Jules Feiffer at Rollins College

Jules Feiffer, now eighty one years old, is one of America’s finest cartoonists. He has just published an autobiography titled “Backing Into Forward“. He came to the Bush Auditorium at Rollins College to talk about “My Life and Funny Times.” Former poet laureate Billy Collins introduced Jules to the large audience assembled. Billy said that Jules was a simple man to understand in his mind. He felt that the defining moment in Jules life came when Jules’ mother gave away his dog.
Jules spoke about his childhood in the outer borough of New York as a skinny Jewish boy who had only one dream; to be a great cartoonist. His mother designed clothing and she would get just three dollars for each design. Since his father was often out of work, his mom was often the family breadwinner. She put all her hopes in her son.
Jules then showed us a slide show which offered a glimpse at the great cartoonists of the past that he admired. He showed the work of Winsor McCay who created a strip called Little Nemo in Slumberland. He showed us the early Popeye cartoons and felt Popeye was the first superhero who could solve any problem with a good fist fight. In 1937 Superman changed everything. The early Superman comics weren’t always the best drawn, but they were very expressive. He felt that Superman was a Jewish boy’s wish fulfillment dream of gaining superpowers to finally win Louis Lane’s attention. Jules worked for Will Eisner for a while helping draw “The Spirit“. The Spirit had a strong feeling of the seediness of the city with high contrast shadows.
Jules tends to like to draw kids. He feels adults over time find ways to disguise how they feel, whereas kids give it all away, their every gesture displays how they are feeling. One of the sketches from his slide show is a funny cartoon he did during the Obama campaign. After JFK was assassinated, Jules became fascinated with theater. He wrote a play called “Little Murders” which was about the breakup of his first marriage. He claims that “Little Murders is the first play to say “sh!t” on the stage. The character of the mother is based on his own mother and he had to talk her out of going to see the production. Jules later went on to write the screenplay for Popeye. This allowed him to bring to life one of his childhood heroes. He wasn’t entirely happy with how the director treated his script, but he still loved the experience. Jules said that his feelings of self pity are what made him famous.
He then showed us a series of watercolor sketches that celebrate dance. He explained that he works hard to make the work look and feel spontaneous. He said this series was all about engaging in fantasies about allowing the line to dance on the paper. I was floored by his creative genius and his whole spontaneous an fluid body of work.

Urban Think

Urban Think will be closing it’s doors at the end of this month. This downtown bookstore has been a favorite haunt of mine for some time. They hosted authors signing their books all the time and there have been a number of musical events and workshops held there. This book store had a personal touch you just don’t find at the big mega bookstores. It will be greatly missed.
Here is a letter from the Urban Think manager about the closing…
“Now that our closing news has hit the street, and the end of the month is fast approaching, we have been hearing from many of our costumers via phone, e-Mail, and in person visits. It’s amazing to know how much we were a part of the literary and social circles for so long here in Thornton Park. Being told that we were “the heart and soul of the neighborhood” is a huge compliment, and I rest in the knowledge that I and my co-workers always strove toward that rarefied height. Not many retail shops manage to become such a valued part of their costumers lives.
As manager for nine years, I’ve been afforded an opportunity to meet some really great readers and authors. Helping to nurture your writing dreams through our many book signings and stock of your books left me with a deep sense of satisfaction, and I saw many of your books do very well. In that respect – yet one among many – I feel like I and my co-workers did something wonderful for Orlando. Keep reading and writing!”

Mega Con

Mega Con held at the Orange County Convention Center is an event where dressing like a super hero was the norm. I went to the convention thinking I might want to pay the twenty four dollars needed to get on the convention floor. Parking however was eight dollars. Having to pay for parking is a pet peeve of mine so I was stewing by the time I got in the convention center. Besides Mega Con, there were several other events going on that day. There was some college recruitment event and a cheer leading competition. I had to walk most of the length of the hall before I found Mega Con. Rather than getting in the long line pay to pay, I wandered over near the entryway to the convention. Gathered all around the entrance were a wide assortment of individuals in costumes. I leaned back against a column and started sketching. During the course of doing the sketch I must have seen at least five different Supermen, including a little ten year old who was so muscle bound with foam that I don’t think he could move his arms. Superman would often scoop women of their feet when they posed with him for photos. This sort of voguing was constantly going on as soon as a camera was seen. Cheerleaders with their glittery eye makeup, would cheer with delight if they saw a beloved character. It was impossible to avoid the cameras. Some photographer must have taken about a dozen shots of me working and I wasn’t even in costume. When people struck a pose I knew it was only for at most a minute, so I didn’t often try to catch those poses. I simply sketched them as they milled about waiting for the next photo opportunity. One small group was playing some hip-hop music on their radio while a young muscular Latino youth kept dancing to the beat. Cheerleaders somersaulted down the hallways.
When I finished up the first sketch I debated for the longest time about paying to get an arm band to walk the convention floor. I decided with only a few hours remaining, it would not be worth it. As I was leaving, I saw several people in costume going up an escalator to the second floor. I followed. They ended up going to a glass walkway that overlooks the whole convention floor. Here they tried to catch peoples attention by waving their arms and dancing in place. This “look at me” mentality seems to be the main point of the convention. It is Halloween on steroids. Were I to have asked people to pose, I am sure I could have had 3 days of non stop sketching fun.

