Above is the prepped version of the illustration for watercolor. This is an illustration for the Pine Castle Pioneer Days. It’ll be used for the poster, sign and other collateral materials.

This is the watercolored version.

Here is the finished version.

Here’s a bit of step by step of a painting I’m working on for 2012 Pine Castle Pioneer Days festival. Here is the prepped for painting step …

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’ll be at the 2nd Annual Polk Authors & Illustrators Festival in Downtown Lakeland, Florida, this Saturday signing (& doodling in) Swampy’s Florida coloring books from 9am to 3pm. I’ll also be watercoloring a few Florida images there, too! If you’re in the area, stop by and say ‘Hi!’

Headed over to Lakeland to see a double feature of  ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ & ‘Godzilla’ at the Polk Theater in Lakeland with Terisa Glover. Here I am with Swampy in between the double feature. Florida history abounds here between the historic Polk theater and that most of ‘Creature’ was filmed in Florida.

Sketched this as if the double feature of films was one.

Made an “obligatory” ice cream stop and plunged into Baskin Robbins Captain America sundaes: Super Soldier Sundae & Hydra Force Sundae with Terisa and friends!

I attended the Florida East Coast Railway Society Modular RR Display and “Train”ing Session at the Brevard County Library in Cocoa on July 23rd. While there I got to hear a talk by the Dean of FEC history, Seth Bramson. His books are terrific and specifically his ‘Speedway to Sunshine” is a wonderfully written with terrific photographs laying out the history of the railways along the east coast of Florida. You can learn more about Seth and find his books by clicking here. Above is a sketch I drew during his talk.

Another sketch during another talk about model trains. The young fellow on the left was streaming the talks on UStream, something I’ve been known to do from time to time.

Here’s an actual photo of Seth Bramson speaking, in case the sketch is too sketchy.

Here “Caboose Mikey” explains how a steam engine works.

An entire model of the Florida East Coast Railroad was there depicting north of Jacksonville all the way south to Dade County. Here is the mode area around U.S. 1 and Viera Boulevard in Melbourne. You could drive there now and this is what it looks like!

Terisa Glover and I had a blast in Tarpon Springs Sunday while doing research for an upcoming Swampy’s Florida coloring book. Above and below are a couple sketches done during the trip. Unfortunately, a trip to Ozona, Florida found that one of my favorite Bar-B-Q places, the Ozona Pig, was closed for the day. Sooooo, it’s a trip across the street to Molly Goodheads for fish food. Because of that the drawings ensued.

Earlier in the day we teed off in Tarpon Springs and was welcomed by the sign below. I figured it meant ‘Beware of Hurricane Ahead’.

It’s fried shrimp time at Hella’s Restaurant! Wanna see what Swampy had? Check out Swampy’s Florida Sunday.

Penny for your thoughts? Getting a scrunched official Tarpon Springs penny.

For those who know the story, Sunday, the 5th, is also Taylor’s 19th birthday. I had my annual banana split at a restaurant in downtown Tarpon Springs in honor of his birthday. These folks don’t usually make banana splits, but did an excellent job!

Premiering this Thursday at the Florida Historical Society annual meeting is the Swampy’s Florida: The Civil War in Florida coloring book and guide. Above is the cover. Tomorrow I’ll post the other coloring book being introduced about the Florida roadside attraction, Gatorama.

Since kicking off the Swampy’s Florida website/comic strip/etc started last July, I was hoping to introduce a coloring book. It all came together Friday evening at The General Store in Downtown Lakeland. Co-owner of The General Store, Teresa Glover, put it all together and also contributed a lot to the coloring book. Terisa’s little dog and a Downtown Lakeland icon, Sparky, also stars in the coloring book. Above is a photo of me, the coloring book and Sparky in front of The General Store.

Here’s the cover. If you’d like one, please contact The General Store in Lakeland (863-688-5900). It is currently the exclusive seller of Swampy’s 1st coloring book.

I did

In front of The General Store Friday night I did drawings to help promote the coloring book. The photo above is of me handing a drawing to June, who happens to double as Sparky’s manager (Negotiations with Sparky came down to kibbles and bits). Below is the only photo I took all night. It’s a drawing for one of the coloring book recipients.

I was pretty exhausted Friday night after the night before (See the blog entry before this one). So tired in fact that I did no Facebook or Twitter posts and took only the one photo of artwork above.