22 Sandwiches

Terry and I planned to go out Sunday afternoon to watch a football game at a bar. Before we did we went to visit Mary Hill at her mothers home in Winter Park. I had not gone to the reception after Margaret Hills funeral. Instead I rushed home and started to write. This was the first time Terry had visited Mary at her mom's house. When we arrived Mary offered us drinks and sandwiches. Mary's neighbor Phyllis Miller was there and she used a portable grill she had bought from home to toast our sandwiches so they were nice and crunchy like Panini's. This was the first time Terry really had time to get to know Mary and they really hit it off. Mary's friend Elizabeth Cohen showed up soon afterward. Terry and Elizabeth had many things in common for instance they had both lived in Israel for a while so they were like two peas in a pod. After Phyllis left, Elizabeth and Mary started a sandwich production line. Elizabeth smeared on some mayo and then Mary put on cold cuts and cheese. Mary had so many leftovers from the funeral that she wanted to make sandwiches and hand them out at Lake Eola, in her mother's memory. I warned Mary that there was a law on the books that said no one could feed more than 25 people in a public park in Orlando. In all they made 22 sandwiches. Terry was touched by this generosity and at first she wanted to go to Lake Eola to help hand out the sandwiches. Then Elizabeth got a call and realized that she had totally forgotten about a social engagement she had made. After Elizabeth left, Terry decided we should go with our original plan and we soon left to see a playoff football game downtown at Wild Side. Mary packed all the sandwiches into a fabric reusable grocery bag.

After Terry and I left for the bar Mary headed down to Lake Eola. The bar was really crowded but we muscled our way into a room with a large wide screen TV. I can't really relate the details of the game because quite honestly I wasn't paying much attention. I do believe the Packers won because I like the bright colors on their uniform and there was plenty of cheering whenever the bright green jerseys ran into the end zone. It was towards the end of the game that I got a text from Mary saying she had finished handing out the sandwiches.

Later I learned from Mary that this simple act of generosity was moving on so many levels. Everyone she approached was honesty thankful. One woman related that it was impossible to find food on a Sunday. She approached one group of 3 men and had two sandwiches in her hands. Two of the men stood side by side and the third was a few steps further down the trail. When Mary asked if they would like some sandwiches the first two men of course accepted her offering. The third had trouble walking and he hobbled closer. The man standing closest to Mary looked at his sandwich and then at the man hobbling closer to him. He paused and thought to himself before he decided to give the struggling man his sandwich. He looked down afterwards certain he must have made a mistake since he might have to go hungry that night. After a moments pause the man finally looked up at Mary. Luckily she had another sandwich in her bag and he was truly grateful. Mary was moved close to tears by his act of selfless giving.

Mary had not had the chance to relate to anyone why she was handing out sandwiches at Lake Eola. When she handed out the last sandwich in her bag, the man thanked her saying, "You must be an angel, I was just standing here thinking to myself that I was an idiot for missing the food line earlier today and I would have to go hungry tonight. Then here you are handing me a sandwich!" He asked why she was here alone handing out sandwiches and she was able to relate her story of the leftovers after her mothers funeral. She said her mother was a generous person and she was giving away the sandwiches in her honor. The man said, "Your mother is still teaching you lessons isn't she?" "Yes, she certainly is and I'm sure she will for many years to come." Mary said.

Vanilla Dream

After attending a funeral, I had time to kill before getting to Stardust to see Doug Rhodehamel's "Sea of Green" exhibit. I had a note that another exhibit titled Connected by Jason Lee was happening at Rhapsodic Bakery (710 North Mills Avenue.) The five paintings shown in this sketch were the extent of the work being displayed at Rhapsodic. Prices ranged from $500 to $800 dollars. I had seen Jason's work once before at the Peacock Room. The work is surreal and fanciful often involving images of the cosmos. Since I had well over an hour to kill, I walked up to the young girl behind the counter and tried to decide on a tasty treat for myself. I settled on the Vanilla Dream cupcake mostly because I liked how it sounded. She chimed in that the Vanilla Dream was her favorite as well.

