Beach Daisies and Palm

14 x 11

One of my best trips last year was a weekend trip to Bird Island off Horseshoe Beach on the west coast of Florida. Horseshoe Beach is just north of the where the Suwanee River enters the Gulf and south of Steinhatchee. This is a very isolated area of Florida. It's a lot more of a forgotten coast than the actual "forgotten coast" up here in North Florida. Bird Island is a small island (maybe two arces) which lies about a half mile from Horseshoe Beach. It is privately owned. I was invited to come paint for the weekend during October. It was glorious. The owners have a neat two story home and we threw cast nets for mullet and ate great meals and were treated like royalty. The island was built up by the Indians that inhabited the area. They had a collection of artifacts such as arrowheads, pottery shards and even human bones. When the hurricanes came through in 2005 they had whole skeletons uncovered in the tidal flats. (Makes for an interesting thought as you are nodding off to sleep. Brought to mind the movie "Poltergeist", but I was so tired it didn't matter.)

Looking at the sunset. From the dock you could watch the sunrise in the morning and the sunset in the evening. I did 5 x 7's of both.

View of the island coming from Horseshoe Beach. Theres's an umbrella there near middle of the photo. If you look close it is one of the artists already painting away. Anyway, it was truly one of those trips I've heard other painters talk about and thought "I wonder when someone is going to invite me to something like that?" So be advised that if you can one-up this trip I am ready and available to accept your challenge. My new slogan: Have pallette, will travel!

Thanks for looking.