Key Largo, FL Nov 18-20th '08

Key Largo Lagoon by our campsite

Nov. 18 – 20, 08 - Key Largo, FL

Before leaving home, Bruce had booked a reservation for an RV site in Key Largo State Park Florida on Nov 18^th.   We stayed as long as we could on Jekyll Island, GA. before driving half way down the Florida coast to spend Monday night sleeping in a clean and quiet ( but boring) Daytona Beach RV campsite.  Rising early in the morning, we continued driving to Key Largo.

 Arriving at the State Park at about 10 am on Tuesday we had plenty of time to explore the area

  and do some bird watching.

Ibis at Key Largo Fl

On Wednesday, Bruce set up for a dive trip (This will be the subject of a future blog entry) while I painted scenes of shrimp boats at sunset which I had seen the night before. 

Key Largo dive boats

There were some equally beautiful twilight scenes around the harbor and beach of Key Largo that that evening which I photo referenced so I could paint them the next day.

Cannon  on beach at Ft Pendergrass SP Key alrgo FL

Thursday broke clear and beautiful and very cold on Nov. 20^th, but the wind whipped up small craft warnings so that Bruce couldn’t go diving.  Thinking the weather might be warmer and seas calmer a hundred miles south, Bruce decided to pull up stakes and move us to Key West.

Daytona Beach Overnight 11 '17

From Jekyll Island we drove to an area near Daytona Beach Fl. where we spent the night in and RV Park..  It was one of th0se big commercial cement slab affairs that snowbirds  buy into so that they can spend the winter in Florida. This one had a golf course, but it still looked flat, ugly and treeless compared to the lush beauty we had just left behind us in  South Carolina and Georgia.

 I wasn't impressed

Jekyll Island, GA Nov. 16 - 17,’08

Nov. 16 - 17,’08  Jekyll  Island, GA.

The end of November saw us taking a major road trip south in the RV.  The original plan was for Bruce to get in some warm water diving and me to do some serious painting in Florida.  The weather didn’t cooperate (a major storm system created hazardous seas) so the trip wound up being a major site-seeing tour across the length and breadth of the sunshine state.

We left home early Sunday morning and drove 5  hours south to Jekyll Island, GA.  The Island was once a privately owned turn of the century luxury resort community, but has since been declared a Georgia State Historic Park.   You can see why from the moment you drive in on a road lined with huge old landmark oaks.

  It’s a beautiful place, surrounded by marsh with beautiful vistas 
 with beautiful vistas and hiking trails everywhere

One  board walk  hiking trail leads across the river

then follow the river trough the marsh
affording us some great bird watching opportunities.

 Its beaches are magnificent.  One of them…” Driftwood Beach”,

 has been called one of the most romantic beaches in the world ( you can see  why from these photos.)

It used to be a maritime forest but the encroaching time has eroded the soil from under the trees  to create this beautiful "Boneyard"

You also get classic views of shrimp boats from the beach

I was so impressed that  I even worked up a quick watercolor sketch

 You can book a ride on a working Shrimp Boat

The Island also boasts of having: tennis courts, fishing, kayaking, three golf courses, lovely old Victorian hotels and its own active art community.   And their boast list doesn't even  mention all the  great birding, hiking and miles of bicycle trails.  Needless to say we will be returning for a longer visit one of these days. 

Fall Decorations 11 '08

CC is still keeping her New Year's resolution to change the decor in our home to match the season or Holiday.  Here's what the dining table looks like for Fall.

And here's an overview of the great room dressed for  the season.

More Abstract Artworks 11 '08

Bruce is still pressing me to paint more abstract work.  I actually like   art that is abstract, or at least abstracted, as opposed to decomposed graphic designs, so I decided to give it a try.  Its a lot harder than it looks

"Which way Up"

 First I tried  painting two different 24" x 30" acrylic abstracts on gallery wrapped canvases..    Both came out well, and the process held my attention,  but neither painting left me feeling the sense of tranquility I have after  painting a more impressionistic landscape

"Red Sky in the Morning"

Then I reverted to a more abstracted style city scape.  This style is closer to the way I painted when I was in college.  While I found the process and the product more satisfying than the first two pure abstracts above, it still does not speak to my soul  the way painting a beautiful landscape does. 

"Winter in the City" 16" x 20" Oil

So for awhile I will continue with more traditional  subject matter.  When the time comes for me to move in an abstract direction,  This experience should gives me the confidence to do so.

Nov 24th – Nov 25th St Augustine FL.

Nov 24^th – Nov 25^th St Augustine FL.

Leaving Ocala in Central Florida, we continued across the state to St Augustine on the east coast.