After I settled in and started sketching she started to cut up hundreds of thin slips of paper using a tiny cutting board. Each slip had to be cut separately. she had to have been working for well over an hour cutting those slips of paper never once noticing that I was sketching her. When my sketch was finished the bakery had started to get busy and more customers were coming in. I asked her what all the slips of paper were for and she explained that they were for labeling orders of baked goods that were sent out to customers. I can say with no doubt that the Vanilla Dream that I ate was delicious. Washed down with a sparkling apple juice it was a perfect afternoon snack. I felt comfortable sitting and sketching away the hours and I noticed other customers come in with laptops which they flipped open so they could pass the time.

As I walked back to my truck I noticed an open door of one of the nearby Vietnamese shops. Inside Vietnamese men were sitting at card tables playing what I presumed to be poker. Behind the card tables were several pool tables. It should make for a great sketch, assuming I am welcome. That will have to wait for another day.

De La Vega Restaurante Y Galeria

Terry and I took a day trip up to De Leon Springs. On the drive home we stopped in downtown Deland which is one of the few places in Central Florida which still has an old town feel. Christmas lights decorated all the store front windows. The old City Hall had a wonderfully designed dome and the bells were ringing announcing the hour as we waked down the main street. I was surprised to see several portraits by Tracy Burke a talented Orlando artist in a quaint ice cream shop in the corner. We stopped in front of the Del La Vega restaurant (128.North Woodland Boulevard, Deland) and read the menu. We expected a Spanish menu but instead found a Mexican menu. It was ladies night with women offered buy one get one free margaritas and sangrias. Buy the time we placed our order the place had filled up to capacity.

Some guy was shooting video with a tiny hand held video camera. Terry waved. We were half finished with dinner when the musical performer for the night got up on stage. His name was Michael Petrovich and he played acoustic guitar with some sort of synthesizer as accompaniment. The music consisted of covers of popular music like Time After Time and Stairway too Heaven. The young woman in the brown leather jacket recorded his whole performance on her iPhone. I sketched in the musician at the very last moment having left a space open where I assumed he would eventually perform. There was a football game playing silently on the big screen TV above his head but I didn't sketch in the players since the game didn't interest me.

Terry and I ordered appetizers but they never arrived. The waitress apologized later and offered the appetizers for free. Terry said, "I don't mind if they make a mistake as long as they make an effort to fix it." The food was fabulous. With delicious artfully arranged portions on the plate. This was classic Mexican food not the sloppy Tex Mex we are used to being served in fast food joints. The appetizers were small light disks of fried dough with black beans and tomato salsa. This place was a real find and I wouldn't mind making the drive back north to eat there again.

The Censor

Hannah Miller invited a small group of her friends to a birthday dinner at Little Saigon. The dinner conversations were lively and animated. Then the conversation turned to an unexpected topic, namely art censorship in Orlando. Jessica Earley had a painting of hers on exhibit at Pom Poms Tea house as part of a group show called "The Happy Glitter Show." It is believed that a costumer at the tea house took it upon themselves to censor Jessica's painting by placing a round bright yellow sticker on the piece. The painting depicts a group of women and written across the chest of one was, "Do the dishes. Feed the cat. Don't be a C*nt." Ironically Jessica had already censored herself by placing an * in place of the vowel. The management of Pom Pom's was very apologetic and they removed the sticker once it was discovered.

As an artist I find the willingness of people in our community to deface and censor artwork very disturbing. Jessica was soft spoken and sincere as she expressed her concerns, "Someone in the community put the sticker on my painting. And business owners are afraid of what the people in our community might think of provocative or questionable art, so they ask that you don't hang it in their business. We as a community are censoring ourselves and keeping our minds closed." Her work deals with and respects woman's issues. "It really is interesting to me, because there are a lot of artists who will portray women in very objectified ways through their art (pin up style art, etc..), and people most often will find this to be OK, because it has sort of seeped into being the norm. But if I make a painting dealing with some real things that women go through, for example, menstruation, then my painting won't get hung."

The options for exhibiting artwork in this town are limited to say the least. Artists must face the risk of exhibiting in bustling, sometimes smoke filled restaurants and bars just to get their work seen. The chances of work being damaged escalates in these crowded insecure settings. Now it seems people feel the need to censor and deface art that they do not understand or appreciate. "This blows my mind because I find my work to be quite innocent and respectful to the female. It's very frustrating, because the work I do is very personal to me, but I'm not trying to be purposefully shocking in any sort of way. I've had a few different instances where I've felt cheated or censored." Jessica said.

