Working on a cover for an upcoming Swampy’s Florida item. Inks tomorrow.

This is the inked version of art I did for an upcoming fishing event in Melbourne, Florida. It’s to salute American military veterans and help some get out and fish.

Click here to learn more and maybe you can join in and help!

My next step is to digitally color the artwork.

Tons of artwork has to get done today! From caricatures to hiking cartoons to illustration, etc! Was hoping to be at a presentation today by Rick Smith, son of author Patrick Smith who wrote the Florida legendary book, ‘A Land Remembered’, but that looks impossible two hours before his presentation. Pen to paper and I’ll post what I can.

On January 28th I was part of a symposium about the condition of our springs in north Central Florida. My part was to illustrate each of the speakers. This is one of the set of Dr. Bob Knight, one of our most knowledgeable experts about water in Florida. Knowing Bob helped me play more here than i did with the others.
Bob opened his talk by announcing he had more bad news. I took it from there.

I’ll be posting the rest over the next week or so.

Last night I was part of a Florida springs symposium with a wide variety of speakers updating the audience about the current status of our natural springs and about upcoming legislation.

My role was creating a unique painting of each speaker during their presentation. A few are on the table below. I have a bit of cleanup to do with each and I’ll post them here in the next week.

Here’s a preview of the Swampy’s Florida cartoon coming Sunday.

Here’s the final inked art from the pencils seen below. You can see I altered a few things here and there I went from pencils to inks. The client also made a few requests involving the lady in the illustration. This is a private commission.

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 together with my friends during our Orlando Remembered meeting at the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando this morning. Here’s a few of the attendees. First row: Ann Bennett, Shirley Cannon, Joy Wallace Dickinson and Tana Porter. it’s me and Grace Chewning in the back.

Had a great meeting with lots of plans to preseve Orlando history!

Hernando de Soto among the Apalachee by Charles R. Ewen & John H. Hamm

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A terrific literal mapping out of DeSoto’s trek across Florida and his visit near Tallahassee. Very thorough and lots of cross referencing done within the volume itself. The best of this is reading the translated journals of those who chronicled the hike.

The focus is the Christmas encampment near Tallahassee. The well noted archaeological work, what is found, theories based upon mostly empirical data and the journals can ease the reader into a comfort of more historical facts than in some similar works.

In my case, i am sure to return to the journals and re-read them. Parts of it are quite something. At one point a journalist queries as to why, in that God had brought DeSoto to conquer the land for the Kingdom of Spain, the hikers couldn’t get the indians to see the conquistador’s superiority. Afterall, the Spanish visitors have “cut off their [the indian’s] noses and their hands”. Why can’t they all be friends?, he wonders. I can see how this attitude would greatly perplex those with today’s flowery, “reality” television laced and sugary view of the world today.

A definite book to read for better understanding of the impact of the Spanish on the indians in Florida – Despite much of what is going on this year of 2013 in Florida involving something called ‘Viva 500’ where much of what is written in this book is flipped for seemingly politically correct reasoning. Forgive me if I take my history with more factual accuracy than the fictional white washing today.

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