Live painting demo in the Rose Garden.

The Winter Park Paint Out has brought about 25 plein air painters from all over the country to central Florida where they are capturing the area’s charm mostly with oils on canvas. From 6pm to 8pm on April 26th, John Guernsey from Marietta Georgia gave an Oil Painting Demonstration on Dynamic Shadows in the Rose Garden in Central Park. Bring a blanket or lawn chair and join us in Central Park by the Rose Garden. Spectators brought lawn chairs to sit and watch as the painting took shape. It was the golden hour, so warm light ignited the scene as the sun set.

John had completed the drawing aspect of the small composition by the time I arrived. He then blocked in dark shadows using a large two inch flat paint brush. He used this brush for the entire painting using mostly vertical and horizontal strokes. The resulting grid was a bit like a pixelated version of the scene. He used the paint thickly and boldly. He worked incredibly fast. When the sun set behind the trees in the west, he stepped away and said he was done. In a conversation with someone, he said that architects and graphic designers are great wit the drawn aspect of a painting, but the messy and abstract blocking in of colors and valves often gives them trouble. Even after the demo was over, John kept adding dark strokes to the canvas to push the value range.

The Paint Out will come to a close with a Garden Party from 6pm to 9pm tonight, April 30th at the Polasek Museum (633 Osceola Ave, Winter Park, FL). Tickets are $100. Each ticket enti­tles the buyer to $50.00 off the pur­chase of a paint­ing dur­ing the Gar­den Party! (Limit one ticket per paint­ing val­ued at $300 or more)

Weekend Top 6 Picks for April 30th and May 1st.

Saturday April 30, 2016

10am to 4pm Free. Seventh Annual Hannibal Square Heritage Center Folk and Urban Art Festival. Hannibal Square Heritage Center 642 W New England Ave, Winter Park, Florida. The annual festival celebrates culture and diversity through art and music. More than 25 Florida artists offer their works for sale, including members of the original Florida Highwaymen and the B-Side Artists collective. There’s music by the Porchdogs Cajun and Zydeco Band and Orisirisi African Folklore. A “Kid-folk” workshop culminates in a public parade. Food trucks.

Noon to 8pm Free. Earth Fest. Secret Lake Park 200 N Triplet Lake Dr, Casselberry, Florida. The City of Casselberry and Casselberry’s Friends of the Park will be hosting the 7th annual “Earth Fest 2016” , Seminole County’s largest Earth Day event!! The celebration will be held on April 30th, 2016 from 12 Noon till 6 PM, followed by EarthFest Jam concert from 6—8 PM, at its new location in Secret Lake Park-Casselberry. Our goal is to provide a positive venue and unique opportunity for participants to learn about their environment, while sponsors, vendors and artisan’s showcase their Earth-friendly products and services. Earth Fest 2016 is a FREE community sponsored event.

7pm to 9pm $30 per person. Price includes all paint supplies, canvas and a free glass of wine. Wine and Paint Social. Vinyl Arts Bar 75 E Colonial Dr, Orlando, Florida. Join us for some wine and painting. This is a fun and interactive experience where you get to be the artist. Guided by a professional artist, you’ll get to paint your own piece of artwork and bring your canvas home with you. This event is great for couples, girl’s night out, or just a group of friends wanting to socialize and meet new people. Please arrive 15 minutes early. The painting begins at 7pm sharp.

Bethany Myers is an Orlando artist best known for her brightly colored blind contour paintings and also works in photo realism, mixed media and line drawing. She has taught art to elementary school kids, senior citizens and all ages in-between. Project driven, Bethany has painted street art boxes for the Mills50 organization in downtown Orlando and completed a project in which she produced one painting a week for a year. She is currently working on a mural for a local women’s/children’s shelter.

Sunday May 1, 2016

1pm to 4pm Free. Music at the Casa. Casa Feliz 656 N Park Ave, Winter Park, FL.