Zombie March

At the last minute I was told by Paula Large that there was going to be a zombie march in broad daylight on International Drive. The starting spot was at Uno's pizza right across from Ripley's Believe it or Not. Driving down International Drive the sudden appearance of hundreds of zombies wandering around the Uno's parking lot was unsettling. I drove around the block making my way back to the mayhem. My pulse quickened. I parked at the Indian restaurant next to Uno's.
As soon as I walked into the crowd, I was surrounded by pale, lifeless, brain eating zombies. A stage was set up at one end of the parking lot for a band that I assumed would be playing later. I was immediately drawn to this Hurst parked in the corner of the lot nearest the street. I stood on a small island covered with dried out dead vegetation. Little Red Riding Hood seemed out of place until I saw that she had slit her wrists. A young woman in a tight black leather dress had a cross tattooed between her shoulder blades she walked with a limp. With her nose ring and studs, I suspect she wasn't really in costume. She must live Goth.
Loud music blasted from the two speakers strapped to the roof of the Hearst. A guy in a black leather vest got on the roof of the Hearst and shouted into the megaphone, "Do you want to see some blood?!" He fired up a chainsaw and the crowd of zombies went wild. one zombie never broke character, he just swayed side to side with his eyes rolled back in his head. A foam manikin was thrown on the roof of the Hearst and he started cutting off limbs to the roar from the crowd. When he thrust the chainsaw blade into her chest blood began to fly and spill everywhere. A pizza was delivered from the restaurant . He began attacking the pizza with the chainsaw with shards of crust and tomato sauce raining down on all the zombies. He threw large chunks of pizza into the crowd where I assume they were devoured.
0n the sidelines citizens with signs protested the march, demanding that the undead return to the graves they came from. When the march began I stayed behind frantically throwing blood red washes onto my drawing. The Goth girls limp must have been real since she remained behind as well, seated in one of the two wooden chairs near the Hearst. A female zombie asked to see my sketch. Her eyes had a strange metallic blue shine. She complimented me and thanked me for sharing with a sweet voice that seemed very out of place since her skin had decomposed rather horrifically. I am sure the party would continue late into the night, but I had to get to class back in the world of reality.

House Warming

For the past month artist Doug Rhodehamel has been living in a cardboard box which he sets up in peoples homes so they might have a "Artist in Residence ". Six different Orlando residents opened their homes and allowed Doug to set up his makeshift home. Doug always wanted to build his own home and he finally did so on a somewhat small scale. What did this artist in residence do? He made art! He constructed little cardboard bewilderbeasts for the homes. He just needed a spot in the house to set up his 6′ x 3′ home. The home can be folded up and transported to the next residence in his car.
On July 21st Doug set up his home on the red stage at Stardust Video and Coffee. When I got to Stardust I found a seat at a table up near the stage and then wandered off to find a beer. Carl Knickerbocker, a painter of primitive folk art, was also looking for a beer. He was studying the many bottles and I chose to go for what was on tap. We discussed our tastes in beer and found some common ground.
The sketch was a challenge since the place people tended to congregate and stand was right in my line of sight. It took nerves of steel and much patience to sketch areas I could see when I was blocked. On the loudspeakers, piano music from the Charlie Brown cartoons was playing setting a playful mood. So many beautiful people kept walking in to see. Doug would offer guided tours to select VIPs and they would crawl inside. I never went inside up I did take a look to see how the walls were decorated. A black hairy spider was perched on the roof above the entry and horse photos were galloping above the door. Window boxes held paper flowers and a small donate box was stationed near the entry.

The Manteis Project

In the red room at Taste (717 Smith Street, College Park), Terry and I stayed to watch the music act that was setting up on stage after most of the artists had left from an event called Blend. The heart of the group seemed to be an Apple laptop computer which put out vibrant pulsating sound effects. There was a sitar, guitar an a wide variety of drums. A keyboardist also had a laptop open above his keyboard. They were known as the Manteis Project. Behind the group the screen displayed animated lighting patterns. The music was mesmerizing.
Kenneth Raduazzo was working the sound booth. I glanced up at the sound booth and his wife Teresa was there with him. She had recently introduced me to an ashram. A couple of artists were still working on the collaborative paintings in the room behind us. I was seated in a chair right at the foot of the stage looking up at the performers. After the performance was over, Terry and I walked back to the car and on the way we bumped into Teresa. She had decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air. I thought she and Terry must have met before at the Kerouac House but I made the introductions anyway. We talked for a while but then Teresa had to get back inside to help break down.

