Leu Gardens

I went to Leu Gardens last week to sketch and report on a meeting of the City Public Art Advisory Board. This group selects artwork that hangs on the walls at City Hall and chooses the sculptures found in public places around town. Developers pay a 1 percent fee that goes into Public Art Fund coffers. As an artist I figured it was my responsibility to learn more. When I got to the Leu Gardens reception desk, I was told that there was not enough interest among members of the board and they didn’t have enough members planning to attend for a quorum. An e-mail was sent out at 8am that morning canceling the board meeting. I was not informed. Most people don’t know this board exists. Now I know why.

Later that week, I returned to Leu Gardens for the Annual plant sale. Terry and I go to this event every year to get inspiration for our own garden. It was a beautiful day with flowers in bloom everywhere. I arrived before Terry thinking I might get a sketch. Mosquitoes drove me away from one spot and an old man started telling me all about a geyser that apparently used to shoot up 100 feet from Lake Fairview. Since my sketch opportunities had been interrupted, I decided to get an ice cream cone. Delicious.

When Terry arrived I decided to simply stroll and enjoy the perfect weather. We kept running into people we knew, like Doug Rhodehamel, who now has a show called Dessication which uses dried plant matter to create whimsical under water creatures. Amanda Chadwick joined us. It was rather fun watching Amanda try and catch a photo of a Monarch butterfly on her iPhone. The Monarch never posed for long and Amanda was always in the wrong spot. I believe she did get her shot in the end. After seeing all the vendors, the three of us went down to the lake side gazebo. We bumped into Genevieve Bernard and Seth Kubersky And the conversations bounced between Passover practices, bird watching and travel adventures. Turtles and fish circled in the water expecting a hand out. An Osprey swooped down and splashed into the water grabbing a fish. The setting sun sparkled on the waters surface. It was a perfect way to end the day.

Zombietoberfest

You know Halloween is approaching when zombies roam the streets of the Audubon Garden district. As Terry and I approached late that night we noticed a few zombies stumbling down Corrine Drive. There was a large crowd of zombies outside Park Avenue CD. We arrived at Stardust Video and Coffee around 11pm. When we opened the door, a loud pulsing rhythm shook us as a band played angrily. Decomposing bodies around us writhed to the beat. Terry clutched my hand as I searched for the right sketching vantage point. Rather than committing to a sketch of the band, I decided to search the other rooms for zombies.
The food and drink order counter had a line of zombies that stretched out the door. Chad Bruce and Dana VanZandt were seated at a small corner table and they waved us over. Chad’s sweatshirt was thickly spattered with blood. Dana was dressed as a huntress. When asked about their outfits, they demonstrated their method of hunting zombies. Dana had a human brain that she dangled from a fishing line off the end of a stick. Her job was to lure a zombie close using the brain as bait. Then Chad would unholster the golf club at his hip and strike the zombie down with swift blows to the head.
A zombie was checking his iPhone as he waited in line. A female zombie held a human brain on a plate. When she turned to me I noticed the bullet hole in the center of her forehead. She said she was one of the models at a Boudoir Bombshells photo shoot I sketched several months ago her name is Tamarie Lang. I tried to recognize her but couldn’t get past the blood and bruising. When the quiet demure woman in the red kimono finally turned around, her face wash ashen and blood was dripping from her lips. It was hard to notice if there was blood on her red kimono. Doug Rhodehamel stopped in front of me, frozen mid-stride in his walk. It took a few seconds for me to notice him and I laughed out loud at his attempt to get in the sketch.
When the sketch was done I considered going in the loud room full of writhing zombies, but Terry was tired so I decided it was a one sketch night . My zombie hunting was complete. The event was supposed to end at midnight anyway so I didn’t have time for another sketch.

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.

Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival

On Friday March 19th, the 51st Annual Winter Park Art Sidewalk Festival started. I decided to go right after work at Full Sail when Kathy Blackmore told me that there was going to be a jazz band featuring songwriter Peter White kicking off the night’s festivities on the main stage. I knew I had other commitments over the weekend, so this would likely be my only chance to sketch the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. I would be exhibiting my art at the Outsider Art Fair at Frames Forever (941 Orange Avenue Winter Park). There, I plan to sketch Doug Rhodehamel, who makes his unmistakable mushrooms out of brown paper bags, and Brian Feldman, who will be performing “sleepwalk 2, i walk over you”. Both of these are priceless sketch opportunities.
When I arrived at the festival, I wandered and soaked in the energy and excitement of all people gathered for the event. The outdoor cafes were packed. Conversations were buzzing. My pace quickened. As I looked through several artists booths, I ran into Terry and Rick Loewen. Terry and Rick are old friends from ORCA which stands for Orlando Reef Caretakers Association. Terry and Rick informed me that ORCA would be hosting the Marine Aquarium Conference of North America this September, so this is certainly an event I hope to sketch. They told me I could get a hotel room discount at the Marriott Resort, which didn’t make sense at first. But then they told me they would have a Margarita making machine in their room and I agreed, a hotel room was a great idea! If you happen to work at the Marriott, I made that last piece of business up.
I was anxious to find my way to the Winter Park Arts Festival jazz, so I told Rick and Terry I would see them by the main stage. The lawn in front of the stage was already crowded. I walked down the sidewalk and found a spot between artist’s tents where I could sit. I of course started sketching immediately since the sun was setting. A couple asked if they could sit in the spot next to me and, of course, I agreed. When I was about halfway through the sketch, the man seated next to me who was sipping a red wine, put his hand on my shoulder and said, “I love your work, can I see the sketch?” The watercolor was still wet in spots, but I handed it over. He shared it with his wife and they agreed, that they wanted to buy it. I gave him my card so he could check out the blog and told him to leave a comment if he still wanted it. I hope I have found another reader!
The Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival continues at Central Park in Winter Park through March 21st at 5 PM.