Winchester Beach

Winchester Beach, B&W study, oils on canvasboard, 8" x 10"
Winchester Beach, oils on canvas, 9" x 12"

After a very rainy week, Friday dawned beautifully clear so I headed to a different location for my Friday morning class. We were to meet at a place new to me: on the eastern banks of the Severn River there is a small private area called Winchester Beach. From there you can see the Route 50-301 bridge over the river on one side and some cliffs. We painted the view looking upriver opposite from the bridge, where one gets a sense of depth and distance.

We students repeated last week's drill of painting an oil study in black and white using our three value range, and then doing another in full color. Lee's demo was very informative for me, specially in how to mix the colors of the water for an illusion of depth, and the orangey color of the cliffs. These are colors that usually elude me, so I felt great satisfaction being able to achieve them more accurately. I stayed after class to enjoy my lunch at Winchester Beach in the delightful breeze.

Afterwards I stopped at Gallery 1683 to change my stock of paintings there and found out the gallery is having a difficult time during this recession. If any of you readers or your friends are interested in collecting art, now may be the perfect time to buy; I urge you to stop by Gallery 1683 at 151 Main Street in Annapolis. They have many wonderful pieces at reasonable prices and the owners and I would really appreciate your business.

From Black and White to Living Color

College Creek on a Cloudy Day, B & W study, oils on canvasboard, 8" x 10"

College Creek on a Cloudy Day, color study, oils on gessobord, 8" x 10"

For this week's class (same location as last week) we painted a black and white value study before we started our painting in color. It was a cloudy day, and at times a light drizzle fell, but we were lucky and didn't have to run for cover.

We followed the same proceedure as last week for our B&W study, analyzing the relationship of our three main values. With very different light, the sky and water values were markedly darker than last week, as well as the trees, with much less difference or contrast between the three values.

The fun starts as we go from B&W to full color. On a cloudy day the colors become very muted; though the sky may look gray there are shades of soft yellow and even orange coming through the clouds. Shadows are so soft it's hard to see them. Lee reminded us about Monet's saying that he wasn't painting fields and trees, but the veils of atmosphere between him and the fields and trees. That is the essence of impressionism.

I was very happy to hear my teacher comment he thought my painting was looking Monet-like. At this stage my painting is not fully developed yet, giving an impression of a much foggier day, but we were out of time. With a few more variations of color and detail it could look more realistic, but I have the color key down, which is the essence of the scene. Another breakthrough for me: I'm gaining a better sense of brushstroke texture and the rhythm this can give to a painting.

Londontowne Paint Out

Londontowne Gardens, oils on canvasboard, 12" x 9"

I left the house very early yesterday to be at Londontowne by eight in the morning for the MAPAPA Paint Out. It was a bit overcast, but by the time I arrived it was clearing. The gardens were fresh with dew, and at their loveliest. I walked around, wanting a water view to paint behind the gardens, but the terraces overlooking the river didn't have many flowers or interesting plants, so I chose this long view towards one of the gazebos.

I didn't hit a homerun with this painting--the painting doesn't do justice to the gardens or the day. Compositionally, the placement of the gazebo is too central, perhaps too small, creating an unintended tunnel effect. The value of the trees in the background is not quite right in relation to the sky. I may yet repaint these parts and move the gazebo to see if that improves it.

Elements that work in the painting are the shapes and colors of the huge evergreens, and the bits of filtered sunlight on the grassy path. I'm getting a better grasp of how to mix greens and keep them within the light key of the day, which shows progress.

The best part of painting there was the wonderful fragrances wafting in the air, with a variety of viburnums in bloom near by: the classic Korean spice bush with its round white panicles, a low-growing variety with a hint of honey in its scent, and others I couldn't identify. Many visitors were there for the annual plant sale fundraiser, and everyone who passed by remarked on the fragrance. I hope to get back there to paint soon, while the flower display lasts. Perhaps I'll go back there next Friday after class. Next weekend MAPAPA is painting at Sherwood Gardens in Baltimore.

Back to Basics

College Creek in Black and White, oils 9" x 12"

The first day of the new landscape class turned out to be one of those rare days which we are lucky to get maybe one or two times a year: just gorgeous! I was itching to start with color right away--that fabulous spectrum of greens in the spring foliage doesn't last very long... but discipline is why I take this class, so I painted my value study in black and white like the rest.