Tomorrow Thor will sketch an Acrylic painting demonstration at Sam Flax on Colonial Drive near Mills between 3:30PM and 5:30PM.

Sensual Saturday

Torria Hudson, who I had met at the Grand Bohemian Jazz Jam, invited me to attend a sensual, sultry evening of smooth Jazz and R&B music at Tavern on the Lake (6996 Piazza Grande Avenue). VIP tickets to the event were $55 and money raised went to an organization called Miracle of Love that raises awareness of AIDS and offers free HIV tests. Terry decided to join me. When we arrived, a woman was scrambling around trying to arrange seating for people. Since she was occupied I just walked into the seating area and started looking for where I would want to sketch from. Rather than sitting at a table, I decided the best spot was right in front of the sound board. A video camera was also set up in this area. I set my stool down and was ready to go. The woman arranging the seating found out I was there to sketch and she graciously arranged to get chairs for both Terry and myself.
When I started my sketch Live Hart was doing a sound check. I used that time to block in the composition lightly in pencil. Only a few of the tables were occupied so I knew I would have to add audience members to the sketch when they arrived. After the sound check it was another hour or so before the performers came back to the stage. I had to put my sketch aside and order appetizers. Someone came around offering raffle tickets for some original art work and Terry bought a few. We didn't win, though we did help a good cause.
Live Harts silky smooth voice was a joy to sketch to. Her alternative soul filled the room and swayed the spirits of everyone. The music was gentle, lyrical and heart felt. The lines flowed quickly to the beat. When Live Harts set was over, my sketch was complete. I packed up and started heading for the door. Torria stopped Terry and I before we left. She said I couldn't leave because I would miss the headliner act, Miki Howard. I don't follow the Smooth Jazz scene so I was unaware that Miki is a huge deal and she was flown in from Los Angeles for this show. Once we realized our mistake we ran back in and sat down. Miki was astounding. Her songs swept over me with a maturity and grace that left goose bumps. During one of her final numbers Miki had back up singers. She sang a song about the hard knocks of love. She wandered into the audience and asked a woman, "Are you in love?" The woman replied, "Yes I know I am in love?" Miki shouted out , "See, we are so certain about love yet it always finds a way to kick us in the butt." She asked the back up singers how old they were and one responded, "Twenty Two." Miki shouted, "This song is older than you!" Then her song educated us all on just how hard love can be and how we always come back for more.

Tomorrow Thor will be sketching the Emotions Dance Massquerade at the Peacock Room between 9PM and 2AM.

Blend

Blend was a live painting event held at Taste (717 West Smith Street in College Park). Frankie Messina and Tracy Burke helped organize this unique collaborative event. Blend bought together artists from a wide variety of disciplines and had them all work on a series of canvases together. When I arrived with Terry, we made our way back to the red room where the lights were blazing and we could hear the conversations of all the artists at work. Jeremy Seghers and Amanda Chadwick were in the restaurant and I suggested Terry join them as I finished up a sketch. Plastic was draped over the walls and floor to avoid paint getting everywhere. Even with these precautions, someone stepped on a palette and stomped red paint everywhere. The mess was quickly cleaned up. The art styles were varied and in some ways disjointed when placed side by side on a single canvas. It took some time and effort to see some of the canvases find a unified vision. A man wearing a Viking helmet had horns which had diodes inside that would light up and move up and down to the beat of the music. After the event, I learned that the artist in the foreground of the sketch is Maisy May Marrs. She did a fun quirky painting of a serious redheaded girl in the cornet of the canvas she was working on. She stares up at a stick figure girl on top of her head. the image is strangely unsettling.
Since I hadn't been invited to join the effort, I just concentrated on my sketch. I later found out that both Terry and Amanda had contributed to a piece so I suppose I should have made a contribution. Louise Bova whose work is expressionistic and representational, decided to just add swirling brush strokes which added to the pattern of a painting. Once I finished my sketch I joined Jeremy Amanda and Terry out in the restaurant. I ordered some tater tots and a drink. The dinner conversation was lively and well greased with some drinks. Jeremy and Amanda had to get to an 11 o'clock SAK comedy club show so they took off. Terry and I stayed behind and waited for the band to start playing in the red room as many of the artists packed up and left.

