Gift of the Magi

As part of 4th Fest, on July 4th, Thunder Hag and A_Scissors will present a puppet show titled, “Gift of the Magi.” Hannah Miller is the artist who is designing and building all the puppets and set flats for the show. The performance will be at 8Pm to 9PM at Lake Ivanhoe. This will be an ambient marionette show where you can see the puppeteers.
CrocoGirl who is a gator that was partially transformed into a human is on of the major characters in the show. Hannah Miller explained that when she was drilling holes in the gator head, she was treated to the most horrendous smell. The set flats Hannah was working on had a blue sequin sky with light blue wisps of clouds. As I sketched she was working on adding a wood grain look to the tree trunks ising golden string held in place with hot glue.
The story begins with a girl who lived in the Everglades. She looks out over the glades and falls in love with a pair of eyes that are always watching her. She performs for the eyes and grows to expect that constant loving gaze. One day the eyes disappear. Distraught, the girl petitions the moon to help her find the loving eyes again. To help her on that quest, the moon transforms her into a bird. She flies over the Glades searching for the eyes she loved.
The eyes belonged to a Crocodile and she was transformed as well becoming part human but retaining her animal instincts. The bird settles on a branch just above the Crocogirl. Crocogirl still desires the bird but that desire has more to do with hunger rather than high minded ideals of love.
Hannah has only has 4 days left till showtime and there is so much that she needs to finish before showtime. Jack Fields and Jessica Earley will be helping with the performance on show day and Brian Cunningham will be performing music he wrote specifically for this show live.

Cinnamon Roll Hug

Jessica Earley organized a Facebook event called the Cinnamon Roll Hug. Amanda Chadwick told me about this event only about an hour before it was to take place at Lake Eola near Panera’s. started called encouragement rules!. One previous event she talked about was a party where all the women created small time capsules in bottles which they then buried. The idea was that they would be burying any of the negative nonconstructive energies in their lives.
I got to Lake Eola about a half hour before the Hug was to take place. I went into Panera’s with the idea of getting a Cinnamon Roll to munch on while waiting for the crowd to show up. I had the image in my head of hundreds of women all joining hands. It would certainly make for a challenging and dynamic sketch. There was a line in Panera’s however and I gave up on the roll.
Here is the description from the event page of what I was about to witness…
Outline of Activity: Group stands in a circle holding hands. One person breaks her link with the person on her right. That person then walks to the center of the circle still holding hands with the person on her left. Everyone is still holding hands except for this one break. The person who had been on the center person’s right then begins to walk clockwise around the circle. Everyone follows her. They spiral in tighter and tighter until they are a snug pinwheel. On the count of three, the group gently squeezes.” Jessica explained to me that the best position to be in would be in the center of the roll.
When 6:30PM rolled around, I saw Jessica with two other women near the large flower bed. I walked over and said hello. The two women with Jessica were Marnie Sears Bench and Luisairis Soto. I asked Jessica how many people she was expecting and she said, “Twelve people confirmed on Facebook.” Deciding that would still make for a worthy sketch, I leaned back against a tree and started blocking in the elements of the grassy field where the hug would take place. Jessica wandered off and went to another grassy field where she felt some people might have mistaken for the event site. She returned empty-handed.
It was now well past 6:30 and time for the hug to commence. Jessica and Marnie walked across the street to Panera’s and asked people going in if they wanted free hugs. They asked a family of tourists, who replied, “Sorry we are from out of town.” The tourists rushed into he pastry shop to escape. Marnie then asked a small group of men if they wanted free hugs. She was shocked when they said, “Sorry not interested.” Back at the park Luisairis started shouting, “Free hugs!” I was afraid she might get arrested for disturbing the peace. She was after all shouting in Lake Eola Park. All this last minute advertising was not bringing any more people into the circle. Finally the three women stood out in the field and hugged. They knew I was sketching and stayed together hugging for probably five minutes of so on my behalf. I had not expected them to pose but I am grateful they did. Had I known they would pose, I would have moved much closer.
I consider the Cinnamon Roll Hug a novel and fun idea. I didn’t participate since I was busy sketching. I hope Jessica organizes this event again, inviting far more people. But honestly the number of people isn’t the issue; it was still fun and exciting to sketch this display of open friendship and affection. Jessica said, “Well there wasn’t really enough people for a Cinnamon Roll Hug, what you saw was more of a Donut Hole Hug.”