This time Lee instructed us to leave a small border all around our painting to put our value swatches on the border. I must say, the process is getting easier for me this time around. I was able to settle on the composition right away, but nailing down the values is always tricky. Today the sun was so bright, that the water reflection was almost, but not quite, the same value as the sky. The piece of tidal flat in the foreground was close in value to the water. Once I got those in the correct relationship with my teacher's help, painting the three variations within the three main values was a breeze. I bought a visual aid from Lee--a small piece of plastic tinted red, similar to the kind of red filter photographers used for black and white work on film (how old-fashioned that seems!). Looking through the red filter really helps to see the values accurately by reducing the colors to a very limited range.

We got started on site a bit later than usual; I was the only student who developed my painting this far (it could have been taken further, but we were out of time). The other students are new to this method, and being unfamiliar with the process, most got only as far as the three main values. Even so, it was one-thirty before we finished. My heart soars like an eagle!

Galesville Paint Out, Day 2

On the Hard, oils on canvasboard, 14" x 11"
Galesville from White Stake Point, oils on canvasboard, 9" x 12"

It was a beautiful spring day for the second day in a row: perfect for Day Two of the Galesville Paint Out. I parked at Hartge's Boatyard to paint the colorful boats under repair and this group with its dynamic lines caught my eye. The hull shapes were very tough to render in this perspective. I struggled with them and the changing light longer than usual and stopped around two o'clock only because by then the the light and shadows had changed too much. I never noticed that my hands had got very sunburned until later.

After putting away the painting in my car and washing my hands I walked out to the point and sat in one of the Adirondack chairs under a huge old tree to enjoy my home-made lunch. Another MAPAPA artist, Eileen, was painting the view and I chatted with her for a bit. After a brief rest I went back to the car to bring my easel here. Eileen had finished her painting and was gone by then. The painting moved right along, my val-hues better than in the previous two, but by the time I finished and packed it was five. I drove back to River Gallery to see if I could leave my framed painting for the show (it's a ninety mile round trip from my house).

The gallery was closed, but I called Laura and she told me I could drop it off at her house. I had brought along my framer's gun to secure the painting to the frame, but try as I might, I couldn't manage to drive the eye screws in the back to secure the hanging wire. Laura found a nail and hammer to make small holes so I could get the screws in and I leave it ready to hang. I started back from Galesville around six, exhausted but feeling I'd accomplished a lot. My left hand will take a few days to recover from the severe sunburn.

Galesville Paint Out

Spring Day in Galesville, oils on canvasboard, 9" x 12"

This weekend MAPAPA members are painting in Galesville, a historic town on the West River just south of Annapolis. The owners of the River Gallery, housed in a quaint old building on Main Street, invited the members to bring their paintings to the gallery after the Paint Out, where they will be on exhibit for the next month.

I'd scouted out the place the weekend before and talked to Laura Dixon, one of the three owners of the River Gallery. She gave me a tourist map of the town and told me she lived right on the water across from Thursday's Steak and Crab House. The owners of the restaurant didn't like people parking in their lot; since it's small they prefer to reserve it for customers, but Laura said that we were welcome to come into her yard if we wanted to paint there. That day a chilly wind blew from the water, so I walked around and took things in, but decided to wait until the following weekend.

Today the morning was bright and sunny as I packed my gear and headed out to Galesville. I decided to take Laura up on her invitation and went to her house to paint the view form her back yard. Unfortunately, I had a doctor's appointment in the early afternoon, so my window of opportunity for painting was only about two hours. I'm afraid my painting did not turn out very exciting; I'll go back tomorrow to try for a better one to leave at the gallery. It was still a wonderful day to be out painting.

Riverbend Park

Riverbend Park, oils on canvasboard, 9" x 12," $300 unframed

My painting season started yesterday with a MAPAPA Paint Out Plus, beginning with a short talk by master artist John Bannon at Riverbend Park in Virginia. Riverbend is just above Great Falls Park and to get there I drove along Old Georgetown Pike, a winding scenic road that parallels the Potomac River through some of the most expensive real estate in the DC area.

The day was gorgeous: sunny and crisp, if a bit too windy. It was the first really lovely day of spring so far, with the cherry blossoms and pear trees in their full glory. The Virginia bluebells were starting to bloom along the park trails and countless other small woodland plants such as bloodroot and liverwort showed their leaves.

We painters scattered about the park to paint, agreeing to return around one o'clock for a critique. There are some very good painters in this group; my morning effort seemed so amateurish that I decided to stay and do another painting in the afternoon. The wind had died down a bit by then and it was warmer, but sudden gusts still blew off my hat a couple of times--lucky the wind was blowing from the river and not toward it. My second painting turned out much better, as you can see above.

