every Wednesday at Austin’s Coffee, (929 West Fairbanks Avenue in Winter Park FL) Curtis Meyer hosts an Open Mic called “Wednesday Open Words.” The evening starts at 8pm but I was in Winter Park and decided to go to Austin’s Coffee early to grab some diner. Students sat on the makeshift stage immersed in their laptops. The young woman seated across from me lounged on the couch intently reading a real paper bound book. I watched her expression as the read and at times she was visibly upset. Something horrible was going on in those pages. I imagined she might be reading “The Catcher in the Rye.” As I recall it had a red cover. When she got up to leave she noticed my sketch. I had to ask her what she was reading. It turned out that “The Hunger Games” was required reading for one of her classes.

Curtis arrived and gradually he cleared the stage and set up a microphone. The theme for the evening was Disney Animated Films. Having worked at Feature Animation, I had to be a bit of an expert on the decade of films I worked on. Curtis was very stoked about the film “Saving Mr. Banks” which stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. He insisted I go see it. To warm up the crowd, Curtis had everyone repeat, “Pink pajamas, penguins on the bottom.” It is a tongue twister which is rather fun to repeat again and again in succession. There were trivia questions between readers and I managed to guess the name of the dog in Disney Pixar’s “Up.” The dogs name was Dug. I won an odd green feathery pin with a yellow skull from “The Princess and the Frog.” It is now partially stained with black ink from one of my pens.

One particularly fun poem used all of the Disney made up words. It turns out that besides Supercalafragalisticexpialadoshus, there are many others that are just as strange. Curtis wanted to find one word that defines each Disney film plot. For instance Rapunzel, the word is Tangled. For Snow Queen the word is Frozen. For Little Mermaid the word might be pants. For Beauty and the Beast the word would be Stockholmed. This might make a good drinking game to whittle each film down to one word. One line from someones poem stuck with me, “The beauty of the world makes demands on us.

Curtis was great about being sure the audience respected how brave all the speakers were. Public speaking is a universal fear. Snapping fingers were encouraged when the poems were profound. Seda Gay spoke about four grown women who returned to the Disney theme parks together. Two of those women were now divorced but they all stepped back to their childhood relationships discovering where they left off. One poet was accompanied by a guitar player. He said most of his creative ideas were formed by the age of 11. He imagined flying being an everyday occurrence to get through our heavy Earth bound days. He was of course speaking as Peter Pan. Curtis chimed in, “All you got to do is believe.”

Fa La La La La Park Avenue Window Walk

Posted on by Thor

On December 10, I Luv Winter Park organized a stroll down Park Avenue in Winter Park. People gathered in the Hidden Garden Courtyard from 5 to 6, taking advantage of Happy Hour libations at The Bistro. Then, around 6-ish, everyone walked  down the east side of Park Avenue, then back up. It was a chance for friends  to get into a  holiday mood and have some fun while checking out the  windows up and down Park Avenue!

I couldn’t get to the bistro at 5, so instead I simply found a spot on Park Avenue to sketch. I chose to sketch Be On Park jewelry store (152 S Park Ave, Winter Park, FL) simply because I didn’t have a parked car blocking the view. Large orbs of light were hung in the trees all along Park Avenue. It was quite a display. Eventually the strollers did run across me.  Clyde took pictures of my sketch in progress.

A mom and her daughter, dressed in an elegant Cinderella gown stopped to meet every one. The little girl proudly showed off her glass slippers rotating her foot on point. After everyone left and I was getting close to finishing the sketch, a rather disheveled man stood in front of me and angrily asked, “Are you an artist?” It is the one question I can’t stand. I looked around wondering if my wife put him up to it. I made some polite reply. He wanted money for new shoes, but his shoes looked fine to me. When your sitting still you are an easy mark. It started to rain as I made my way back to my car. Why can’t they afford snow?

Sketching in the Attic

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I used to attend sketch sessions in the Attic of the Martin’s home in Winter Park. Mary Martin was always there to supervise, but Bernie Martin was never there. I guess he prefers to work from models alone. In these sessions the models were nude with shorter one minute sketches in the beginning and longer sketches later in the evening. I always enjoyed these sessions but there is usually some event going on the same evening so overtime, I stopped going, preferring to sketch the chaos of everyday life.

