Here’s my latest watercolor painting of frogs and Florida history. This is a frog in the place of aviator Tony Jannus, who is regarded as the pilot of the first scheduled airline in the world. This occurred over Tampa Bay in 1914. The passenger was a former St Petersburg mayor who won an auction to be the first passenger for $400.

Been taking my annual Christmas hike. This year at the Ross Prairie Trailhead of the Cross Florida Greenway.

Had dinner last night with fellow cartoonist George Pieper and his wife Noreen at Sammy’s Italian Restaurant in Ocala, Florida. George nabbed a photo of me whipping up a painted ornament for them. Did you know the perfect paint for Santa’s suit is spaghetti sauce?

Dropped this off to my pal Robin in Ocala. She being a science fiction fan gave me the rare opportunity to draw a Yuletide intergalactic scene!

The drawing was to also answer the age old question: Does Santa wear his space helmet with his beard in or out? Space air does wonders for Santa’s beard!

My annual ‪Christmas‬ card of ‪‎Florida‬ native critters inside The Ivy House in Ocala, Florida. Used lots of reference for the interior of the 1890 house/restaurant and had to skew things a bit to make the image more readable. Also,used more reference than years past for the critters. I tried to limit the animals a bit so that the interior of the building could be better felt and understood. I finished inking this Monday.

The Dorris Bobber Memorial Palmetto Bug is hidden somewhere. You’d need to see the actual card to find him, though.  This is the first year Swampy, Trilby and Zuber of Swampy’s Florida appear as part of the illustration.

Christmas at Silver Springs! Meant to post this final version of the artwork earlier. Took me a while to get back to. Made especially for a group I’m with, the Marion County Springs Festival. This will also be available as cards and prints.

I was doing the caricature thing Saturday night at a wedding in Tavares, Florida, and here are a couple of photos…

Day of Rage by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a good western tale of John Henry Sixkiller by the Johnstone Clan. It’s a bit more complicated than most Johnstone Clan books with far more developed side characters. This is second in this series and both have far more plot development and far more attention to setting. Overall this story of gold, bad guys and banks is one of the better entries in the entire Johnstone Clan library.

Seems to me the dialogue, though other wise written well for reading was a bit dogged with a lack of authenticity to the times.

Bottom line: I recommend this book.

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This was a commissioned project of the publisher of the Orlando Sentinel and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. The request was of a caricature of the publisher and of his travels back and forth between cities. Request was to include plane and car he traveled in. Also, to include Marriott he stayed in Orlando. I asked for more likes of the publisher to fill out for space – and make it more fun for me. I added the city scapes. On teh Fort Lauderdale side I included the Sun Sentinel building, a few other well known structures and the founding structure in the area, the historic Stranahan House. On the Orlando side, the Sentinel buidling, otehr structures and the Lake Eola fountain. My knowing both cities was a big help getting this done.
This is a 16″x20″ watercolor painting on Arches watercolor board.

Key Biscayne The Romance of Cape Florida by Jim Woodman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a wonderful book of history! Well written and thorough to it’s goals. The book has a great airy feel in it’s construction and makes reading far more enjoyable than history books can usually be.

Author Woodman does focus most on pre-1900 and whips up the 20th century, up to it’s publication of 1961, in just a few pages.

Bottom line: I highly recommend this hard to find book.
So hard to find, I had to add it to Goodreads.

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Here’s the inked art for #Inktober today!

Here’s the Swampy’s Florida post: http://wp.me/p46j33-2Xk