Britt Daley

I had just finished up a Doctor Sketchy’s drawing session at Tatame Sake Lounge (223 West Fairbanks Avenue, Winter Park.) As I packed up my supplies, a woman walked in carrying various band equipment. After she leaned the equipment against the wall, she stood in the doorway. I recognized her, but I couldn’t place her in a recognizable context. I must have been staring because she finally pointed to me and said, “We met at Evan and Christy Miga’s house. The light bulb flickered on. Her name is Britt Daley and she helped Evan out by singing backup vocals for the hilarious, Dog Powered Robot.

She and her drummer Scott Christy began setting up on the small Tatame stage. I threw my backpack over my shoulder and started for the door. I planned to sketch at Tanqueray’s where Kaleigh Baker was performing. Britt caught me and said, “Your not leaving are you? You haven’t seen me perform.” I told he I had been sketching when she was interviewed on Orange TV. Then I agreed to stay and watch one set. Britt has been writing songs for years. Many deal with heart ache and not being able to let go. Her voice is silky smooth and the songs left me quietly sad. She shouted out, “I am dedicating this song to Christina, it is called ‘It’s Too Late’.” This song about a couple at a crossroads left me truly sad, there was only a faint quiver of hope that could only be found in the harmony itself. I was caught off guard. I didn’t expect to find original music with this much emotional depth to be sung in a small sake bar. I was struck to the core.

Between sets, James, the guitar player and drummer, sat next to me. He checked out the sketch and I explained that I didn’t have the time to get him in the sketch yet. He assured me that they would perform again. As “Sunlight in Her Hair” performed, I took the time to add color washes in the background. When Britt Daley took to the stage again, she noticed me sketching. She asked, “Are you sketching us?” When I nodded my head, she turned to the audience and said with childish delight, “Thor is sketching us!” Then she turned to me and said, “I want to see that when I get off stage.” The second set was just as good as the first. I felt emotionally drained when the sketch was complete. I did show her the sketch before I left, and she seemed pleased. I asked her for her cards, so I could learn more about her music. Listen to her songs online, you will be glad you did.

Crealde Sunday Sketch Class

Every Sunday at Crealde there is a sketch class from 10AM to 12:30PM. I write it in my calender every week but usually there is some other arts related event that I end up going to sketch. This week they places one of my Crealde sketches on the invitation so I made an extra effort to show some solidarity and I headed out to the class.
The class starts out with 2 minute gestures then 5e minute gestures. By the end of the class the model is taking 20 minute poses. I started the sketch by blocking in a 5 minute gesture of the model on her stand. Then for the rest of the class I focused on the artists as they concentrated on the task at hand. The model named Jenny looked familiar to me but I couldn’t figure out where I had seen her before. Half way through the class when she was on a break I finally shouted out, “You were Alice!” She admitted that she had modeled for a group called “Sketchy Broads.”
There is another sketching event in town called “Dr. Sketchy’s.” A lot of new people going to Dr. Sketchy’s were really confused about the two sketching events– they had similar names, similar themes, they were both on Wednesdays, etc. Artists started thinking Sketchy Broads and Dr. Sketchy were the same group, or would get dates confused, showing up at Tatame (where Dr. Sketchy’s is usually held) on the wrong night. Because of this confusion, Molly Crabaapple who is the head of Dr. Sketchy’s, sent Jenny an e-mail explaining how Dr. Sketchy’s is a notable world-wide brand, and how there’s been confusion between the events, so she asked if Jenny could change the name. “Sketchy Broads” is now called “The Notorious Unnamed Sketch Club.” I plan to head out to their next event called “Lions Lindsays and Bears…Oh My!” on Wednesday, June 23rd at 6:30PM to 9:00PM at Stardust Video and Coffee. I like that new venues like this are popping up.
Since I kept working on this sketch even through the breaks, I never had a chance to see any other artists work. There were perhaps about 10 artists at the session. I need to go back more often to just sketch the model and experiment with different ways of working. Sketching the nude figure is always a great way to charge the creative battery.

Dr. Sketchy’s – Tatame Lounge

I decided to relax for an evening and work with a model. Dr. Sketchy’s meets every first Wednesday of each month at Tatame Lounge (223 West Fairbanks Road). I found a parking spot right around the corner from the Lounge and when I walked in people were already drawing. With the first set of poses the model was dressed as a 1960’s housewife. She had a voluptuous figure and was a joy to sketch. I quickly sketched her figure and then focused my attention on all the fellow artists at work. Seated next to me was Joey Fisher who knew of my blog and asked me about my approach to a sketch. I explained how I block the picture in and we spoke for a few minutes between sets.
A waitress explained the specials for the night and I was looking forward to getting a sake but she never came back. I think the fact that I never stop working when I start a sketch throws people off and they are afraid to approach me. The light hanging above the spot I sat at was burned out. Joey managed to get a staff member to come over and replace the bulb. After the bulb was replaced, it immediately flickered off again. Something was wrong with the bulb connection. Jennifer Gwynne Oliver a fellow Former Disney artist came over and lent me her book light. I had a book light but I liked hers better it had a gentle warm glow whereas mine was way to bright.
Towards the end of the posing session a large group entered the bar and they crowded around the back of the room where I was seated. Things got loud and soon most of the artists were chatting it up as well. When it came time for the Dr. Sketchy’s competition, I was nowhere near finished with my sketch. The prize was a Disney book which I honestly didn’t want anyway so I didn’t compete. If you don’t compete, you can’t loose. Before I knew it the evenings sketching session was over. I left with a single sketch which makes me wonder if I got my $5 worth for the evenings modeling session.

Audubon Market

The Audubon Market has returned to the parking lot at Stardust Video and Coffee 1842 East Winter Park Road. This market opens every Wednesday night and runs from 5 PM to 9 PM. This is a small local market with live music, a massage station, a fortune teller, a table of delectables like candied apples and other sweets, hand crafted jewelry and clothing, plants, the list is endless. Most importantly it is a place where friends can mingle and talk.
I bumped into Karrie Brown who was selling some of her hand made feather hair pieces. Karrie introduced me to the caricature artist at the event named Marie Bolton – Joubert. Marie is a whirlwind of constant activity. She introduced me to a cause she is backing which involves the shooting of 2 dogs here in sunny Central Florida. She showed me a courtroom sketch she did of an early hearing in this case and now I am planning to go to the court to see if the shooter is acquitted. I should post about this hearing in early November. Then she insisted I sit down and she whipped out a caricature of me in a matter of minutes while talking the whole time. The caricature is great!
I neglected to mention that the reason I went to Stardust Video and Coffee was to attend Dr. Sketchy’s but once I discovered all the activity in the nighttime market I had to sketch the market and I never went inside. It was boiling hot outside as well and I had to wipe the sweat off my hands several times to keep from smearing the watercolors.