On one occasion I bumped into Bernie Martin while I was sketching in Falcon Bar. He decided to sketch as well. I found out that models cost about $12 per hour. I’m considering the notion of hiring models to start producing more finished paintings. Sketching on location is rewarding, but any event seldom goes on for more than two hours. Some painters can work on a painting for months. It would be nice to give myself the luxury of models and more time. Perhaps that should be my goal moving into the New Year.

On New Year’s Day, Terry and I are hosting an all day black and white themed party celebrating Analog Artist Digital World’s 5 year anniversary.  We supply the beers, bagels, lox and cream
cheese and food. Kelly DeWayne Richards will be performing on the piano.
The party starts at 1pm and goes to 11pm. Consider this post an invitation. Please call 407 810-4189 to RSVP and come on out.

Choral Concert

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On October 30th I went to a choral concert at Rollins College, Tiedtke Concert Hall. The evening featured the Women’s Choir, the Small Vocal Ensemble and the Rolling Singers. The concert hall was half full and it was easy for me to get a front row seat. Sarah Joseph was the student accompanist and George Atwell turned the sheet music when needed. The second group had additional musicians including a bass player that I included in the sketch.

The house must have been full of adoring parents and supportive College friends because when performers walked on stage the audience went wild. You’d think you were at a rock concert rather than a classical recital.

My favorite choral piece was Hallelujah Arranged by Jens Johansen and Jamey Ray William Mitchell. The last piece was a rather humerus rendition of The Barber of Seville. Choral members mimicked instruments in an orchestra using their voices. The recital was a free fast paced sketching opportunity. I had just enough time to finish the sketch when the performers took their final bow.

217

Move It or Loose It

Posted on by Thor

On Saturday September 14th there was a rally for The Capen House in Winter Park’s Central Park, adjacent to the rose garden. The citizens responsibly for trying to save the Capen house have a short window to make this happen, and they need the community behind this effort.This is a BIG , monumental,task  to move a home built in 1885 across Lake Osceola to the grounds of the Albin Polasek Museum and Gardens where it can be enjoyed by Winter Park residents and visitors for years to come! 

As of the date of the rally, $200,000 had been raised towards the project. An additional $450,000 would need to be raised by the end of November to save the house from demolition and reserve the contractors for the move. The house will have to be cut in half and then the parts will be floated across the lake on barges. The committee is hoping that the actual transport would happen on December 14th to coincide with the Winter Park Boat Parade.

In the tent, past Winter Park mayors voiced their support for the project. If funds aren’t raised, then the home will face demolition as it is replaced with a much larger McMansion. If it finds it’s way to the Polasec, it will be used for celebrations like wedding receptions and community fundraisers. It would become a place of celebration for many future generations. Relocating the Capen House to the Museum property is a mutually
beneficial solution for the current owners, Winter Park residents, and
the greater Central Florida community,” says Debbie Komanski, Executive
Director of The Polasek. The Polasek Museum property, with a sweeping
lawn to the water, can easily accommodate the 6,000 sq. ft. house which
will be used for public events and education offices for the Museum.
Moving the home by barge, not an unusual event in Florida simplifies the
relocation effort and significantly reduces project costs.

A small model of the home floated in a small plastic pool. Kids were encouraged to save the home by scooping up small balls with a net. Kids won prizes for scooping up the most balls. The Winter Park Owl wandered around like a Disney theme park character. He leaned over a small girl in a stroller and she began to cry. Orange infused water parched hot lips. The speeches continued and the homes future still remains uncertain.

Molding a Classical Sculpture

Posted on by Thor

On Saturday August 3rd, I went to the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens (633 Osceola Avenue, Winter Park, FL) to watch sculptor Peter Forester create a mold from the classical portrait bust he had sculpted in clay using a live model in just six hours several weeks prior.

The clay sculpt was transitioned into a “waste mold,”  Plastic shims were shoved into the clay sculpture dividing the bust in half. Peter then mixed plaster in a bowl and he flung it by hand onto half of the sculpture. Plaster spattered everywhere in the process, even onto my boots and sketch pad as I worked, Once a plaster layer had hardened, he then build  re-bar supports around the sculpture to make sure that the plaster mold he was building would not break apart. Then he kept building up the plaster mold gradually with many messy layers of plaster.

