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

Above Dr. Bob Knight, Lisa Saupp and Natalie Lyons save Swampy from the bite of the saber-tooth tiger!

Had a lot of fun tonight at a party celebrating Silver Springs becoming part of the Florida State Park system. The event was held at the Silver River Museum with famed photographer Clyde Butcher headlining the event. Clyde featured a slideshow and film of his recent photography work out west and in the past week around the Silver River.

Otherwise, for me, the room was filled with many, many friends. Most of my fellow members of the Marion County Historical Commission were there. As were Marion County Commissioner David Moore and his wife, designer and fellow Florida buff Rick Kilby, new vice-manager of Silver River State Park Nicky Aiken, the Ocala Star-Banner photographer who snapped pictures of me a couple days ago, a whole variety of folks from the Springs Alliance and the Springs Festival committees.

It was a great celebration with great food – Especially the grits bar! Looking forward to the “soft” opening of Silver River State Park this coming Tuesday.

Melbourne A Century of Memories by Melbourne Chamber of Commerce
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful selection of columns telling of the history of Melbourne and surrounding area. Lots of great first hand stories and tales and Florida history. All involve interviews with Florida natives and other very long term residences. The writing is very good and photographs illustrate all of the entries.

The unfortunate part is that this book is out of print and very hard to find. Also should be noted is that the book came out in 1980 and the columns were written throughout the 1970s. So, the history time frame is prior to the ’70s.
Bottom line: I highly recommend this book for the Florida history lover or those that like to read about people’s lives.

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Here is the pencil rough for an illustration I’m developing for a client. I’ll try to show the progress of the art was I work on it.

Here’s the newest Swampy’s Florida print- ‘Sea Turtle Christmas Surprise’.

Here are the pencils and preparatory art for the watercolor I’m about to add to this artwork. It is a photograph and not a scan of the work. Didn’t have a scanner with me.

This is for a set of Christmas cards and prints available soon. The setting is Key Biscayne, Florida. That’s the Biscayne lighthouse in the background. The size is 11″ x 14″.

I’ll post the finished watercolor version soon.

Dream of Orchids by Phyllis A. Whitney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is part of my Florida collection. Setting: Key West.

First, Phyllis Whitney is a tremendous writer. There is so much to point to that is so well crafted in this book. Her character development is excellent. The story is great. The turns in the story are unexpected and well presented. This book is so very unlike recent books of the past twenty years where I know who did it and what happened withing the first fifty pages. I didn’t figure any of this until the answers were revealed. I had a good idea of a plot turn, but wasn’t sure as her writing didn’t just tell the story, but examined the characters, setting and background. Each is well done.

The Florida part: Unlike the experience I had a couple weeks ago with Robert Wilder’s ‘The Sea and the Stars’, this book does what Wilder should have in including Florida history. The book has plenty to learn and it’s accurate and interesting. The history peppered through the book would entice anyone to want to visit the locations mentioned. Have to wonder why Whitney didn’t get to travel writing, she does such a great job with location description. Whitney makes Key West sound fascinating and a place to visit.

The book itself: As much as she writes so well, this book does drag at times as she shuffles the shells to keep the reader guessing about the twists and turns. The goal is perfect, but the execution could have been culled a bit better. I’d mention editing, but that would be laughable considering so much needless waste in other contemporary fiction being published today.

This is clearly a book written with a woman’s viewpoint. Lots about male and female interests, relationships, etc. There is plenty of mystery, too. Males are likely to struggle a bit with this book wanting it to move faster. The young of today, who are being weened on adrenaline and less on thinking, will really struggle with this book.

Bottom line: I recommend this book.

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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!

Thought I would share this camel on, what many weekly workers call, “Hump Day”.
Drew this last week for educational materials for my friends at “The Knowledge Exchange”, an educational store in Palm Bay, Florida, near Melbourne.

The art is drawn on vellum bristol and inked using a series of felt tip and brush pens.
Below is video at YouTube of me inking the artwork.:

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.