Another Anniversary

This is the inner flap of my Cuban passport from 1961; the yellowed card stapled to the cover with my photo is the autorization to leave.

Today marks the 48th anniversary of my arrival in Miami in the company of my two sisters... My older sister Bea tells me that she had a presentiment as we were departing that it was to be forever... but I think none of us ever thought the Castro regime would last this long.

That there are still human beings on this planet who support Castro and believe he has done "some good things" for "his people" is beyond my ability to fathom. I understand it's the power of lies and propaganda; Castro has always had a close ally in Satan, the Father of Lies.

It seems to me that Evil is on the rise in the world at this moment, and in Latin America in particular, with the Castro-Chavez hard-left axis of evil sweeping across the continent. I worry about what is happening to our freedom here in America too. It's probably not uncommon for a person my age to have so many worries and feel pessimistic about the future, but these times seem darker to me than any I've ever seen before. May the Almighty protect us; Lord knows our leaders aren't!

New Piece in Another Medium

During winter I often amuse myself reading gardening magazines and catalogs, and this year a photo in one caught my imagination: a shady spring garden filled with Virginia bluebells, pink bleeding hearts, ferns and hostas. I immediately thought of the spot in my front yard under the two maple trees--wouldn't it be lovely to have a shady flower garden there? I ordered the plants and began to envision masses of blue and pink flowers against a backdrop of greens.

Yesterday afternoon I went out to prepare the blank canvas for my new artwork in this living medium. Creating a beautiful garden is a different sort of challenge for a painter, since plants and flowers are far more intractable than paint. Plants have specific needs as to soil, sun and climate that must be met for them to grow into a beautiful work of art. And yet the two arts are closely related. I think of Monet and his garden at Giverny, and feel close to the great artist in this predilection we share.

The new flowerbed began with the back-breaking labor of digging up the sod around the larger maple in the front yard. Maple roots are very shallow, making digging a slow, laborious process. It's hard to believe doing these few square feet took several hours and I was too exhausted to finish the back third of the circle. I did have time to spread one bag of soil conditioner on about half the bed before the evening and rain overtook me.

My new plants will be arriving soon; hopefully I can finish digging tomorrow when the weather clears and start under the other maple. Eventually I'll tie both pieces into one continuous flowerbed. I haven't decided yet what sort of edging to use--stone, wood or black plastic?

Flores Article Finally Complete

The Chicken Coop Across the Street, watercolor, 6" x 10"

It only took a year and ten months since my trip to Flores in the Azores Island, but today the third part of my photo-essay on Flores is finally complete. Check it out at elenamaza.com. This last part was much harder because I am now my own webmistress, so had to create the page layout as well as the rest. The only good thing about that is that it forced me to learn new skills, though I've long way to go in understanding html code.

You can now read all three parts:

Part One: An Artist-in-Residence on the Island of Flowers
Part Two: Lagoas and Pocas, On the Trail with Pierluigi
Part Three: The Florentinos

I'd love some feedback on the piece--would you want to travel to Flores after reading my article? Would it be helpful if you were an artist going there for the first time? You can leave a comment here, fill out the survey on the left, (or both) or send an E-mail to elemaza@verizon.net.

The Cycle Begins Anew

For several weeks I've been eagerly searching for the first harbingers of spring, but the balmy temperatures last weekend just days after the snow earlier in the week still caught me by surprise!

I puttered happily in my garden, fertilizing the raised bed, planting snow peas, pruning, and bagging debris. Planting a rose my sister had given me last year became a major project--as I began to expand the original flower bed, it became necessary to move several large stones that formed the edges. The stones were so heavy I could not lift them, so I ended up rolling them one by one into their new places for a better looking shape. Now all we need is some rain (and a back massage).

Along with the shoots emerging from the ground, dormant spirits rise as this artist prepares for a new cycle of growth. I was reading from Hensche on Painting*, and came upon this:

Therefore to study color, it is best to to take the less complicated forms; still life objects in scale, and obvious color, is the ideal study. Starting with the head or figure is not advisable. As Chase said, "Where there's still life, there's hope.

After taking the still life class this past winter with Lee Boynton, who was one of Hensche's students, I heartily agree. Now I think I'm ready for painting outdoors once again.
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* Henry Hensche, (1899-1992) was the leading teacher of American impressionism at the Cape Cod School of Art from the 1930's until his death.