Mellow Mushroom

Every Monday night at about 8:30PM the Mellow Mushroom (11680 East Colonial Drive), holds an event called Drink & Draw. I heard there was prize money for the best sketch, so I couldn't resist going out for a pizza in the name of art. A waitress seated me at a booth at the edge of the room. I didn't notice any sort of staging area so I asked her about the event. She pointed to the sound system set up on the opposite side of the room. She said a DJ would announce the contest and then a model would pose on some chairs for 3 five minute poses. The prizes were as follows:
1st place would be a $25 Mellow Mushroom gift certificate.
2nd place would be a $10 Mellow Mushroom gift certificate.
3rd place would be a Wild Garlic Ball appetizer.
I ordered a vegetarian pizza with the works and a Mountain Dew. The announcer walked around to all the tables and handed out paper and pencils. I took a sheet of paper to be polite but I had already started the sketch in my sketchbook. The model, dressed as Bat Girl stood on a couple of chairs and took heroic poses. The lighting left her in the darkness and with so many tables in front of me I seldom had a clear view of her. I finally had to get up and walk to the front of the room. I leaned up against a 10 foot tall fiberglass mushroom and quickly jotted down her pose. When it came time to judge I of course was still adding watercolor washes. I didn't win anything since I was still at work.
KC arrived and joined me for a second round of sketching. She ordered a soda and I offered her some of my pizza which I couldn't finish. The second model was dressed as a rock and roll musician and she held a guitar. I was still working on the color washes but this time I took perhaps a minute each to jot down the poses. I wasn't inspired by the stiff poses and the drawings sucked. KC moved to a closer table and worked diligently while I went back to my sketchbook. When the prizes were announces for the second set of poses, KC was the grand prize winner. She used the certificate to pay for the pizza and drinks so my sketching adventure that night cost me nothing!

In The Heights - Opening Night Cast Party

The Florida Theatrical Association the non-profit organization that presents Broadway shows here in town gave me a tip on where to find the cast party for "In the Heights". I haven't seen the show yet but I lived in Washington Heights for ten years when I lived in New York City. "In The Heights" therefor is already in my blood. The stage set photos I have seen look like it could be from a city block just north of where my apartment was. I could see the George Washington Bridge from where I lived. I can't wait to see and sketch the show.
The cast party was held at Mucho's Mexican Bar (101 East Eola Drive) in downtown Orlando. The bar is right across the street form two floors of office spaces that the Florida Theatrical Association just bought in the Sanctuary Building. There is over 20,000 square feet of space in the building. On the ground floor there is a theater which as of now still has dirt floors and on the second floor there is the huge empty space I sketched.
When I arrived at Mucho's I was given an orange arm band and I immediately sat at a corner table and started sketching the room. Ron Leger came over and introduced himself. I was honored to find out he follows this blog and supports what I am trying to accomplish. Staff put out the salsa, sour cream and opened up the hot dishes. After 10:30 PM a large black Hummer drove up to the entrance of the bar and I knew the cast was starting to arrive. I got a beer and a plate of food before the room became packed. What followed was of course a feeding frenzy with many loud and fast paced conversations going on. The room was filled with excitement. Cast members were congratulating one another and discussing the finer points of the nights performances. Chris and Jennifer sat at the table next to me. He plays in the Orchestra for the show and I think she is his wife. We introduced ourselves but then I got lost in the sketch again and lost track of what they were talking about. A couple across the way started practicing some dance steps and then they both sat back down laughing. Much of the time as I tried to sketch I was faced with a wall of peoples backs, blocking my view. Rather than get frustrated I would glance off at some other section of room and draw that. Since I hadn't seen the show, I didn't know who any of the major players were. For tonight that wasn't my concern. I just soaked up all the energy and excitement in the room and tried desperately to get it down on paper.
As I put the last washes down, people started leaving. The lights came back up and I closed my sketchbook and headed home.

