Edison's Office and Midnight Garden

A few years ago, I painted in Edison's Midnight Garden and enjoyed every moment. This year, when we painted at Edison's Estate in Ft. Myers, I felt myself again drawn to his wife's Midnight Garden behind his office/laboratory . It is a very quiet corner of the Estate, where the thousands of tourists, who visit everyday, by the bus load, tend not to explore. They are busy exploring the swimming pool that Edison erected, beside this small laboratory. When Edison was in his eighties, his wife had this small building erected where he could work if he did not want to face the quite lengthy walk to the main house. There was a couch here, where he could rest and a small lab that could double as an office. After working in the lab, most of the day, he and his wife, could relax together in the Midnight Garden. Most of the flowering bushes and bedding plants were white and the reflecting pool reflected all the candles that would have been  lit around the garden for them to enjoy. What a peaceful scene, that I hoped to capture in  my oil painting.

                            $175

I can be reached at  hazelspleinair@gmail.com if you interested in any of my paintings.

Back Bay

Since Fort Myers Beach is a narrow island that stretches down the Gulf coast of Florida, there are two bridges to get on or off the island. This morning one of those bridges is closed, to vehicles, for the Shrmp Parade.

This is the height of the "season" in Florida. This means that in this month there are the most tourists here. This includes snow birds, like us, college and university students on March break, and any other visitors. As a result the FMB town council puts on the Shrimp Festival, complete with a parade. This creates a traffic back up that is unbelievable. The cars, bumper to bumper stretch for miles. No one is moving for the whole morning. BUT the Shrimp Festival is worth it, with the wonderful small town parade, an arts and craft market and plenty of Gulf shrimp. These shrimp are world famous and definitely worth the effort to get here, in spite of the traffic. Walking is the best means of transportation, esp. during the Shrimp Festival!

But, back to the bridges. The northern bridge is very long and high so that the shrimp boats and many yachts who use back bay as an anchorage, can get in and out. There is a very large yacht basin under the bridge and south into back bay. It must hold hundreds of yachts, all tied up to buoys, with a dingy moored to the yacht. The people live on board for the winter and use the dingy to go back and forth to the many dingy docks when they need to come ashore. Sailing, needless to say, is another great way to come to the Shrimp Featival. When we were painting out this Wed., we were on back bay. We painted at an artists home which is situated on the shore in Ft. MYers Beach. I had a view of Bird Island in back bay with a yacht tied up close by. This painting on11x14 board is the result.

                            

Miracle

My friend sent me a wonderful photo of a child, dressed for the rain, on a pathway. The moment the child reached down to touch or pet the duck, the photographer snapped this photo. I thought it was lovely and as I painted it, I appreciated the skill used to get the photo. The background and forefront are hazy so that the child and ducks, stand out. They do this because they are the only items in focus. I like this focal point and tried to get the same in my painting. Hope you like it too.

                              

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This oil painting was done on a 16x20 canvas and it, and all the work on my blog, are for sale.