2pm to 4pm $40 The Taste at I-Drive 360! I-Drive 360, Home of the Orlando Eye 8445 International Dr, Orlando, Florida. The Taste at I-Drive 360, will benefit Esophageal Cancer at Florida Hospital. Come and enjoy samplings of food from 9 restaurants featuring a variety of flavorful bites while enjoying all of the attractions the I-Drive 360, Home of the Orlando Eye has to offer!

Ticket includes tastings from the following restaurants:

Outback Steakhouse – Orlando – I-Drive 360

Paramount Fine Foods USA

Buffalo Wild Wings

Tin Roof Orlando

Cowgirls Rockbar Orlando

Sugar Factory Orlando

Shake-shack

Naru Sushi Bar Orlando

Tapa Toro

2pm to 4pm Free Yoga. Lake Eola Park, 195 N Rosalind Ave, Orlando, FL near the red pagoda. Every week.

Waimea Canyon on Kauai.

Kauai is the oldest of the large Hawaiian islands. It is the top of an enormous volcano rising from the ocean floor. With lava flows dated to about 5 million years ago. Roughly 4 million years ago, while Kauai
was still erupting almost continuously, a portion of the island
collapsed. This collapse formed a depression which then filled with lava
flows. In the millions of years since, rainwater from the slopes of Mount Waiʻaleʻale
have eroded Waimea Canyon along one edge of the collapse. On the east
side of the canyon, the cliff walls are built from thick lava flows that
pooled in the depression. Over time, the exposed basalt has weathered
from its original black to bright red.

The spectacular site is also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. The canyon is ten miles  long and up to 3,000 feet deep. Waimea is Hawaiian for “reddish water”, a reference to the erosion of the canyon’s red soil. The canyon was formed by a deep incision of the Waimea River arising from the extreme rainfall on the island’s central peak, Mount Waiʻaleʻale, among the wettest places on earth.

No single sketch can capture the scale and grandeur of the place. On this vacation, I shot video as well as sketching. The tightly edited video offers a quick glimpse into the island’s beauty. Digital storage devices have changed since I edited the video so I need to do a digital transfer if I want to preserve the moving images. That is one good thing about sketches. They can always be seen as long as they aren’t destroyed by fire, earthquake, or a meteor strike

The Timucua White House is granted a Conditional Use Permit.

Benoit Glazer and The Timucua Arts Foundation has been providing world class art and music to the Orlando community free of charge for a long while. In 2007 Benoit built a custom home that was built around an acoustically perfect music hall with two levels of balconies overlooking the stage. The living room concert venue is completely soundproof so that neighbors never hear the music. Dozens of performances happen each year, most of them free of charge. Guests bring wine and food to the venue for each concert which cultivates a true sense of a community potluck. The Timucua Arts Foundation, is a benefactor to cutting edge music organizations like the Accidental Music Festival and the Civic Minded 5. The White House has established itself as a culture beacon for the Central Florida Music scene.

The home is in an area zoned for residential use, so the Orlando Municipal Planning Board demanded that Benoit apply for a conditional use permit. That type of permit is typically issued when the city wants to allow an
activity beneficial to the community despite zoning restrictions. Without the permit, one of the
most enlightened cultural lights in Orlando
would be be extinguished. An online petition was established to try and save the White House. Over one hundred people signed it in the first hour. In all 832 people signed the petition.

At 8:30am on April 19th, Benoit and his wife Elaine Corrivev, sat in the City Counsel Chambers to hear the Planning Board’s verdict. The Chambers were packed full of supporters for this home spun cultural institution. Jeremy Seghers sat in the row in front of me and Diana Rodriguez Portillo sat next to me to chat. There were so many friends of the arts in the room. The chair, Jason Searl, said he had to abstain from the vote since his little daughter takes piano lessons at the Benoit’s house. He clearly couldn’t be impartial. With in a matter of minutes, the Conditional Use Permit was granted. There was an audible sigh of relief and then most of the people in the room got up to leave. Exited conversations began and the celebration continued just outside the chamber doors. The concerts will continue with some conditions: Glazer will have to
formalize a parking agreement with the city for use of nearby spaces at
Wadeview Park, limit attendance to 99 guests and guarantee events end by
10:30 p.m. In some small measure, the bureaucrats won, but music and art will continue to shine at the White House. 

