On Thursday September 23rd I will be unveiling a 16 and a half foot long mural of the downtown Orlando skyline at an event called ColORLANDO at the Sonesta Hotel Orlando Downtown
(60 South Ivanhoe Boulevard Orlando, FL).
Eat, Paint and Party while benefiting the Downtown Orlando Arts District!
Experience the best of Orlando in food and entertainment as the Sonesta celebrates our vibrant local arts community. You are invited to preview Sonesta’s stylish, newly renovated property and mingle with artists in a whole new way!
ColORLANDO is your chance to be a part of creating a community masterpiece with award-winning sketch artist Thomas Thorspecken that will adorn the walls of the Sonesta Hotel while enjoying local entertainment at its finest including:
– Music by the Olga Feroni Jazz Trio
– Live DJ
– Celebrity lookalikes
– Live dance performances
– Opportunities to win great prizes, including a Cruise on the Nile in Egypt.
– Much, much more!
This will be an event you don’t want to miss, featuring an exclusive Silent Auction benefiting the Downtown Orlando Arts District! The party starts at 5:30pm .
For this event I needed to enlarge a sketch I did of downtown Orlando. I considered doing this at Full Sail using an overhead projector to project the sketch on canvas duck taped to the classroom white board. The setup worked but I was suddenly shocked at the size of the mural. I would need a large ladder in order to sketch the top half of the image. I quickly realized that would be a painful process. Two different people suggested I take the sketch to Triangle Reprograhics. When I went in to drop off the sketch, David Magagni walked me through the printing plant back to an area where I could compare various canvases. I immediately wanted to sketch. After checking a proof later in the week, I asked about sketching the mural when it went to press. At first the request was turned down by the foreman, but someone suggested I call Reg Garner, the VP of sales,and he loved the idea.
The 16 foot long mural was to be printed on the Vutek 5330 EC press. Eli Melendez wearing his New York Yankees baseball cap showed me how the press works. The canvas is threaded through a series of rollers and then flows over the top of the machine. A large box moves back and forth adding the inks to the canvas. I arrived at Triangle Repro shortly after 5pm. The night crew works till 11pm. Unfortunately the operator who set up my job wasn’t in, so the press sat silent. My nerves grew raw as I sketched knowing the mural was just a button push away from being finished, and the grand fund raising party at the Sonesta hotel was fast approaching.
So please come out tonight and help me add acrylic color washes to help finish up this huge canvas. Tonight promises to be an amazing party!