Above is the prepped version  in the process getting the watercolor painting below finished. Above I’ve penciled the caricature incorporating the image of the person’s head and a large amount of information about her to assemble a really personal drawing of who she is.
Adding the ink that won’t run with the watercolor, I prep the art and then add the watercolor.
This artwork was done from start to finish with the client at Beefy king in Orlando, Florida

Found Christmas in September in K-Mart yesterday. Saw they started this last week. They have more shelves set up with lights. ornaments and the like out. I’m sure there is more to come.

Here’s a large group of University of North Florida students with little stuffed Swampy of Swampy’s Florida. I was there to entertain with caricatures and I’ll post later about those.

Drew caricatures tonight for a corporate event at the Peabody hotel south of Orlando in Orange County. The event’s attendees were all involved with containing digital information or servicing those who do.

It’s Taylor’s 21st birthday! Here’s the annual little bit of animation to celebrate and below is a photo of one of two banana splits a year I have in honor of. Hoping Taylor has a tremendous birthday today!

This is the latest I’ve posted for Taylor’s birthday. Being on the road for the past five days, along with car problems, got this out later than I’d liked it to get out.

Drew a whole bunch of caricatures yesterday in Okeechobee, Florida. Here are a few!

Got a chance to pick some oranges in a grove in Tangerine, Florida, today.

Found a great sight for a future Swampy’s Florid watercolor painting! See the pitcher plants? Saw a boatload of them at Clear Creek Nature Trail near Milton in the past hour.

Storm Haven by Frank G. Slaughter

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The research author Frank Slaughter did to accomplish the ability to put the reader in the very throes of each scene must have been exhausting. This book is amazing in its narrative. Knowing quite a bit about Florida history, Slaughter went beyond even extensive knowledge of Florida in the 1860s. Today writers would be pulling internet sites to get the details he does. I’m guessing Slaughter got as close to the source of the time period. Writing this in the early 1950s, he likely went beyond books to people, grandchildren and the like, to get as close as he could to accuracy. It’s a truly amazing accomplishment.
One scene well describes the Devils Millhopper near Gainesville. The name is never mentioned, but if you know the area, you know the spot by his writing. You also know the crossing of South Florida to the Withlacoochee, the setting around the living areas in the Panhandle (Being cagey here so I don’t spoil the story) and the scenes along the Ocklawaha. His descriptions of the peripheral events around the battle at Olustee are enlightening for those of us who have read of the battle. This book puts you there in the surgery area and the effects of the battle on both sides. I could go on.
Now, I must write this is my first Slaughter book. I’m guessing he does this in all his books. I look forward to wading into more.

I also need to add that the actual story was a bit predictable by today’s standards .
I highly recommend this book

View all my reviews

Made one of my twice-a-year trips to my friend George Pieper’s cartooning class to be a guest speaker. I demonstrated drawing the various presidents we’ve had since Carter and a bunch about my Swampy’s Florida project. As always, I ended the talk with a drawing made from suggestions of the students. Above is George and myself and the drawing drawn from suggestions.