Fab Fringe Fundraiser

Beth Marshall suggested I stop down to the Fab Fringe Fundraiser that was held at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. I had to attend a Bella Fleck concert later that night so I knew my time to sketch was limited. I arrived straight from downtown where I dropped off several of my prints to a client. I was a bit early and I decided to sketch, Carla Davis, the woman who sells the tickets to the event. Pricilla who had attended the Fringe eight times, was at the next table selling Fringe tee shirts and buttons. Within minutes the first Fringe button was sold kicking off this years Fringe festivities. There were three or four photographers buzzing about the event and every one of them wanted to get pictures of me at work. I am getting used to the mild distractions of the sounds of shutters clicking as I sketch. When I finished this sketch I wandered into the Patrons room where tables lined the walls of the circular room with various auction items waiting for bids. I took the business cards of any artists whose work interested me, so I might contact them and see if they were interested in allowing me to visit their studios to sketch.
Tisse Mallon found me and said I had to experience “Theater in a box”. Theater in a box was a small fabric box just big enough to seat two people. A woman had just entered the theater so Tisse suggested I get some food and come back. I loaded my plate and then Tisse told me the theater was waiting. I ducked down and entered the totally dark cave sitting in the empty seat. Jeff Wirth who was sitting opposite me turned on a small pen light which was dangling from the ceiling. As my eyes adjusted, he looked around nervously wringing his hands. Finally he said, “I don’t know how we will get out of here alive.” Slowly our precarious situation was discussed. We were lost on a cave spelunking expedition. This improve drama required that I join in the drama offering my feeble attempts to comfort Jeff, and find a way back to the surface. We had left no trail and there were hundreds of passageways and turns. Outside our dark shelter, I could hear the crowd gathering to enter the theater, but that just reminded me of how desperate the situation was. I realized suddenly that I had bought the Fringe food into the enclosure so I reminded Jeff that at least we had some food. He pointed out that it would not last long. My only way to put a positive spin on the situation was through humor. Then the thought dawned on me, park rangers would certainly send a search team after us when we did not check back in at the end of the day. I also told Jeff that they most likely would have search dogs who would be able to sniff out the food. Jeff took two small pinches off of my roll on the plate. He gave me one pinch of bread. We toasted by tapping the two crumbs together as he said, “here is to survival”.

Timucua – Brazilian Night

Terry and I went to the White House (2ooo South Summerlin Avenue) to experience some Brazilian Samba and Bossa Nova. The White House is the home of Benoit Glazer and his family. I know from past performances that he often plays with his children to start the show off. The performance space is in the Glazer living room, with its high ceilings and a spiral staircase that allows the audience many levels to watch the show from. Terry and I had a late start so we missed this opening act. When we arrived people were loading up their plates with the assortment of food in the entry. There was also a table where guests put their bottles of wine. The place was packed. I heard later that this was the highest attendance that the Benoit family had ever experienced. Terry grabbed a plate of food but I was anxious to find a place to draw from. I waited for her and when we entered the living room we could see that there were no chairs to be found. People were standing all along the walls. We made out way to the spiral staircase but Terry got a small case of vertigo and didn’t want to go up. She encouraged me to go on with out her so I climbed up to the top floor where there were only four spectators and I had a great view of the stage from the top of the landing. I started to sketch.
On the stage Edison Campos and Katherine Brodeur were working on a large portrait painting together. The painting gas of a beautiful woman and they worked very fast. The proportions were quirky yet the overall treatment was photo real. The painting was sold as soon as the show ended. Louiz Emiliano brought in two groups to play. The first group was a bit off key, but the lively beat was fun to sketch to. I finished my sketch between sets and went down the spiral staircase to see where Terry was. At the base of the staircase I bumped into Lisa Bates who told me she follows this blog. I am always shocked that there are people out there who read this stuff. Terry was close by so I introduced her to Lisa and left to get a glass of wine. I heard they had a lively conversation and had to be shushed by a woman trying to hear the music. The second group was fantastic and Terry wanted to dance. We got out on the tiny space in front of the stage with a tight crowd and let the music move us. The trumpet player was right in front of me and I could see the sweat pouring off of his brow. This is where I should have sketched from, with the music loud and clear. This sort of high energy concert in an intimate setting is what the White House is all about.

