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.