I joined the Thursday morning hiking group of the Florida Cracker Chapter of the Florida Trail Association for, what turned out to be, a strenuous 6 mile hike through San Felasco State Park. There are many more photos at the Swampy’s Florida site. You can see those by clicking here.

Along the way I got some sketchin’ done, too. Not as much as usual. Below are a couple of the slight scribblings I made along the way.

While hiking it’s always good to be prepared for emergencies by carrying a well stocked Pez container!

We found ourselves in an empty bed of a cypress swamp.

This should be under at least some water. Below is a lonely cypress knee.

It was park day last Sunday, October 2nd. It was also the 121st birthday of Groucho Marx. A trip to Homeland Heritage Park and Mosaic Peace River Park was in store. Had a great time with Terisa Glover and Sparky as we traversed the area of Homeland, Florida. More photos of the trip will show up at Swampy’s Florida.

It was from the boardwalk at Peace River Park that I drew the sketch above. Below is video of part of the sketch.

Above is a photo of the natural wonder you can take in at Peace River Park.

Here’s a church, which is part of the Homeland Heritage Park.

I later ran over to the week old opened Marshall Hampton Reserve near Lake Hancock in Lakeland. There’s a photo of that soon to appear on the Swampy’s Florida site. My non-Swampy photos didn’t turn out well. Very wild there. Posted as open to foot and equine travelers and apparently to bikers, who nearly ran me down.

I took advantage of free entry into Florida State Parks Saturday and got to eight parks… and sketched away. I also got a lot of Swampy photos some of which can be found over at Swampy’s Florida.

To the right is a sketch I drew at Crystal River Archaeological State Park.

Next are fish lingering over the spring boils at Rainbow Springs State Park.

The turtles are from Homosassa Springs State Park.

My newest Florida illustration! Prints available soon!

Here’s a Florida illustration in progress. More to come as it comes along.

Haven’t done this in a while. The Illustration Friday word is ‘Wilderness’. I did two. The first I drew was the raccoon below romping through a Florida forest.

Then I decided to sketch a scene from the Second Seminole War from about 1839. Here a few of Jesup’s men in the thick oak forest spy a few Seminoles as the indians make their way along the Withlacoochee River.

I sketched both at the meeting mentioned on the 18th. Later I realized the Seminole scene would have more than likely been reversed with the Seminoles spying on the Army soldiers making their way out in the open across the river. The soldiers would also more than likely have been crossing the river without a boat or canoe.

Another painting done on Sunday as part of our Genuine Florida series. By the way, all of these are for sale.

Here’s a watercolor painting I did Sunday.