Amanda in the Sky with Guy Mans

The Met Life Snoopy One blimp came to Orlando to fly over the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament. Amanda Chadwick approached the folks who pilot the Met Life Blimp to see if she could go along for a ride, and believe it or not they said yes! She was told to invite two friends. She invited me to sketch the event and Brian Feldman to stream the flight live on TheDailyCity.com. The day prior to our flight, I saw the blimp while I was driving to work at Full Sail, so I decided to sketch it after work. The blimp was held in place by a strong red and white mooring mast and it would change positions like a weather vane every time the wind changed direction.
I was nervous and excited as the day approached. For Amanda, this was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Brian considered flying a remote control blimp inside the gondola, but that plan had been vetoed. The three of us decided to carpool to Orlando Executive Airport where the blimp was moored. She drove to the airport bundled with energy; playing a rap song on the radio which Brian then started making up blimp related lyrics to. She called her mom and explained where her will was, should that be needed, as Brian rolled his eyes. Since I had been to the launch site the day before, I navigated to the road which leads to the air traffic control tower. There were no security fences to worry about, we just drove right up to the blimp launch site. We were shocked, however, because upon arrival there was no blimp! We scanned the horizon in all directions, but it was nowhere in sight. Amanda drove right up to the trailers parked on the launch site and we piled out thinking our dreams of flying had been deflated. She asked a man who was resting in a trailer what the story was, and he explained that the pilot had taken the blimp for a spin and would be back in fifteen minutes. We let out a collective sigh.
While we waited, we wandered out to the mooring mast and checked out the portable air blowers which they must use to help keep the blimp inflated. There was also an assortment of Helium tanks strewn about near the airport fence. Then I saw it, a small bulbous shape on the horizon. I pointed and shouted, “Thar she blows!” The wind was fairly strong so the blimp’s nose kept diving down and then pulling back up as it fought it’s way up wind. A crew of about 8 men and women gathered on the field and grabbed the ropes hanging off the blimp when it landed on the grass with its nose in the wind. Small wheels were under the gondola and on the bottom tail fin. The handlers grabbed ropes which hung from the front of the blimp, and then they dragged the blimp over to its mooring mast keeping the nose facing into the wind the whole time. Within moments, Geoff, our pilot, got in and we loaded in. Amanda took the co-pilot seat, and Brian and I loaded in the back along with his marquee sign.
The moment the engines fired up and we began to move was exhilarating. The nose of the blimp pointed up and we were in the air. Each of us were given headphones with mics so we could talk to one another. My mic, however, didn’t work. The pilot suggested I wiggle the jacks where it plugged into the gondola. Great, things were already going wrong. What had I gotten myself into!? The blimp flies much faster than I thought it would. The pilot said we were going 45 miles an hour, and soon we were flying over the buildings of downtown. It seemed like every time we went over a lake, the nose of the blimp would point sharply down and we would start a nose dive. I had to put my foot on the back of Amanda’s chair and brace myself by grabbing the window latch. Brian pointed out that I was grabbing the emergency escape latch, so I grabbed the window frame instead! The pilot would pull back and make the correction and then the metal marquee sign would fall back and hit Brian and I in the knees. I was so worried I might not finish my sketch, that I lost track of our many close calls. I wiggled my headset jacks again and finally got a crackling signal. I could hear everybody in the cabin now but they didn’t seem to hear me. Isn’t that always the case? Brian said he saw a man running in a parking lot with a Batman cape on. He deduced it might be a crime taking place. We finally reached the golf tournament and could see all the cars parked on grass fields. It was a quiet green automotive oasis. We were a little too high up to see Tiger Woods, but I’m sure I found the street I live on.
When we finally made it back on solid ground, I was feeling a little queasy from all the movements of the blimp. Amanda and Brian both admitted that they got a bit motion sick as well. Amanda rested on the hood of her car talking to friends on her cell and Brian talked to the ground crew and drank plenty of water. We watched for an hour as the crew loaded a large TV camera in the blimp for shooting aerial footage of the golf tournament. As I sketched, members of the field crew came over to see what I was working on. We asked a crew member if he could take a photo of us to commemorate the day. As Amanda drove us back from the airport, she leaned back from the steering wheel and shouted, “I want more adventures!” Since she is looking, she is bound to find them.

