I attended a Silver Springs park update on Wednesday and learned more about the merging of the iconic Florida attraction, Silver Springs, into the state park system. The grand reopening will be October 1st and the park’s whole name will be Silver River State Park. The cost to get into the two merged sites: $8. Wild Waters will still be a separate area from the overall park. Drainage is changing significantly and that might be most noticeable in the massive changes in the parking lot. By the way, parking returns to the early days of Silver Springs by being free.

Swampy’s Florida cartoon artwork by Rob Smith, Jr.

This is cartoon artwork for the upcoming ‘Swampy’s Florida: Dunnellon’ coming out next month. Watch for more coming in the next few weeks!

Started painting this this morning and just finished it here during the Florida Parents Educators Association convention in Osceola County, Florida. The setting is Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park near Pensacola..

Got a lot done in 3 hours at Chelsea Coffee shop. Pencils and prep for two caricature illustrations I’ll be watercoloring. Pencils for two advertising cartoons and inks for a gag cartoon. Now off to scan art and get approvals and plan when to break out the paints.

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.

Saturday was ‘Take a Hike, Florida’ day! I joined in at the Grand Opening of the Charles Bronson State Forest in east Orange County near Christmas, Florida. There was a great turnout for the hike and the trail is EXCELLENT! It was great to run into a number of Florida Trail Association friends. As I hiked, I sketched. Above is one where I kept walking and sketching.

Here are some photos!:

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.

I took about a two mile hike at the Lake Panasoffkee Conservation Area near Wildwood. Below is a sketch I wrapped up as a storm started in.

Headed over to Silver River State Park about 5 miles. Above is a sketch from across the Silver River at the boat landing at the end of the River Trail.

After that I took the Fort King Military Trail. Below is a sketch from that I added color to.

At the boat launch all these little children were squealing about seeing a turtle. The softshell poked more of his head out and part of his body. He was a huge sucker. I pointed out to the little folks that the turtle was about the size of a little red head there and he was probably hiding under the launch to keep away from hungry gators. Their eyes got all big and scampered back so they might spot the shy critter again. Below is as much of the turtle I could get in a photo.

There’s more about this hike at Swampy’s Florida.

My newest Florida illustration! Prints available soon!