Peter said: “The clay model is only a means to an end; it represents the concept that the artist is striving towards. For this purpose I think it is essential to employ an intermediary step that is no longer used, to put the clay into plaster. The plaster will embolden mistakes not seen in clay, which the artist may correct before attempting to complete the master; hence the final product is the ‘master piece’.”

Once half the sculpture covered in a thick solid mass of plaster, the process was repeated on the opposite side. When dry, the two halves were split apart. Then the gorgeous clay sculpture was destroyed as it was scooped out from the molds. That has to be nerve wracking to destroy a sculpture that had taken six hours to create. The insides and seams of the mold were then coated with a non-stick surface. The halves were then bound together and  a thin layer of plaster was poured inside. Peter kept the mold in motion being sure plaster filled all the negative voids. This hollow plaster piece was the masterpiece which a foundry would use to create a final bronze pour.

What followed was insanely difficult work. The mold couldn’t just be pulled apart. Peter had to destroy the mold, chipping down and trying to uncover the plaster master he had just created. Only a thin layer of blue plaster warned him when he was close. This was back breaking work and chips flew everywhere. The model for the sculpture, Byron Walker, is also a sculptor and he happened to have an air powered chisel in his truck. Peter let Byron chisel his way down to his own face. The air chisel was insanely loud like a jack hammer. A small gouge was taken out of the nose but such minor dings could be repaired. It took several hours to chisel away all of the plaster mold.

“The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.”

―
Pablo Picasso

Stuck in Love

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A marketing firm asked me to give away tickets to a movie screening. I could give away as many tickets as I wanted, but seating at the theater would be on a first come first served basis. I decided to go to the screening of “Stuck in Love” to see how full the theater was. Terry was going to meet me after work, so I quickly sketched the theater, Regal Winter Park Cinemas 20,(510 N Orlando Ave Winter Park, FL) before she arrived. I saw a line form outside the theater but they filed in before the schedules screening time. Small groups of people were let into the theater at a time. The guy at the front of the line told me it was to avoid chaos and a mad rush to seating.

The writer and director of the film, Josh Boone was there along with actor Logan Lerman to quickly introduce the film and take questions afterwards. The film is about the Borgens family. William Borgens is an acclaimed author who hasn’t
written a word since his ex-wife Erica left him 3 years ago for another
man. In between spying on Erica and casual romps with his married
neighbour Tricia, Bill is dealing with the complexities of raising his
teenage children Samantha and Rusty. Samantha is publishing her first
novel and is determined to avoid love at all costs – after all she’s
seen what it has done to her parents. In between hook ups, she meets
“nice guy” Lou who will stop at nothing to win her over. Rusty, is an
aspiring fantasy writer and Stephen King aficionado, who is on a quest
to gain ‘life experiences’. He falls for the beautiful, but troubled
Kate and gets his first taste of love and a broken heart. A tale of
family, love (lost and found), and how endings can make new beginnings.
There are no rewrites in life, only second chances.

Josh Boone related after the screening that some of the material in the movie was autobiographical. Rusty’s first love is based on his own experiences in high school, of love found and lost. Being fiction he was able to rewrite his family history, having his father wait three years for his wife to return.  Terry felt that no man would wait that long in hopes that love would return. Logan loved working on the film because the entire cast stayed in a hotel during the shooting and they truly became a tight knit family. This is a rare film with plenty of sincere emotion. Josh had written the screenplay many years ago and the true challenge was to find the money to make it. Once he had the backing, things fell into place quickly. He has a bright future ahead of him and he is already onto the next projects, “Pretenders“, and “The Fault in Our Stars“. “Stuck in Love” is in select theaters now. Don’t miss it.

The Vault

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On Tuesday June 11th, my wife Terry and a co-worker Psi from Merrill Lynch offered an informational seminar for prospective clients at The Wine Room (270 S Park Ave Winter Park, FL). The building had once been a bank, and the meeting, in the basement, was literally in a bank vault. The thick steel door with its multiple pistons and gears was an impressive sight. The vault now has private lockers where clients can lock away their expensive and dusty bottles of vintage wines.