This, we believe:

Art and music belong to everyone.

Art and music are the highest manifestation of our humanity.

Art and music should be enjoyed in the most intimate venue: the living room.

Every community is better when art and music are performed and nurtured within it.

The Winter Park Paint Out takes over Park Avenue.

The Albin Polasek Museum and Sculp­ture Gar­dens will host its eighth Annual Win­ter Park Paint Out dur­ing the last full week of April 2016. Twenty-five pro­fes­sion­ally acclaimed Plein Air artists will roam across the city cap­tur­ing many of your favorite land­scapes and land­marks with oils, water­col­ors and pas­tels. Plein Air, a French term mean­ing “in the open air”, describes art works painted out­doors with the sub­ject directly in view rather than in a stu­dio. Plein air artists cap­ture the spirit and essence of a landscape or sub­ject by incor­po­rat­ing nat­ural light, color and move­ment into their works.

 If you’re an art lover, a patron, or just curi­ous to see what the buzz
is about, stop by the Polasek Museum to see the lat­est from the 25
artists in action! The museum, sculp­ture gar­dens and gallery will be
open free to the pub­lic through this excit­ing week-long event.
Com­pleted paint­ings will be hung in the gallery’s ‘Wet Room’
imme­di­ately. As the week pro­gressesthe gallery will fill with Plein Air art­work. Be sure to visit often to watch the artists work
and to pur­chase these one-of-a kind paint­ings the moment they are hung
on the wall.

On Monday, the first day of the Paint Out, I met Robert Ross who was set up near Writer’s Block Bookstore just East of Park Avenue on Welborne Avenue. Since Winter Park has just recently passed an ordinance making it illegal to create art or Perform on Park Avenue, I wanted to observe artists who where were immune from the $500 fine and or 60 days in jail for creating art in the forbidden zone. Each painter I saw on that day to had a Winter Park Paint Out sign which was a visual hint to police that they were sanctioned by the Museum. Several Russian women stopped to watch Rob a work, and shoot some photos. I passed four Plein Air painters hard at work as I walked back to my car. Odd that a city that just recently outlawed art should suddenly be over run by 25 artists from around the country for a week. why not allow free expression all year?

Mark Your Calendar for the free Paint Out demonstrations and workshops. Tonight April 26th, there is the “Dynamic Shadows Oil Painting Demonstration” by John Guernsey.  Bring a blanket or lawn chair and join us in Central Park by the Rose Garden. On Wednesday April 2tth, there is a Sunset “Paint-In” at the Winter Park Racquet Club, (2111 Via Tuscany, Winter Park). Paint Out Artists gather on the shore of Lake Mait­land at the Win­ter Park Rac­quet Club to cap­ture a beau­ti­ful Florida sun­set, then take a break from the week’s activ­i­ties. Come share the vista with us and watch as these out­stand­ing artists cre­ate a sun­set mem­ory on can­vas.  A cash-only bar and buf­fet will be avail­able to non-members, so please make an evening of it! April 30th from 6pm to 9pm is the Paint Out Garden Party.  Tickets to this event are, $100 in advance, and $125 at the door

Waikiki Beach is beautiful.

Waikiki is a beachfront neighborhood of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii, United States. Waikiki is best known for Waikiki Beach, the white sand beach shoreline fronting the neighborhood. The name Waikiki means spouting fresh water in the Hawaiian language, for springs and streams that fed wetlands that once separated it from the interior.

Colors were vibrant and pure, especially during the golden hour as the sun set. Resorts dot every inch of the shoreline to cater to the endless stream of tourists. The water was warm and the white sand beach inviting. Sadly this marked the end of the vacation. We yearned to stay, but work beckoned back in Orlando.