Thrill Hill at the Lazy Gator Bar

Bike week has been going on in Daytona Beach for the last week, and when I heard there was going to be a bike week party at the Lazy Gator Bar, I had to go. I met Leslie Lormann, the lead singer of Thrill Hill, the band playing that night, at the Parliament House singing Karaoke. The Lazy Gator Bar is located right on Lake Jessup which is supposed to have the highest population of alligators of any lake in Florida. I have heard that any gator trapped in any other small lake is transported here. The bar is a tight intimate space which had to use space heaters since it was cold outside. The second I walked in Thrill Hill was taking to the stage, so Lesley said hello real fast and took to the stage.
As I sketched I realized I didn’t have any pencils, so I had to work directly in ink, and worse, I found I didn’t have my watercolor brushes. I had left them back at the studio! Dina Peterson showed up and joined me at the front table I had scouted out as a good place to sketch from. She said she tends to usually sit at this table. Since I was struggling with the sketch, she offered me a drink and I decided to get a $ 3 bud which came in a Lazy Gator mug which I later got to keep. To add color to the sketch, I poured some beer onto my palette and mixed the colors with my fingers. That is right, this one is a Budweiser finger painting, and after all is said and done, it didn’t turn out half bad.
Thrill Hill is a cover band, and Leslie sang a full assortment of modern pop songs. Several time she announced that she was going to sing a Carrie Underwood song. I kept thinking she was going to say Carrie..oke. Once my sketch was finished Dina and I shouted back and forth, leaning in to try and hear what was being said. I pointed out that it was embarrassing to have to take to a karaoke stage after Leslie had performed since she was obviously a pro. When Thrill Hills set was over, I showed Leslie my finger painting and she then started showing it to just about everyone in the bar. I was a bit embarrassed since, well, it was a finger painting. I found myself surrounded by people curious about what I do. The nice thing is that I got several leads on other possible events where I might sketch. Dina said she wasn’t sticking around for the second set, and since my sketch was done, I decided to leave as well.

DRIP – The Pollock Project

Beth Marshall is presenting a theatrical collaboration with DRIP to bring Jackson Pollock’s turbulent and brilliant life to the Mennello Museum of American Art. The Pollock Project will be part visual art, part performance, part history, part dance and part music. This collaboration will explore the marriage of Jackson Pollock’s art and the human condition. This Mennello Museum is now displaying “Auspicious Vision” which features works from Edward Wales Root’s personal collection of American art. Jackson Pollock’s work is on exhibit along with paintings by William de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Edward Hopper among other artists through May 23rd.
I went to the DRIP warehouse to watch a rehearsal for this multimedia project. In the center of the huge space was a large yellow wooden platform which had a large Plexiglas “canvas” mounted on top. The dancers were high up on ladders and Jessica Mariko turned on the recording of music performed by Phillipp Vandre and the Turfan Ensemble. I remembered this high pitched, plunking, haunting modern music from a video I had watched about Pollock when I researched his painting methods for a Halloween costume I made which I called “Jack the Dripper“.
The dance begins with the dancers struggling against gravity as they slowly climb the ladders. Upon reaching the heights, the dancers begin painting with wooden stirring sticks in unison with fluid motions. The dance surged with the electric energy of the music. Watching Pollock work is much like watching a ballet. He would lay his large canvas on the floor and walk around and on the painting as if dancing on its surface. He would bend at the waist as he waved his arm like a farmer sewing seeds onto his field. He was essentially drawing with paint, the lines fluid without describing a specific form. His work was about expressing feelings rather than illustrating them.
After the dancers finished the painting on Plexiglas, I wandered over to look up at they had created. The paint was a bit too thin so it just pooled upon the plastic like mercury, not retaining any linear forms. Jessica decided next time they would have to use thicker paint. There was also some concern as to how they would clean up once the piece was done. It would be impossible to transport the huge sheet of Plexiglas outside to hose it down. I suggested they stretch a thin plastic film onto the frame and then they could poke a hole in the center when they were done and drain the paint into a paint can. I will be curious to see how they resolve this in the end.
I am very excited to see how this artistic collaboration turns out. There are only two performances of “The Pollock Project”: Saturday March 27th at 7 PM and Sunday March 28th at 2 PM.

