Sanibel Lighthouse

Sanibel Lighthouse   
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Sanibel is a beautiful island but there's not much to see except this fabulous Lighthouse and of course, beautiful beaches which we also have here in Naples. My favorite part of the painting is the negative space in the struts of the tower. I love these kinds of structures and have many photos of water towers from our travels which I will turn into paintings. There's one in SC right next to the Piggly Wiggly that I've seen the sun rise upon, more than once. Dramatic. I'm working on some more Florida paintings for the Art Boutique at Tin City. Be sure to stop in and see the work there if you are in Naples. 
Happy Valentine's Day to all you friends and lovers. Wolfie and Abba gave 'Daddy' and I some cookies which I can't eat and some semi sweet chocolate which I can and did eat ;) 

Beach Sunset

I go to the beach later in the afternoon and I always wait for the sun to set which is a big deal here. The West coast of Florida is like an Island where the sun sets into the Gulf of Mexico. People start showing up with their coolers and dinners and beach chairs around 5 o'clock and everyone settles in for the show. Here's a little sketch from the beach last Wednesday and a shot of the star of the show.

Naples Pier Series

Naples Pier

6x6 oil on canvas

SOLD

One thing that is crucial in painting this pier is to create a foreground. Because it is a very long, linear subject, it needs points of interest and perspective to create a good composition.

Naples Pier Series

Yesterday Don and I drove the coastal route from Vanderbilt Beach and Bonita up through Estero Island to Fort Myers Beach. I love the honky tonk feel of the place and the crowds of tourists and party people from everywhere. Unlike in Bonita there are still little cottages and funky buildings to delight the artist's soul and beach access and parking is readily available. We walked out on the Municipal Pier which is built on the same design as the Naples Pier but with a cluster of restaurants and bars along a cobblestone pedestrian way at the beginning of the Pier. It was a beautiful day with a brisk sea breeze and we had a wonderful time being tourists. Actually, it felt like Mexico to me. Live music and the smells of fried food.

View of Naples Pier

This is a 6x6 watercolor of the Naples Pier from 16th Ave South which is one of my favorite beach hangouts. Naples creates beach access at the end of each street along Gulf Shore Blvd with parking meters and unmetered spaces for beach sticker parking. There are no arguments here about 'owning' the beach to the low tide mark. The beach front estates share their fabulous beaches with the likes of me :D

The weather is amazingly sunny in the low 80's BUT breezy with little humidity. Normally at this time of year we're hitting the low 90's regularly with humid air. This is really COOL!! Like 'perfect summer' would be at home in Marshfield.

The Wet Paint Auction

SOLD I had to apply to be included in the Naples Art Assn's yearly Wet Paint Auction subsidized by a local bank. It's a fundraiser for Collier County Mental Health Services. The gist is, the artists (they capped it at 50) go out on site from 10Am to 3Pm on two days in February to paint on locations around Naples. Maps are passed out with the names and locations of the artists numbered. Everyone does what they can and the results are auctioned off at a swank (or so I imagine) party with a $100 pp price tag. I'm gonna cough it up this time and go because I'm in it and ya just gotta be at those things. Politics, you know. Two years ago I went to the City Dock sort of as an interloper just to see the action and maybe meet some of the artists. I set up my gear near an artist wearing a pink Tshirt with the WP logo. The artist's manager publicist, thinking I was someone else, chatted me up about my painting and so forth. She said his painting would fetch minimum bid of $7000. I'm thinking, a vacation, carpet and a bathroom makeover. She's formidable. Last year this same artist was painting on 5th Ave South, Naples' Rodeo Drive so to speak. Sure enough she was behind him on the sidewalk extolling his genius as a painter. I pretended to browse for shoes in the window behind them because I knew she'd recognize me and I was just checking out her spiel. When 3 o'clock came she whisked the huge 36"x40" painting off his easel and went clacking down the sidewalk in her high heels toward the Gallery who represents him in Naples. She's a black belt PR person. This is my submission for the event. It's the old boathouse at City Dock which I fear may be endangered. I love this location and this is where I'm on the map to paint. I have already done the painting but I will go out on site and paint the same painting again which I've never done before. Whichever is better goes into the auction. It's an 18"x24" which is quite a bit larger than I usually paint. I'm thinking minimum bid $1,500. PS, my paintings are as good as his and probably better, imho :D