Hand Made Holiday

Lorri Ethridge is an artist who came to my Sketch Crawl around Lake Eola back in July. At 7 AM that morning as I sketched the sun rising near the Japanese pavilion, I could see her sitting on the dock in front of the Pavilion looking out over the lake and sketching the skyline. We talked briefly at the second stop on the Crawl which was at Panera Bread.
Several months later she sent me a message asking me if I knew Karie Brown who makes hand crafted handbags. I was thrilled to be able to bring them together. Lorri organized an event in Winter Springs called Handmade Holiday. She asked if I could stop out and document the occasion. Tables were set up in Huey Magoo's in Winter Springs Town Center. Huey Magoo's gave a portion of all food sales to Christmas Dreams for Children, a foundation in Christmas Florida.
The event was held inside since it was one of the first cold nights in Orlando this year. I stood and leaned back to one of the restaurant booths. The table right in front of me offered hand made teddy bears, woman's purses and small wooden Japanese dolls. A UCF sports jersey was framed on the wall as "Art". People who came to the event lingered perhaps not wanting to go back out in the cold or just happy to spend some time to talk to neighbors.

Lesley Silvia working at Stardust

I met Lesley Silvia and her husband Jared at a Kerouac House event. As I have been sketching more and more in Orlando's more artsy cafes, like Infusion Tea, Dandelion, Seven Sisters, and Stardust, I have become curious about all the people who sit and use their laptops for extended periods of time. Lesley works on her photos and graphic design work using a laptop and Photoshop or Illustrator, InDesign and on rare occasions Painter. She had arrived at Stardust before me and had just finished a dinner of nachos. She and her husband who is a writer, usually work together. Silvia enjoys working in Stardust because it has free WI FI and she feels Dandelion and Infusion have a more mature crowd. Stardust is a more comfortable fit for a young edgy artist. She also likes to work in Winter Park's Central Park sitting on a bench in the shade, or she goes to Borders and looks through a few magazines for inspiration before she gets to work on the laptop.
As I sketched, Silvia was working on a series of photos called Pinatas. This series resembles crime scene photos where people are shown injured or dead with candy in place of blood. It is a unique and somewhat unnerving series of photos. Her graphic design work is inspired by the Swiss, it is clean neat and tidy.
Silvia was just 10 years old when she took her first photography class. She and her brother learned to make the pinhole cameras at one of the art camps they attended. Her work to this day plays with photography's earliest forms. Her father helped her with a little bit of photo composition at an early age although at the time she didn't know photography would be her passion. I high school she discovered that photography was really fun and took every class offered. In college she got a BA in Studio art with a minor in philosophy and her independent study focused on photography. Like most artists she has many facets including an interest in sculpture and graphic design.
Silvia is a full time course director at Full Sail University teaching Digital Photography. She gets freelance work through word of mouth and serendipity. She has shot some weddings and portraits. She shot photos for an Australian Rock Band who was later signed by Columbia Records. The record company asked her to take the rock band pictures off of her web site. She just removed the groups name and the lawyers stopped hassling her. Past clients include Scottish Highland Games and Mega Con. Her favorite assignments are outdoor shoots using natural light and shot with film.

The Social Chameleon

Sometimes I experience an evening so enjoyable that I wish I could relive it. The first time my wife and I were at the Chameleon was with all the actors and crew of War of the Worlds. Let me tell you, actors know how to party. I didn't sketch that evening, instead I drank, ate great food and enjoyed pleasant conversation. I ended up staying until 2 AM to close the place down, not wanting to leave.
The Social Chameleon is located at 2406 East Robinson Street in the Milk District. I returned because I needed to organize places to go for the 24th Worldwide SketchCrawl which will be September 19th. I figure the Social Chameleon is a perfect stop on the crawl so I decided to have dinner and get a sketch before heading off to Infusion Tea for a poetry reading. The infinite detail to all the clutter in the room however left me working on the sketch a bit longer than expected and I missed the poetry. There is plenty of poetry in soaking up the Social's warm inviting environment however.
I sat a a small corner table with a good view of the front room. In front of me a British couple who were trying the restaurant for the first time. They tried some beers they had never tasted before and ended up leaving with a 6 pack of some raspberry flavored beer. The bar keep was talking to a costumer about something called an Electro Guinness. They electrocute the beer to give it extra carbonation. I had never heard of that and I suspect I will be back to try it out.
The Social Chameleon serves food tapas style with an emphasis on flavor and small portions. The first time at the Chameleon I tried the tomato basil pizza which was fantastic. This time I ordered a Mediterranean plate and a glass of Pinot Noir. The stuffed grape leaves were very tasty and the crispy pita was topped with tomatoes, cucumbers, Olive oil and a perfect blend of spices.
In the kitchen was Brett Ashman who owns the Social Chameleon with his wife Serena. Through the window to the kitchen, Brett related to the British couple that he had worked for 100 days as a provisions master on a ship called the National Geographic Explorer. This ship traveled the world showing passengers some of the Geographic's most famous research sites. Though he worked hard, he had enough time off the ship to shoot 2000 pictures which display automatically on the HDTV above the bar. As the place filled up around 8 PM the TV was switched to Obama's speech on health care. I decided that when the speech was over so was my sketch.

