I’m at the drawing board most all of this week. Here’s a quick drawing for the Florida Trail Association of the Suwannee River.

The Sketch Society met just outside Daytona Beach at Java Junction Donut and Coffee Shop. Here are some pictures of sketchers Sean Shaw, Mark Dail, Craig Zablo and, the head-sketcher, John Beatty. There was plenty of talk and drawing. John was working on a commissioned piece and I was inking illustrations for a book. It was a good time had by all.

Don’t know why Craig looks so gloomy. Maybe because we all never did get around to creating even one drawing of Sylvester Stallone. Craig - Next time! See Craig’s collection of Stallone art by clicking here! I’ve got one in there.

One of the best books I’ve ever read.

This is the story of Florida pioneers and the taming of a country. Or the attempt to tame. …..

………As usual, the book cover is my art entry for this blog entry. I love the art. I’m sure Powell had the same trouble as I do with the cover of this paperback from 1964……..

For the rest of this entry about the book click here!

We had dinner with a couple of Sandra’s hiking buddies. The couple were the ones that Sandra on the trail of being a professional hiker. The dinner spot was ‘Charlie Horse’ in Ocala.

The drawing is of an oar that is part of the various wall decoration at the restaurant.

Here’s a kitty and doggie I created for the Lakeland SPCA.

Sandra was off early getting pics and info of Dunedin. I joined fellow Suncoast Inkslingers for our monthly meeting downstaris by the Palm Grill at the Belleview Biltmore.

Later, after getting a ride from Ron Johnson, I met back with Sandra and we got a meal at the Captain’s Italian Restaurant in Safety Harbor. Ron joined us. As did Sioux Hart and Jim Fern. Jim lives nearby and this is his favorite hang-out. We could see why - Excellent food and atmosphere! Above is a sketch of a bit of interior of the restaurant.

Here’s an interesting looking bloke reading the St. Petersburg Times at the Suncoast Faimly Restaurant in Largo. It was our first stop for Sandra’s whirlwind stops throughout Pinellas County. The restaurant has great breakfasts! Very tasty all around. Most surprising were the plethora of Northern accents in the location and still they had great grits!!!!

I went back to the Belleview Biltmore, where we stayed for the three days. I caped out in the ice cream and coffee shop, Maisies, in the resort and drew away until dinner time.

Sandra was everywhere getting info. Ann Sabo helped her review Safety Harbor.

Later Sandra and I were joined by my brother, Jeff, and his friend, Steve. We went over to the Biltmore’s beach side restaurant, The Cabana Grill. Excellent Food! After that we took the Belleview Biltmore’s “Ghost Tour’.

We arrived for a two day stay at the Belleview Biltmore Friday evening. We checked many a location and I deviated the trip slightly for our yearly encounter with author Tim Dorsey to purchase a couple of his new books. He was signing his new novel, ‘Atomic Lobster’ at the Borders at Tyrone Square Mall.

We then went hunting for a restaurant to add to Sandra’s new book update for her Central Florida travel guide and came across ‘Greek Islands Restaurant’ in Largo. We highly recommend it! Very, very good food for a modest price. If you go there nab their mousse cake that looks like a mouse! So, for the art included in this post is a photo of the mouse mousse.