I can’t discuss the power point demonstration. After it was over, the plush leather chairs were turned to face the TV so  sports fans could watch the NBA finals.  I began to sketch after the presentation was over. Staff came in to clean up the table full of cheeses and crackers. By the final quarter of the game, Terry and I were the only ones left in the vault. We had to move upstairs so the vault could be cleaned up.

AADW Weekend Top 6 Picks

Saturday July 13th 2013.

40th World Wide SketchCrawl  incorporates 4 events in an Orlando Sketch Marathon all day Saturday…

1. 10am to 1pm $5 A Special Demonstration: Sculpting a Classical Portrait. Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens (633 Osceola Ave. Winter Park FL). Exhibiting sculptor Peter Forester presents a six-hour art demo. Demo goes to 4pm if you want to stay. Sketch the sculptor at work or take notes.

2. 2pm to 7pm $5 ReThink Games. Urban ReThink (625 E. Central Blvd. Orlando FL). Play 15 hosts a variety of games, from video games to board games. Sketch folks playing games or play yourself.

3. 8pm to 10pm $10 ME Dance, Deja vu. Garden Theater Winter Garden (160 Plant Street Winter Garden FL). Sketch this dance company’s final performance of the season.

4. 11pm to 1am Free Black and White at Redlight. Redlight Red Light (2810 Corrine Drive, Orlando, FL). An Art Show. A full scale, monochromatic, celebration of value, void of color, except red of course.Artwork will display a use of black and/or white, maybe some greys, and possibly red, literally or figuratively.

Sunday July 14th 2013.

5. 4:30pm to 7:30pm Free Orlando Brew jam. Orlando Brewing (1301 Atlanta Ave., Orlando, Florida 32806). Traditional instrument jam playing old time, bluegrass, celtic, swing, or anything else that comes to mind.

6. 7:30pm to 9:30pm Free Concert! Leo Linares and Urbe Prima. The White House (2000 South Summerlin Orlando FL). This young musician plays music that is close to people. Folk tinged with classical and punk, expect a surprise.

Artist: Reina Castellanos

The Capen House

Posted on by Thor

On June 6th, there was a Winter Park City Commission Meeting in which the fate of the Capen House was litigated. The 128 year old Winter Park home was built by James Caspen who came from Illinois. He worked towards making Winter Park a solid community. He was the secretary for the Winter Park Land Company which was and still is the largest land owning company in town. He also served as commissioner on the town council.

The home was granted a historic designation in 2011 but Sun Trust Bank, the mortgage holder on the property had that historic designation revoked.  Clardy Malugen, the owner at the time had registered the historic home during the foreclosure process. The new owners, John and Betsy Pokorny want to demolish the lake front home to erect a bigger mansion. At the June 6th meeting the Pokorny’s attorney granted a postponement of the demolition for 30 days so that options could be considered for preserving the house.

The Friends of Casa Feliz are working on finding a way to preserve the historic home. Casa Feliz had itself once been threatened with demolition. The entire brick building had been moved to it’s new site on Park Avenue next to the golf course. The Friends encourage public dialogue that
is thoughtful, considerate, and inclusive. It is the Friends’ goal to
find a solution to the precarious situation surrounding the Capen House,
not to assign blame.Groups of concerned citizens have congregated on Facebook and other web platforms to advocate for ‘saving’ the Capen House.

Large hedges obstruct most views of the house at 501 Interlacken Drive in Winter Park. Several “Private Property” signs along with a chain blocking the driveway discouraged me from sketching a full view of the home. I sat on the driveway to sketch the best view available. There was a demolition notice on the garage door. A huge live oak spread it’s ancient roots deep. Storm clouds rolled in as I sketched. I worked as fast as I could till rain drops started hitting the page. I packed the sketchbook away in my art supply bag and sprinted the mile or so back to my car. I had forgotten to bring an umbrella. As I write this, on July 6th the 30 day postponement is over. I’ll have to go back and see if I sketch the home or bulldozers.

P.S. As of July 12th, 2013, the historic home might be moved across the lake to the Albin Polasek museum as it’s new home.