The Saint Regis Princeville Resort on Kauai has all the amenities,

In contrast to the humble beach front Plantation cottages, Saint Regis Princeville Resort is plush and opulent. Located in the 9,000 acre resort community of Princeville at Hanalei,
this luxury resort on Kauai resides on the northern shore of the “Garden
Island” and provides visitors all the amenities expected from an island
destination considered to be one of the most spectacular in Hawaii.
Guests of our Kauai resort reside in a bastion of tropical
sophistication featuring cuisine that celebrates local flavors along
with an array of diverse activities. The site of the hotel was known as Pu’u Poa or Pu’u Pa’oa– Pu’u meaning
mountain and Pa’oa meaning the staff of the Fire Goddess, Pele who when
searching for a new home would strike her staff into the earth to
create a new crater. Directly below the hotel are remnants of an
ancient Hawaiian fishpond built in prehistoric time. Known as
Kamo’omaika’i it was one of the few kuapa (ocean wall) type fishponds on
Kauai.

The hotel was used in the filming of Jurassic Park, and I believe the lobby was inspiration for the scene in Lilo and Stitch in which Nani applied for a job while Stitch a used havoc trying to romance an elder tourist.

Terry relaxed in a lounge chair reading while I struggled to capture the sunset. Black volcanic rock dotted the shoreline. The gorgeous mountains turn mountains turned magnificent shades of purple and blue, as the clouds glowed orange. Every moment on this beautiful island begs to be captured. An artist would never fall short of subjects on this corner of paradise.

Opera Orlando at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

Spring time marked the boisterous rebirth of Opera in Orlando. Opera Orlando presented The Impresario, which is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s “comedy with music”, followed by Les Mamelles de Tiresias, Poulenc‘s “fertile farce.” A small orchestra was set up in the lower balcony. I went to the final dress rehearsal which had a small audience with friends and family.

Mozart’s comedy was quite fun and director Eric Pinder did a fabulous job of modernizing the story so that it referenced Orlando. Two producers contemplated a small low budget opera. They admired the theater and even shot a selfie in the opulent theater. I liked that the ghost lamp remained on stage. A ghost light is put on stage when the theater is unoccupied. Superstition states that it allows ghosts which occupy the theater the opportunity to perform on t empty stage. This appeases the ghosts so they do not sabotage a production. To keep costs down, t he producers decide to stage a production with no set pieces. A diva entered from house left and walked up to the stage. She was an older well established performer who faced rumors that she could no longer hit the high notes. She performed a solo that was comically flamboyant and over the top. She demanded $5000 a performance and stormed off stage.

A theater patron, Deep Pockets, entered and offered a sizable donation if the producers would hire a female singer he had discovered. She turned out to be a bawdy burlesque performer who also demanded $5000 a performance. What followed us a hilarious battle of wills as the two female divas tried to out sing each other. This was a hilarious production that was sung and perform in English, so there us no need for subtitles.

The only hint of the second production, Les Mamelle de Tresias in my sketch, is the large balloon creature in the upper balcony. It had many appendage like an octopus and a snout that looks like a large inflated rubber. This creature would hoover over the audience at the end of Poulenc’s farce about fertility. I plan to go back to do another sketch.

Mark your Calendar! There are two performances left. One is tonight, Saturday April 23rd at 7:30pm. The other is Sunday April 24 at 2 pm. Tickets cost between $10 to $66. You can call the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (445 South Magnolia Avenue Orlando FL) box office Monday through Friday 10am to 4pm. Saturday from noon to 4pm.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for April 23rd and 24th.

Saturday April 23.2016

7:30pm to 9:30pm Tickets Start at $10. Opera Orlando presents Mozart’s Impresario and Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias

Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater in the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. 445 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL 32801. What will a struggling opera company do to stay afloat…?  Anything the
Impresario wants!  In this unique, premiere pairing, Mozart’s classic
comedy “The Impresario” is updated to modern day Orlando, Florida where a
struggling opera company desperate to do anything to survive must
enlist the financial help of a flamboyant opera patron, Mr
Deep-Pockets.  He only makes one request; that the company use his two
new soprano flings, Everly Shrills and Bethany Squeals in the company’s
next production.  With all the needed backing from Mr Deep-Pockets, the
Impresario can now do a piece he’s always dreamed of.

10:30pm to Midnight Free but get a drink and bite. Son Flamenco.  Ceviche Tapas Orlando, 125 W Church St, Orlando, FL. Hot blooded Flamenco danci to live acoustic guitar.

