A Patio under a Banyion

Today we painted at Edison Estates in Fort Myers. Edison and Ford, with their wives, lived in this building complex on the shores of the Caloosahatchee River. Edison's wife enjoyed gardening and many of the gardens and trees in the estate were planted for her pleasure. Behind Edison's laboratory a white garden with a reflecting pool in the middle was created. This was put in to be enjoyed at night when the bushes and flowers would be able to be seen and reflected in the pond. Hence the "white"

garden. There are trees here from all over the world and most bore fruit. But of course my favourite is the walking tree, or as I found out today, the Banyon Tree. As you can see from the painting there was a patio built under one of these trees and unlike last week, I was able to put the trunk of the tree in the painting.

As expected there were bus loads of tourists pulling in all day and the estate was busy. Most of the tour guides are volunteers and after listening to their talks all morning, I can honestly say they do a wonderful job.

                          

Old Florida

We were painting in the Old River Distrist of Fort Myers last Wed..Of course the weather was perfect, comfortable to paint and a nice breeze. Patti and I got lost getting to our paint out location so this gave  a certain anxiety to the day, since I like to be early and check sites out before everyone else comes. Pattys neighbour said to stay on a certain street and we did, regardless of what Patti's garmin was telling us, which meant we had a lot of trouble finding the butterfly greenhouse and Z Crepes. Finally, garmin told us to go around the corner, we did, and there it was. At last. I was hoping for butterflies and there were plenty, but they were inside, of course, and I wanted to paint out. The Z Crepes restaurant was part of the greenhouse complex which was  lovely; many umbrellas, white picket fences and footpaths. I didn't want to tackle perspective again this week, so I went for a walk. It was down a block that I found the old Florida homes. These homes were surrounded by huge old deciduous trees. MAny of them were the kind of trees that sent down their roots from their branches in long trailing streams. They reach for the ground and others follow. This is how they grow new roots and they are aptly called " walking trees" because as they put down these roots, those stems grow thick and strong and become trunks and roots, in the ground, and a new tree then grows. Then that tree puts down roots from its branches and so on. It walks.

In my painting I did not include those big trees but I did paint the long strands coming down from the original tree. You can see how they reach for the ground to be a new tree. In Maui, we saw a tree like this which had put down many strands and grown and " walked" for a whole city block. A craft market, a large one, was sheltered under its branches. 

The house I painted was sheltered under its branches and the sunlight only touched the corners and edges of the roof. You can see how sheltered and shaded the whole house and grounds are. Residents need this in the Floida summers. They also need heat for the cool nights and somehow the chimney was forgotten in the painting.

                This was painted on an11x14 board.

Interesting ideas

After I posted my last blog I decided that the painting needed some adjustments. It is amazing how a photo of a painting shows up errors that were not noticed before. There are a few subtle changes. Can you find them?

                        

When I was painting on location, there was an artist behind me who was working on the same cottages and she was using a lot of solvent with her oils. It was different and she was having some frustrations getting the effects she wanted. I thought  it looked like an interesting technique....so I tried it. The oil painting below is done with a lot of solvent and so the drips create an interesting water effect. I then added more paint, when it had dried. I think I might add even more paint on the next attempt of a different scene. I'm not sure. What do you think?

                         

Behind Shipwreck Motel

This morning we were very fortunate to be at the Shipwreck Motel, well not real at the  front, but at the back. There were some well shaded docks at the rear of the motel and it was here that the canal came to a dead end and the canal widened out to become a lagoon. This area is a well kept secret but someone in the art assoc. had found out about the lovely views and the motel let us paint on their docks. There were quite a few homes backing onto the canal complete with docks and decks and umbrellas. That is where we painted. I chose these two homes, raised on stilts because of the flooding during hurricanes. I liked the Florida colours of the homes but also the stillness of the lagoon.

When I returned to my car, after lunch, I was not too happy to find a parking ticket on my windshield.  I was not a happy camper as I drove home but my successful painting and the ticket made the day memorable,  at least.

                      For sale. $175

All of the oil paintings on my blog are for sale and I can be reached at 

hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Babe

One of the interesting facts about Fort Myers Beach is that they are the home of the shrimp fleet that works the Gulf of Mexico. The group of plein artists from the FMB Art association, paint out every Wednesday and last week we were at the shrimp boats docks. After wandering around and snapping photos, most of us settled on the view of Babe, at the wharf. The main reason for all of us painting the same thing was that we could be in total shade all morning. I wish now I had taken photos of all of the paintings of the same thing; they were so creatively different. The shrimpers who work on the boats wandered around us and felt free to offer advise, one even asked to have his portrait done. I wish I had been fast enough to get my camera out, because like most of the shrimpers he was a real personality with his saucy attitude, very wrinkled black face and rubber boots. Most wear these boots in and off the boats. I think because there is much water around on the boats from their melting ice below decks ( to keep the shrimp fresh). They are all very friendly and love to chat but one boss man who wandering around while we were chatting spoke up and said, "You're costing me money while you chat here"; Needless to say they left.

Babe  had her hull completely redone last season and this winter she got a new wheelhouse. I took artistic lisence when I put the rust on her hull and my apologies to the owner but she needed more red sienna.

                   

I have included a few photos that show more of the fleet, at the docks.