Toast to Elizabeth Maupin at the Rep

I bought some potato salad, macaroni salad and soda and headed down to the Orlando Reperatory Theater in Lock Haven Park for the toast to former Orlando Theater critic Elizabeth Maupin. When I pulled into the parking lot, Elizabeth was just getting out of her car so for once my timing was perfect. When I got inside I was directed as to where I should place my food items. I wandered the room wondering where I should situate myself for a sketch. I spoke for a while with actor, Alan Gallant, who had played Orson Wells in “War of the Worlds.” I learned a bit about what it is like to try and make a living in this town as an actor. I then spoke with Zac Alfson who was just back from NYC where he attended a marketing workshop. A woman stood on the small makeshift stage and shouted “Start eating!” I admired her directness and kind of wish politicians could be that straight forward and to the point.
When I saw where Elizabeth was going to sit, I decided to go up to the second floor balcony so I could get a good overhead view of the whole scene. The railing was too high for me to see over with simply my stool. So I pulled up a chair then put my stool on top of it. This high precarious perch gave me an overall view of the proceedings. She can be seen in the lower right hand corner of my sketch with her husband and three other men. As everyone was eating, I finished up the initial line work. Brian Feldman walked in with his marquee sign. He saw me up on the balcony with hand signs, he asked me where to place it. When he found the right spot, I gave him a thumbs up. He went to the men’s room and while he was gone, someone took it upon themselves to rotate the sign towards the front door. When he came back in, he looked up at me with a “what the f…) expression. I gave a hand rotation signal and he rotated the sign back so I could see. Zac came upstairs to see how my sketch was going. He asked if he was in it, and I hadn’t sketched him. I told him if he socialized in the center section of the room, I would put him in the sketch. So he is in the sketch, twice actually, once standing and also seated.
When performers took to the stage I was adding washes. One song in particular was really heart warming, I wrote down the only note for the night, “Where’s the challenge if you never try?” Another song spoke about how we meet certain people in our life who help us grow. My mind wandered and I reflected on the good friends I have met since I have started sketching theater productions. I felt a warm connection to this theater community. Or, as Margaret Nolan said in a Facebook status update, “The evening had a great energy and was full of heart and soul. Just what the world needs!”

TheDailyCity.com Mobile Art Show #7

Mark Baratelli of TheDailyCity.com and I discussed the idea of exhibiting my work downtown for some time, and on the third Thursday of March everything fell into place to make this event happen. Mark rented the truck and drove it to Frames Forever & Art Gallery, owned and run by Katie Windish. Katie offered advice on how to hang the work in the truck. I did a huge version of a previous Mobile Art Show sketch and I blew it up so it covered the side of the truck facing the gallery. It was a fairly easy job to tape the large sketch to the truck. I used a hanging strategy I created at FRESH where the sketchbooks were framed in shadow boxes and hung from the ceiling. The plan then was to wallpaper as much of the inside of the truck as I could with prints of sketches I had done over the last year. Hanging this work simply involved two pieces of scotch tape for each sketch; not really as much of a task as I had figured it might be.

When six o’clock rolled around, I met Mark down at the CityArts Factory parking spot. He pulled up and honked. We quickly started taping and hanging Christmas lights, wires and sketches. I managed to drop one of the shadow box frames and it shattered on the floor of the truck. I had to use scotch tape to hold it together for the duration of the show. People started entering the truck and looking around even as we worked. The prints started selling immediately. Every time I walked in the truck I sold one or two prints.

Through Facebook, I arranged with Tamara Gray to get a model who works at Universal Studios dressed up for Mardi Gras and on stilts making her nine feet tall. The idea was that the model, Lyn Sky, would grab people’s attention as they walked down the street towards the CityArts Factory openings. We invited artists to come out for a free sketching session right on the sidewalk and perhaps five or seven artists in all came out and took advantage of this free modeling offer. I started this sketch, but kept getting pulled away for radio and TV interviews. There was a Kerouac House fundraiser going on at Urban Flats right up the street. Summer Rodman and Kim Buchheit both from the Kerouac House stopped by and admired the show. Emma Hughes stopped by to pick up an original sketch I had done for her parents. It seemed like my attention was being diverted every few seconds. The sketch of Hannah Miller in her wedding dress sold while Hannah was in the truck looking at other works. She wondered aloud, “Why would they want a sketch of me?”

Just as I sat down and started putting on some final washes on this sketch, I realized the evening was over. Now we had to break down the show and load everything into my truck. After everything was packed away, Mark, Brian Feldman and myself went to IHOP for some pancakes and some lively late night discussion. The whole quirky show was an exciting whirlwind of activity, a once in a lifetime experience.