McRae Art Studios Open House.

I went to a McRae Studios open house (904 Railroad Avenue Winter Park). This hallway in the back of the building was full of the quirky art of John Whipple. Built from odd antiques each sculpture has its own unique personality. I really like the mannequin head on a tricycle following a carrot in the foreground. Another head had a megaphone for a mouth. A peacock had a barren wire tail as it waited to roll away on it's single roller skate.

I stood in a doorway that opened out onto the railroad tracks out back. A small gaggle of girls rushed past me periodically as they played. I joined Dina Mack who was singing as Chip Weston played guitar. Lining the walls of Chip's studio were luminous seascapes, some large and some shockingly small painted gems. Tu Tu Tango catered the event and I ordered some Tapas. I always like visiting Larry Moore's studio. I identify with his plein air oil paintings. He had a larger painting hanging outside his studio which was more abstract and playful. It was a hot summertime image and it really caught my eye.

Don Sondag had started a series of nighttime paintings done around Winter Park. There is a quiet mystery to these nocturnes and it made me want to get out and experiment at night. Several musicians had gathered in Lynn Whipple's studio. They jammed for a while, then talked endlessly. From the quirky and unexpected, to the more traditional art, a trip to the McRae Studios always inspires me.

The Bubble Room Monkey

I have become addicted to attending McRae Art Studios (904 Railroad Avenue) open houses. Some of these open houses offer the public the chance to watch the artists at work. The studios are located in a large warehouse and the space has been compartmentalized into working studios for 21 artists. The last open house I had attended, I found John Whipple working on a series of black and white illustrations which were rich and deep in tone. At the time I didn't have the time to do another sketch. I returned with the hope of catching him at work. Unfortunately this open house just gave the public a chance to view the artists finished works and wander the studios.
John told me that he had just cleaned up his work space. This room is filled with antiques and assorted odds and ends for his many quirky and fun sculptures. I fell in love with this old animatronic monkey. John told me that he had bought the monkey at an estate sale when the Bubble Room closed down. For those of you who have been in Orlando for some time you might remember that the Bubble Room was a quirky restaurant with tons of antique toys and animatronics like this monkey. John explained that the monkey had been the drummer for an animatronic band. I love that this character has a string tied around its thumb as if he was intent on remembering something. Even more interesting is the fact that the monkeys other thumb is missing like he had tied that string to tight and the thumb just snapped off.
The entirely naked animatronic to the left was once a Santa Clause. The gears and leavers are simply designed like an old fashioned wind up wrist watch. Santa's mask has been removed showing a lumpy malformed ball of Styrofoam. The arms also have Styrofoam tied down with twine. I have no doubt that when the lights go out, these characters live out a nightly drama before freezing in place the next morning. Also crammed in the space are old iron fireplace grills and aging yellow boxes. The bright red logo reminds me of the final scene in Citizen Kane when the sleigh is thrown in the fire with the name, Rose Bud.
John isn't sure yet what is in store for the Bubble Room Monkey. He doesn't want to alter the characters look until he is sure he has the proper artistic vision for it's future. Prior to the clean up, the monkey wasn't even visible. Now the space has a feeling of organized chaos. I asked John if he would allow me to sit in and sketch when he starts on the sculpture that the Bubble Room Monkey was meant for. I would love to see that piece find it's final form.
After I finished this sketch I then went to visit Don Sondag who is a local portrait artist. Don told me about a Sunday morning painting group. I expressed an interest in getting out and doing some plein air paintings with that group, but both times something came up which kept me from going. I need to call Don, it would be nice to do some thick paintings using large blocks of color rather than the line work I use every day to complete my sketches.

McRae Art Studios Open House

I always love to sketch artists at work in their studios. So when I found out McRae Artist Studios in Winter Park was having an open house, I headed right on over. The first artist I visited was Dina Mack who is an abstract painter who also teaches a course called Destination Journal. Dina had a set of colored pencils that were made from tree branches and we debated for some time how they got the leads inside the pencils. It made sense for them to have drilled out the center then shoved the leads in, but the branches sere gently curved to a straight drill bit would have been useless. I decided they might have grafted the leads onto the sides of trees and let the branches grow around the leads, but that would take too much time. Another studio visitor wandered in and conjectured that the colored pencil leads might have been molten or liquid and allowed to dry, but that still doesn't account for the hollow space needed to pour the liquid into. Quite simply, it is an unexplainable miracle.
After wandering around a bit I found that there was always a group of people standing outside the studio of Susan Bach. Susan is a potter who makes wonderfully ornate funeral urns and vases. She was demonstrating how she throws a pot on her potters wheel and she sometimes invited passers by to try the wheel for themselves. Hal Stringer, who I had met a few weeks before when he hosted an artists gathering at his home, decided he would give the potting wheel a try. He struggled with the clay at first, using a bit to much brute force to try and keep it centered on the wheel. Susan encouraged his to relax and close his eyes. Then with just his sense of touch he gently began to build the form. He did a fine job, and Susan placed his piece aside so she could fire it and glaze it later.
A crusty old fisherman who used to be a captain of a fishing boat on the Bearing Sea near Alaska stopped to watch Susan work for a while. He told her about how he was the only captain who had an all woman crew in the cold arctic waters. This is a fine example of artists and patrons sharing and learning from each other. This was a fabulous event where it was possible to see artists as they work. I hope the McRae Studios continues this tradition.

Hal Stringer's artist gathering.

At the last minute I was invited to an artists dinner party being hosted by Hal Stringer in Winter Park. Mary Hill had told me about this event once before but the last time it was held, I was driving down to the Keys. When I entered the first order of business was to walk room to room and look at all the beautiful paintings of Florida landscapes. I bumped into Don Sontag a portrait artist who I first met when I worked at Disney and later at the McARae Studios. There was a self portrait by Don in the living room leaning up against a wall and waiting to be hung. There was a blur of introductions and then I asked if I could dig into the Paella that Phillis Miller had made. I thought I was going to leave within an hour to go sketch another dance rehearsal. I was the first to load up my plate and I went into the living room to eat. I only knew a few people at the gathering and as I ate, I started to feel overwhelmed by the sound of all the different conversations. In a crowd like this I start to hear everything at once with no filter. It gets to the point where I don't even notice if someone is talking right at me. Mary Hill suggested I take a look at the artist studio in the back yard.
When I went back to the studio I fell in love with the space. It was a tiny little outdoor shack with exposed beams and a warm inviting interior. Inside a table had been set up and people were seated having dinner. The studio also had an outdoor patio with comfortable lawn chairs with a perfect view of the bright half moon. I suddenly realized I had to sketch so I ran out to my truck to get my sketchbook and supplies. The people around the table were, Elizabeth and Joe Ferber, Maralyn Masters, Sharon Osterhold and Jazz Morgan. After they finished eating they started to paint their dinner plates. All of these plate paintings were abstract and very colorful. One finished plate painting can be seen on the fireplace mantle in my sketch.
A few people became curious about what I was up to, so I found myself surrounded with people who wanted to see my sketchbook. As usual, my eyes teared up from the strain of sketching, and I struggled to recover. The host joked about how he took the longest time to join Facebook. He said "This gathering is face time, not Facebook." Mary came out with a blanket and sat in the lawn chair next to me. We joked for a while about the notion of making a B grade horror film. It is actually a really fun idea that I am now considering doing some visual development for. I was glad I had decided to stay longer at this artists gathering. I got a good sketch and met some talented and inspiring artists.