In Natural Light

Same Still Life with Green Bowl

Today we painted the same still life set-up as last week but without the floodlights on. It was a cloudy day outside so the challenge was to paint the same thing in a completely different light and color key from last week's, with its simulated sunlight. Some of the differences jumped out at once, but other more subtle color changes were harder to see. In this light the lit side of the objects becomes cooler and subdued, while the shadows become lighter and warmer, with softer edges.

At the end of the class we put out two paintings next to each other for comparison. Look at the painting below. Fascinating, don't you think?

Green Bowl

Green Bowl with White Pitcher and Apples, oils on canvas board, 11" x 14"

I notice that as we progress through each class, our set-ups become a little more complex. We have more elements to deal with, more colors to harmonize. This one could have used a little more work, but as usual I ran out of time. It's starting to come together for me, though. Each time I see more color, more subtle gradations; so difficult to achieve, yet that's what makes the painting come alive. I understand better how every change in form must be a change in color and vise-verse to build up the forms convincingly.

More Still Life

This was last week's still life: a robin's-egg blue pitcher with tangerines. It was a joy to paint these colors, though I don't think I got them 100% true, the painting somehow seemed to flow naturally during the class.

This week's still life set-up seemed a lot more challenging to me, and it was quite a struggle to find the right colors for this white bowl with the green apples. The apple shapes were also harder to model, even with Lee's instructions. But overall, I think the paintings are improving--my colors are more varied and exciting.

I get to feeling restless on these late winter days, just waiting for the weather to become sufficiently temperate to allow outdoor painting. Come on spring, hurry up!

Happy Valentine First Year Anniversary

Today marks the first year anniversary of Maza Studio Blog. My very first post was on Valentines' Day of 2008 (Dreaming of Spring), and little did I dream then where this venture into the blogosphere would take me. I've sold a number of paintings through this blog and received comments and Email from so many parts of the US as well as a few countries abroad... It's fascinating to see how information still travels at the human level through cyberspace. Eighty-four posts later, some of which became mini-essays and/or evocative vignettes, I've started to blossom as a writer in other sites too, doing op-ed essays for Cubanology Biweekly.

A word of thanks to my subscribers and followers--it's your thoughtful feedback that keeps me going when the going gets tough.

Today I mailed back my Moleskine sketchbook to Art House Co-op in Atlanta after filling it with funky, true-to-life ball-point pen and prismacolor pencil sketches. The image above was my last entry in the sketchbook. The theme for Sketchbook #3 project was "Everyone I Know" and we had about one month to fill the notebooks and mail them back. The sketchbooks are supposed to be exhibited in numerous venues all around the country. In the DC area they will be at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Georgetown on March 3. I'm hoping mine will be among those selected for DC. It's filled with very amusing drawings of people I see in my peregrinations, with telling scenes documenting these past few weeks--some lucky buyer will have a chuckle with it.

To top things off, I had my first sale of the year today--the painting of the Dorsey House Garden was acquired by a lady from Burtonsville who claims the Dorseys among her ancestors. She told me she had done a Google search on Dorsey House and found my painting on this blog, which she liked enough to contact me.

Not bad for Maza Studio Blog's first year. Here's looking forward to the next year: Happy Valentine's Day!

A Little Mid-Winter Color

These are some of my recent works produced in the still life class (they're both oils on 9" x 12" canvas board). It's really fun to plop down these bright reds and oranges here and there as appropriate. The colors and shapes are challenging, trying to balance one against the other and make the forms "read" with just color. In nature it's much harder to find these colors. We're using bright tungsten floods to light the still life--the amazing thing is to see the actual colors of the objects, what is called "local color" and then see them in the dramatic light of our set-up. It's the difference between night and day!

If you are interested in buying either of these, just send me an E-mail and I will be happy to sign them & sell them at a great price for you. I need to keep funding my art education and this is a fun way to do it.

Anatomy of a Cartoon

A Cuban blogger friend, Tomas Estrada Palma, recently started cartooning and posting his cartoons. I was so impressed by his drawings that I contacted him so we could do an art exchange. I found out he lives relatively close-by, so we set up a meeting to allow me to do some sketches of him for a cartoon. He was kind enough to agree to do one of me (see link above).

Tomas has the singular distiction of being the great-grandson of Cuba's first President, so I was a bit surprised that he was not fluent in Spanish--sadly, this is a common phenomenon among second generation immigrants and beyond--but he did share some stories about his family and I really enjoyed meeting him.

His greatest aficion seems to be politics and argument, so I drew two sketches of him from life, trying to distill what I think best defines his character, and then had to wait all week before I could find the time to do my cartoon. I finally got to it today and here it is.

