Saturday at the Beach

watercolor and ink 5x7

Spring is slow coming here, with not many nice days.  At least the snow is going away with the rainy days.  Saturday afternoon was lovely and I spent a couple of hours walking and painting at the beach.  Over the winter, thankfully, the beach and upland meadows have been closed to vehicles. I'll be spending more time there as the warmer weather comes.
This is my favorite spruce which somehow has been saved from being pruned by the spruce tip pickers.  Each year, I'm amazed by the growth of the small trees.  As the rebound continues, a forest is beginning.

Florida Trip

5x7

We made plans in December to go to Florida at the end of Feb. for a couple of months, considered cancelling because of the virus, but went anyway so I could have cataract surgery.  And I did, just in time before the doctor stopped surgeries.  I'm seeing colors a lot more vividly, everything is way brighter and my distance vision is amazingly better.  I'm now having trouble finishing a couple of paintings started before the surgery...values are off from what I remember.

We flew home on March 26 and have been on strict quarantine ever since and will stay that way for however long it takes.

These are the few little paintings I did while there, and all but the next one were done before surgery on either eye.  This one was done after the first eye.

4x6

 

 This is a pond behind my brother's house where we stayed most of the time.  I've painted it several times on other trips, but the fountain is new to the scene.

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This is also next to the pond.

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And this is Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, a favorite place.

5x7

7x5

We made a short trip to Cedar Key where I painted the oak tree at the top of the post and attempted to paint scrub pines without success.  I remember trying to draw them when I was a kid.  I tried to draw every needle.