Starting at 3:30pm The Florida Music Festival 2016

BullittBar

9:30pm: Devmo

10:30pm: Freedom Fighterz

Cheyenne Saloon:

6:00pm: Andrew Allen Trio

7:00pm: The Band J4

8:00pm: Jocelyn and Chris Arndt Band

9:00pm: 90 Proof Twang

10:00pm: Diamond Dixie

11:00pm: Jill’s Cashbox

12:00am: JunoSmile

12:30am: ULTIMATE TRIBUTE: JOHNNY CASH

Church Street Station:

7:30pm: Sleeping with Sunshine

8:30pm: Sunghosts

9:30pm: Yardij

10:30pm: Plane versus Cult

11:30pm: Billy Wright Band

12:30am: American Party Machine

Magnolia:

7:00pm: Taylor Raynor

8:00pm: Nicholas Roberts

8:45pm: Amber Lynn Nicol

Tanquerays:

10:00pm: 8 Stories High

The Plaza Theater: Kasa: Closing Party

7:00pm: Fretless Rock

Wall Street Plaza I:

3:30pm: O-Sky

4:30pm: School of Rock

5:30pm: Eden Shireen

6:30pm: The Getbye

7:30pm: Sarah Q

8:30pm: The Bloody Jug Band

9:30pm: I-Resolution

10:30pm: Hor!zen

11:30pm: THE SUPERVILLAINS

Wall Street Plaza II: 

4:00pm: Bothering Dennis

7:00pm: Alex Da Ponte

6:00pm: Army Gideon

7:00pm: Aymber

8:00pm: King Complex

9:00pm: On The Avenue

10:00pm: Kasson

11:00pm: Violectric

Sunday April 24, 2016 

10am to 3:30pmish Free. Past Meets Present Art Sale. Winter Park Central Park 251 S Park Ave, Winter Park, Florida. Thor from Analog Artist Digital World and X will
be selling prints and original art in Winter Park’s “First Amendment
Zone”, Central Park. Some of the work was created Illegally after Winter
Park passed an ordinance banning the creation of art on Park Avenue.
Other paintings celebrate Winter Park’s natural beauty.

Noon to 2pm Free but get food and drink. Florida Gospel Jam. Fish on Fire 7937 Daetwyler Drive Belle Isle FL. Every 2nd and 4th Sunday. 

2pm to 4pm Tickets Start at $10. Opera Orlando presents Mozart’s Impresario and Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias

Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater in the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. 445 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL 32801. Les Mamelles de
Tiresias or The Breasts of Tiresias; a surrealist piece by Francis
Poulenc.  The absurdist, gender-bending plot starts with a housewife
(Terese) who is sick of doing chores and serving her husband so she
removes her breasts (two balloons) and becomes a man (Tiresias) which
leads to her husband taking on the role of the woman and now having to
produce babies by himself which he does, only too well…

Waimea Plantation Cottages.

My favorite place to stay in Kauai was at the humble Waimea Plantation Cottages (9400 Kaumualii Hwy, Waimea, HI) which were right on a black sand beach. These refurbished sugar-plantation cottages, which were originally built in the early 1900s, offer a relaxed setting, with tropical-inspired decor
and mahogany, rattan or wicker furnishings. All come with full kitchens,
cable TV, and free WiFi, plus private patios.

Roosters wandered around the property, and walking down the black sand beach feels like walking on another planet. Large black driftwood stumps offered a resting spot on the beach, to sit and soak in fabulous sunsets.  Each cottage has a kitchen, so this quickly felt like home. Set in a coconut grove, this makes a perfect place to set up a home camp on the island.

The cabins are weathered and worn, which I felt added to their local charm, so If you prefer opulent decor, then this might not be the place for you. In the evening, the soothing sound of the surf lulled me to sleep. Staying here of feel chance to slow down, and find some piece. 

When we got back to Orlando, production on the feature animate film, Lilo and Stitch began in earnest and the calming memories helped me crank out piles of drawings and deal with the overtime needed during the film’s crunch time.