Everglades Palmetto

10x10 acrylic on Raymar panel
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Tree is this month's Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge topic.
I've included the reference photo this was painted from.
It's easy to see that I edited the scene quite a bit, adding the clump of background trees and creating water in the foreground.
I painted this in acrylics, which I find that I really love working with.

Palms

Everglades Palms

6x6 oil on panel

Had a sweet day painting by the Marco Island bridge yesterday. This is just a sketch of the shoreline at the edge of the Everglades.

It was a bit overcast and windy which is my favorite kind of Florida weather! 

Matlacha Ice Cream Shop

It's amazing how many photos I have of yellow cottages and buildings. This little place is in Matlacha, Florida a teeny town between Cape Coral and Pine Island. All of the little shops along the main road are painted bright colors. I love it.

This morning I went on an Orchid Tour at Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge out in the Everglades. The Guide who led the tour is a wildlife biologist and photographer who also works at the Naples Zoo. He knows everything about the flora and fauna and it was a fabulous trek through the swamp, which is very dry at the moment. Afterward they gave us a nice lunch of hot dogs, chips and a soft drink while we listened to another guide talk about the work they're doing to save the panthers. A single male panther needs about 200 square miles of habitat. The whole tour was fascinating and it is free. You just have to sign up ahead of time. If you're a Florida voter they need your support. 

Can you see the gator?

The Breakfast Club

 SOLD

Who doesn't love Pelicans? These guys are waiting for the scraps as the men above clean the fish after a deep sea fishing excursion. I love when they land in the water. They stick out their feet and land like they're on water skies which were probably designed after them, come to think of it!

I am busy washing blinds and windows and packing up the studio for our trip North on Friday morning.

Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe

I have lots of photos of this little Roadhouse out in the Everglades. Thirty miles out to be exact. On my joyride out there last Friday I made a note of the mileage. It was the first time I ever saw this place open complete with live music and a buncha Massachusetts license plates out front. Sweet. Tomorrow I am meeting a couple of artists and we're going out there to paint. Every time I drive by this place I think of my friend Joanie.

Naples Pier

JoAnn Sanborn of Marco Island,  a fellow blogger and a former North Shore girl from Gloucester, MA, invited me to a luncheon she organized today at the Marco Island Yacht Club. There were eight other women artists, one of whom was celebrating her 80th birthday. These women hadn't met in some time and the custom at this luncheon is to go around the table and talk about your art and share any 'good' news.  It was wonderful to meet these 'girls' and talk art, plus it was in a sweet little private dining room overlooking the Inland Waterway and the Jolley Bridge, and the food was great. We were there for two and a half hours before we even realized it! I made some new friends for next season and will perhaps join the Art League of Marco Island so I can participate in their events. Afterward I took a ride out into the Everglades to do some painting and take some photos. It was a GREAT DAY! 

I'm preparing some watercolors of  local scenery and Florida subjects for The Art Boutique at Tin City, where I show some of my work. We'll be leaving here in about three weeks and I want to leave them with a full inventory of original matted paintings in cellophane all sized to fit standard frames and a bargain at $75 each.