Animation Class


I work part time at Full Sail as a Studio Artiste’. This means I help out in the lab as students are working on animation assignments. I like that this gets me out of my studio to meet young enthusiastic students just discovering this amazing medium. Here is a typical view of the Full Sail students at work doing traditional animation. On the left are the work tables with disks where the animation drawings are produced. On the right students are sitting at stations where they shoot the drawings which are then digitized and played back in sequence on computers. This allows the students to quickly see the animation play at 24 frames per second.

Performers


This is the only sketch I did of Bluegrass Performers. By this time I was tired, cold, and the tablet had died. The lead singer of this group had on a loud jacket with roses sewn on so he looked like he belonged in a mariachi band rather than a bluegrass band. Terry and I had moved forward and sat in the lawn chairs left in place by people who had gone home. I imagine the people were planning to come back the next day to reclaim there prime seating.

Biker for Jesus


The tablet didn’t come out until after the sunset. Terry and I had been sitting on the outskirts of the packed tent for most of the day. When the wind picked up and temperatures dropped, we were forced inside by workers who put up the side flaps to the tent. The couple in front of us fascinated me. The biker had a long grey beard that went down to his belly. The emblem on the jacket read: Christian Motorcyclists Association, with a bible in the middle of the logo. This groups vision , according to there website is: Changing the world, one heart at a time. Later when I got a Polish Sausage, I saw the couple in the picnic area and she was lovingly brushing his long beard.
Working with the tablet in the cold temperature had its advantages, like keeping my hand and lap warm as the computer chip heated up.

Bluegrass Festival


Yesterday Terry and I drove down to Yeehaw Junction (that is the real town name, honest) and we spent the day listening to Bluegrass bands. The music went on all day until 9:30 at night. Once the sun set, the temperatures plummeted and you could see your breath. The drive south on a small country road was enlightening. There were miles and miles of nothing but flat grazing land for cattle and horses.

War and Peace


Terry is almost finished reading Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”. She says it is a very modern novel. When Tolstoy discusses the waste and futility of war or the quirks of socialites he could very well be discussing people and events of today. Zorro our cockatoo is perched on Terry’s shoulder.

Jack Kerouac House

I decided to go to the small house where Jack Kerouac wrote “The Dharma Bums”, he was living here when “On the Road” was published and became an instant classic. Kerouac was compared by some critics to Ernest Hemingway. Where Heminway was the voice of the “Lost Generation”, Keroac was the voice of the “Beat Generation”. The interior of the house has been renovated to its 1950’s state. I saw one of Keroacs manuscripts once at the History Center. The entire book was written on one large scroll so Keroac never had to interrupt his thoughts by replacing paper in the typewriter. The writing poured out of him as one long stream of consciousness. The home is now a refuge to young authors who apply for a grant to write there. The Writers in Residence Project sponsors four different writers who live in the home each year rent and utility free. While I sketched a young man came out and sat on the porch and called his dad to tell him how things were going in Orlando.

Post Script: I have recently discovered that the young man on the porch was resident artist Michael Hawley.

Church Street Station


My ongoing fascination with Church Street Station has to do with its gradual decline in the last 10 years. The property has undergone foreclosure procedures and is now in the hands of the bank that lent Cameron Kuhn $34 million dollars to buy the property in 2007. A court date for a public auction will probably be set in 60 days from today. If no one bids, Tremont Realty will become the owner of the 260,000 square foot facility.