St Augustine is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities and the oldest port in the nation.  It was established in 1565 by the Spanish.   After securing a campsite with a beautiful marsh view right down the street from the light house, we headed off to check out the city’s historic district.   The area has been beautifully maintained.  It contains amongst other ”oldest”  things the oldest schoolhouse in the US, and  the oldest Catholic parish.

The influence of the Spanish on the architecture was visible everywhere.  Look at this picture of the courtyard in the Lightner Museum and City Hall.

And then there is Flagler College…. how much Spanish- Moorish can you get in an architectural design?

Close by is  Fort Matanzas National Monument which was built by the Spanish in 1740 to protect the St Augustine  prior to the US taking control of Florida in 1819   The Monument consists of Fort Matanzas, and about 100 acres of salt marshes and Barrier islands on the Matanzas River.

We returned home on Wed Nov 25^th, and returned to St Augustine twice more before the week was done.  But that is a blog for a different day.

Art, art, ‘n’ more art! 10 '08

Bruce recently acquired four small theme paintings from Southeastern artist, Grant Nelson.   He hung them on either side of the window in the music room.   Bruce liked their effect so much, that he started pestering me to create some larger scale graphic design paintings with a music theme for the other walls in the room. 

Grant Nelson paintings

I have no training in graphic design, nor any desire to paint in that style, but Bruce can be VERY persuasive when he gets his heart set on something.  So when South Carolina’s hurricane season limited me to indoor activities, I decided it would be a good time to see what I could produce to make Bruce happy.  I soon learned that creating good graphic art is harder than it looks.  After several failed attempts at coming up with a decent design, I fell back on the time honored tradition that most art schools use to teach a new skill…. Copy someone else’s work.    

My first attempt was to paint an enlarged (three foot by three foot) version of a four inch by four inch electric light switch-plate cover with a Kaminski like design on it.   It was hung above the piano adding a playful note to the room.

Encouraged, Bruce started bugging me to paint something even larger to hang over the sofa.   This time I attempted a triad.  The project was very educational.  I learned that it is very important to pay close attention to exactly what paint color one is mixing if you are working on a multi canvas set, and I also learned a lot about balancing colors, and tones across the canvas. .Each painting was painted separately then, after all three were completed, I went back to add detail and adjust color notes so that the paintings would view well as a set.  In addition,  I learned that it is very important to pay close attention to balance  color hues and color values  across the set of canvases   I  also learned I don’t want to be a graphic artist, and I how to have a happy husband.

Chimney Rock State Park, NC: October 19, ‘08

Chimney Rock State Park, NC:  October 19^, ‘08

Sunday October 19^, ‘08 saw us visiting Chimney Rock State Park for some out of door fun.  The Park is located 25 miles southeast of Asheville, North Carolina.  

 It offers the best of the mountains in one place, with spectacular 75-mile views, and a 404-foot waterfall (which was unfortunately short on water due to the drought in the area).

The waterfall was a bit short on water.

The hiking trails were particularly interesting.   

Many of them have wooden walkways with very long sets of steep stairs that are designed to protect both the environment and the visitor.   Of course if you aren’t into anything that strenuous. The park does offer an elevator service to its most popular lookout vista. 

Biltmore House – North Carolina: 10 '08

Biltmore House – North Carolina:  Saturday, October 18 2008

The Biltmore estate is located just outside of Ashville, NC.   George Washington Vanderbilt completed construction on the Biltmore House in 1895, during the “Gilded Age.” Built of massive limestone blocks and incorporating numerous architectural details, the home represented the railroad wealth of the Vanderbilt family and the opulence of the period.

BJ and CC in lobby of Biltmore Estate

It is the largest private residence in the United States.  So, just how big is America’s largest private residence? Consider these numbers: • Four acres under one roof • 175,000 square feet • 250 rooms, 65 fireplaces, one indoor pool and a bowling alley. We spent four hours on Saturday morning just touring the house. Then we spent the afternoon driving around the 8000 acre estate to visit its working farm, deer park, and its winery, as well as extensive gardens and green houses.

Biltmore Estate Farm

Everything about the place is impressive… so much so that the estate has become the most visited historic tourist destination in the nation. It receives more annual visitors than Colonial Williamsburg, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and yes, even more than Elvis’s Graceland. The most visited winery in the country is not in Napa valley – it is the Biltmore winery.

Perhaps the most impressive thing I learned was that GW Vanderbilt bought 125,000 acres of land for his original estate. He owned as far as his eye could see.  Unfortunately, much of that land had been already been clear cut.  He hired experts to help him reforest it and manage what remained..  You can see the success of their efforts from this photo

View of the reforested  land which was once all owned by GW Vanderbilt as part of the Biltmore estate

Today, about 86,700 acres that were once part of the estate have been incorporated into the adjoining Pisqah National Forest. You can learn more about the Biltmore Estate at the following website: http://www.willowwinds.com/biltmore-estate-guide.htm