This is one of the drawings in my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project put on by Art House that I hope will be exhibited in Atlanta and DC as well as a number of other venues. I understand it will be shown in DC at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in Georgetown on March 3 & 4, 2009.

Dreaming of Weeki Wachee

Cool Morning in Weeki Wachee, oils on canvas board, 9" x 12"

On my last morning at Weeki Wachee I had special company: a young red-shouldered hawk perched on a branch directly on the other side of the river from me for well over an hour while I painted, giving me ample opportunity to photograph him. He was trying to warm up in the sun, I suspect, and scouting for a meal. It was a chilly morning, just above freezing, and the dry air barely misted over the stream. Just as I was finishing my painting, the hawk finally took off and circled around several times with his typical "Keer-keer" cry.

Now that I'm back in Maryland winter, I dream of Weeki Wachee and Florida. How I would love to be like our migratory birds and spend my winters in Florida!

Goodby to Weeki Wachee

Golden Afternoon on the Weeki Wachee, watercolor, 14" x 11"

 I painted this watercolor through two different afternoons, finishing on our last day on the Weeki Wachee River. It was time to start packing for the long trip back home, my palette was clean and oils were packed away. The chill of the morning had warmed to a lovely afternoon, so I lingered on the sun-washed deck as the afternoon shadows lengthened, wishing I could stay forever... I like to think my sketch evokes something of Winslow Homer's watercolors of Homosassa. The golden light of sub-tropical Florida enchants us artists throughout time. Good-bye, Weeki Wachee. I hope we will return soon. 

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6/26/09 - This painting has been selected to be in the WCA-DC Southeast Regional Show to be exhibited at the Edison Place Gallery in Washington, DC during September of this year. It's going to be a great show, don't miss it!

Painting the Weeki Wachee

Morning Mist on the Weeki Wachee, oils on canvasboard, 14" x 11"

The last few mornings the temperatures have been downright chilly, at about the freezing point. At night, the moisture condenses over the warm water of the river forming mist. In the early morning, the sun's rays filtering through the trees light the mist as it wafts over the stream for a lovely effect. One morning two young men in kayaks paddled by as I was painting. We chatted for a bit and although they went by too fast to pose, I tried to memorize their figures so I could include one in my painting.

The Weeki Wachee River is full of mystery... local legend has it that this was the spring Ponce de Leon believed to be the Fountain of Youth. You will certainly feel more youthful after a vigorous paddle on the Weeki Wachee River.

Manatee Luv

I'd never seen manatees in the wild before this trip to Florida's Nature Coast. Yesterday, while I was looking at some riverfront property, the realtor pointed out to me a baby manatee and its mother swimming along the bank (first photo). A closer look revealed a yearling calf and two others, one a pregnant female, for a total of five manatees swimming up the Weeki Wachee River.

Today it was cloudy and chilly, so we decided to drive up to Homosassa and visit a wildlife park on the river. They had an amazing variety of mostly native animals, some which I'd never seen: red wolves (once native, now bred in captivity), all kinds of birds such as ibises, flamingos, wood storks, roseate spoonbills, sand-hill cranes, white herons and pelicans, hawks and owls, foxes, a Florida panther and two bobcats, black bears and even a hippopotamus that was donated to the park after being used in a film. All the animals that are able to survive in the wild are free to come and go as they please; only those that can't make it on their own are kept in captivity.

The highlight of our visit was the manatee feeding. A park volunteer gets in the 72-degree water of the Homosassa Spring and hand-feeds sweet potatoes to six captive manatees. Other volunteers drop heads of lettuce and cabbage leaves in the feeding area. There is an underwater viewing house where visitors can see the manatees feeding underwater along with thousands of native fish such as large-mouth bass and tarpon.

Just outside the captive area one can see many other wild manatees on the river. Looking from an observation deck I counted about seven or eight, and one baby swimming by. They winter in these warmer spring-fed rivers because they cannot survive in the colder temperature of the Gulf water. These manatees have so much "awww..." quotient--everyone loves them!

The Weeki Wachee Mermaids

Weeki Wachee Spring was at one time famous for its underwater show; it's still advertised as "home of the living mermaids." The brainchild of a former Navy frogman, Newt Perry, who worked a lot in show biz (he was a good friend of Johnny Weismuller and trained the crews as well as doubled for Tarzan in the underwater scenes), the mermaid show has been going on since 1947. Perry taught his teenagers to do stunts such as eating and drinking underwater, using only air hoses to breathe, free-dive to the bottom of the spring at 117 feet below the surface, and specially to perform graceful ballet moves that look beautiful in the crystalline water of the spring.