Stardust Video and Coffee

I drove to Stardust Video and Coffee thinking I would sketch the Audubon outdoor market but the market was nowhere to be found. Rather than call it quits, I went inside and ordered a Coke. Stardust is a quirky artsy hangout located at 1842 East Winter Park Road.
One room had a wall stacked with VHS videos and large tables made from old doors which have been varnished and smoothed. The room I sat in has a small stage area with red glittery curtains. A group of five or so people sat at tables busily tapping at their laptops. The central area of Stardust has the food counter which I sketched. I ordered a pita plate and I was handed a VHS video titled "Pushing Tin" starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton. The waiter used this to find out what table to deliver the food to. My plate arrived within minutes. The pita was warm and toasty and the humus delicious.
A woman who had been focused on her laptop walked by and noticed me sketching. She started to tell me about how as a child she used to draw with her left hand. Back in those days parents didn't want their children to be left handed so anytime she would pick a crayon up with her left hand her parents would slap her hand. Today she is right handed. She said she could still draw a bit with her left hand but if she tried to draw with her right hand, Nothing.
Oil paintings hung on the wall by Jennifer Payne. Exhibits seem to change fairly often. The light in the room slowly got darker as the sun set. By eight PM the place was getting packed. The core group of laptop users in my room were still at work when I left to go to Will's Pub.

Dandelion Communitea Cafe

I went to the Mills 50 district to sketch Dandelion Cafe. It was a really hot muggy afternoon. I am starting to realize that sketching locations outside int the Florida heat is less than enjoyable. About halfway into this sketch looming clouds started to drizzle. The drizzle lasted for some time so I sat there closed my sketch book, raided my open hand to the sky, and waited for the rain to stop. Well, that didn't work because the drizzle turned into a torrential downpour within minutes. I ran for my truck and sat inside wondering how I should finish the sketch. Luckily, Sam Flax, an art supply store was nearby so I decided to drive by and pick up a few new pens and tubes of watercolor paint. By the time I got back to Dandelion the rain had slowed to a drizzle again.
I set up shop a second time and started quickly throwing down washed.
A woman walked up to me and introduced herself she was Kristen Erickson and when I mentioned my blog,, she lit up and said "I know you!" She is the Mills 50 Main Street Program Director and she invited me to a mills 50 event going on in two weeks. Every time I do a sketch these days I seem to meet someone who knows of a place I have to sketch next. My blog is slowly becoming more of a community effort.When the sketch was done I went inside and asked for a nice iced tea. I ordered a Jasmine iced tea to go and I drank it on the way to a sketch class in Winter Park.

Shut Up And Write!

Mad About Words organized this writing event called "Shut up and Write". Mary Ann deStefano who runs Mad About Words usually hosts events where writers gather and talk about the process of writing. In some ways all this academic talk is just another form of procrastination. So Mary Ann organized this free event where writes gather and quietly write together. Besides this front room of Dandelion Communitea Cafe there were two other rooms in the back filled with writers at work. As I walked up to the cafe several writers even sat outside at the picnic tables and were tapping away on their laptops. Mary Ann said 22 people signed her sign in sheet but I am certain that many more authors came and went during the 3 hours of this writing event.
Since the room was so packed, I decided to lean against a wall in the doorway between rooms. I had to step aside each time a waitress would go by but it was worth it since this location offered me a great view of the entire front room. The interior of Dandelion is brightly colored and festive. The fellow in the foreground knew of my flickr page and I suspect he is also a blogger. A sign on the wall pointed out that the maximum occupancy is 49 people and this event made me think that maximum might be met.
Some authors left while others drifted in. A few were just here for dinner. A girl in the far corner leaned back in her chair after writing for an hour and exclaimed to her boyfriend "I have officially been productive today." The two of then then chatted for a while before getting back to work. Patricia an author that teaches a write your life workshop that I sketched last week, came in and asked me if I wanted a tea. I had a butter cup iced tea that has an interesting creamy taste. I really liked it. To say this event was a success would be an understatement. The arts are very much alive in Orlando.