In its heyday, Weeki Wachee Spring was the setting for underwater scenes in movies such as "Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid" and Esther Williams movies. ABC acquired it in the 1960's and built the present Underwater Theater. Before Disney attractions overshadowed it, the shows were quite elaborate and even Elvis Presley visited it. There's a photo of Elvis with his underwater fan club.

Today the kitschy roadside attraction is a Florida state park, and the show would have closed a few years ago it if hadn't been for the dedicated work of former mermaids who organized to save it. The retired mermaids, ranging in age from forty into their seventies, still perform as volunteers once a month and the lady who lives in the house next door is one of them.

We went to see the show yesterday (they only have it on weekends these days) with David, who is down here for a long weekend. The mermaids are still beautiful but the show and props are a bit seedy; whether another cultural shift can yet bring it back to its former glory, no one knows.

On the Weeki Wachee River

We arrived in Weeki Wachee on Saturday afternoon and after a bit of confusion and backtracking (I'd brought the wrong set of Google Map directions), we found our rental house at the end of an unpaved road, just as we'd been told. The house is charming and the location--well, see for yourselves. This is a photo of our back deck overlooking the Weeki Wachee River. There were lots of kayakers on the river on this balmy day, and the spring-fed water is crystal-clear at 72 degrees. The current propels one downstream at 6 MPH, making it difficult to swim upstream, as we found out. Herb and I went in for a dip and found ourselves drifting downstream at such a rapid rate that we finally latched onto one of our neighbors' docks a few houses down and had to walk across their yard and onto the road to get back to our house.

I've been painting and sketching every day, though I haven't come up with anything I like so far. The water is such a startling blue-green color, and the eddies bubble and sparkle in the sunlight, it's hard to mix the right colors for a convincing effect.

Yesterday, we finally got out the two kayaks that were in the garage and paddled upstream through the wildlife preserve for about two hours as the river meanders towards its source from the incredible Weeki Wachee Spring. We estimated we covered about four to five miles or so, and it was quite a workout, but the scenery was worth the effort. We encountered a manatee along the way, lazily browsing along the bank, and numerous birds: herons and a hawk perched on a branch overhead. The afternoon was magic--better than any Disney jungle safari. On the way back we drifted downstream at such a speed it was hard to control our kayaks. It took only about a thirty-five to forty minutes to cover the ground we'd paddled upstream so laboriously.

The Okefenokee Swamp

We left for Florida a day early so that we could spend the extra day at the Okefenokee Swamp, a place I'd always wanted to see and paint. After an overnight stop in Savannah, we awakened to a light drizzle, which became heavier on the way to breakfast by the Savannah River waterfront. I was afraid it would rain all day and we'd have to call our outing off. Luckily, it gradually cleared during our meal, and by the time we got on the road, it was sunny and getting warmer--a beautiful day.

We drove to the eastern entrance, the most easily accessible from I-95, and stopped at the visitor center for directions, selecting the Swamp Walk Trail as best for my purpose. A 4,000-foot boardwalk culminates in an observation tower overlooking the swamp.

I loaded my gear onto my latest plein air aid--a rolling cart--and set off, but my cart made an awful racket rolling over the boardwalk. There were many interesting side trails, but I was sure the rattle of my cart would scare any wildlife along the way, so I was surprised to see a small alligator sunning in a hole by the boardwalk. We saw some cranes far off in the distance, and finally stopped by a large pond with cypresses in the distance. It was getting on to three in the afternoon when I finally started painting, keenly aware that the refuge would close at sundown, only a couple of hours away now.

My painting is a bit rough, but considering the time limit, I think my val-hues are close and the painting "reads". There were so many unusual colors in this landscape at this time of the year, it was hard to figure out how to mix them: the Spanish moss, the grasses and shrubs, the swamp water... all in such wonderful harmonies! Herb admitted he enjoyed the day far more than he expected, and we managed to drive out just as the sun was sinking below the slash pines.

South of the Border

Driving to Florida on I-95, you know you've crossed the South Carolina state line when you come across this landmark: the South of the Border rest stop. It has a Mexican theme, a very amusing, can't-miss-it logo and concessions with all kinds of merchandise, all themed. Herb chose the big sombrero tower as the setting for the hair-raising climax of his most recent novel, "Three Out of Four Heroes." The novel hasn't been published yet (we're working on it) but I love this photo of Herb sitting in our car at dusk during our drive down.