SketchCrawl, Eola Wine Room

When the crawl arrived at the Eola Wine Room around 4 the place was rather dormant. The artists had their choice of tables. I decided to sit with a good view of the main bar area. At this point in the crawl there were nine artists so we did a good job of filling up several tables. KC sat outside and did a sketch of 4 women who had an amazing number of mimosa glasses stacked on their table. It was a scene straight out of sex and the city. Most of the other artists kept me company. I ordered a glass of white Riesling wine and sipped it while I worked.
The strange thing about this place on a weekend is that about every 15 minutes a young couple would arrive with a baby and the parents would order wine. I sort of envied these couples just starting a family, feeling secure and living in a ritzy downtown neighborhood. But then after a short time the child would start squirming, complaining, and screaming until the parent s felt they had to leave. This scene played over and over again. I joked to another artist that the Wine Room had more infants as clients that adults on weekends.
One of the waitresses was an artist and I tried to convince her to come out to the next Crawl. For many artists this was the last stop on the crawl. As we all said their goodbyes storm clouds rolled in and just as I got ready to head across the street to the final destination, it began to pour...

SketchCrawl, Panera Bread

At 10 Am Orlando Sketch Crawlers headed to Panera Bread for breakfast and a chance to share sketchbooks and talk. Megan, an artist I had sketched before, showed up with her mom and was taking photos of the event. Our group filled up these three front tables and people talked art while others sketched. I was sitting on the long leather bench shown in this sketch, but after eating, I decided it made more sense to get up and sketch our group. Ricardo the photographer for the Sentinel sat behind me the whole time I sketched watching every line and wash as I put it down. Usually I get distracted with such attention but I had to get this sketch done, so I lived with it. Kristen or Kelp as she refers to herself online, can be seen sketching the photographer and myself. She has the art of clandestine sketching down because I never actually noticed her glancing at me directly. I am sure this is a skill I have as well.
As I was sketching, artists slowly got up and headed out for the next leg of the crawl. There were artists sitting in the two empty chairs when I started the sketch. By the time I was splashing on the final washes everyone was gone. The photographer said he had more that enough shots and we said our goodbyes. When he left, a woman who was seated in a leather chair behind me, introduced herself. Her name is Dina Mack and I knew of her work through a friend named Summer who had told me of an artist journal workshop that Dina was going to organize. Dina and I spoke for close to an hour about art and journal keeping. Sketching on location isn't something Dina does often, but she said she liked having the time to fully soak in the environment. We joked about how Panera's is such a sterile place with harsh glass cases and coffee dispensers that look like space station refueling depots. A cafe in Europe would have a much different feel. The smells of the pastries is pleasant however and I kind of wanted to sketch them and the cashier but we had to get to the next stop on the Crawl route...

Winter Park Art Festival

I went down to the Winter Park Art Festival to sketch. Tom Burton from the Orlando Sentinel wanted to meet me there to get some final video footage of me as I was out sketching. The festival itself was shutting down for the night and everyone was making a mad dash for either the free concert in the park or the local restaurants. I decided to sit down across the street from Bosphorus, a Turkish Restaurant. Tom simply hovered around shooting me and the scene I was sketching from every conceivable angle. It was a little distracting when he shoved the camera between my head and the sketchbook, I actually had to crane my head to the side to see what I was doing. It was convenient that the street was shut down since Tom would at times sit down in the street for low angle shots. It was fun having someone there to share the experience with. For instance he noticed that the lady holding the umbrella was there for a very long time. We both conjectured that she might have been trying to keep it from blowing away. It was interesting how often he focused on close ups of my nervous lines being thrown down on the page. The sketch was fun, I was afraid that I might tighten up with all the attention but the opposite was true. I loosened up and flowed with the experience. The jazz music in the park also gave me a beat to set the pace of the sketch to. When Tom was shooting on the opposite side of the street I started to notice myself bobbing my head to the beat and I thought, "maybe I should look a bit more serious, I am an artist after all....what the heck, go with it!"