Ponds Turn Into Prairies

Fair Oaks Dry Pond

8x10 inches

acrylic on birch panel

This dry pond on the Fair Oaks Estate has become a miniature prairie over the last couple of years. It used to be full of lily pads and water birds. Now it is a dry prairie. It is really a lot more interesting to paint as a prairie than it was as a pond. There are endless colors and textures in the grasses, and dips here and there. It is one of my favorite painting subjects. It is rimmed by cypress trees and grand old oak trees. I often see hawks and cattle egrets, shopping for dinner.

Linda Blondheim

Hopkins Prairie (Part Two) Local Color

Hopkins Prairie (Part Two)

More adventures from Hopkins Prairie.   I wrote in the last post about the isolated beauty of this prairie.  Ocala National Forest is a big place.  It is just west of Lake George which is the second biggest lake in Florida.  That means there is a big area with few people.  So there are no cell towers and no cell phone coverage.    I spent the morning taking photos and painting and decided I would head to civilization and call my office for messages.  The closest civilization was Salt Springs which is about ten miles from the prairie.  Salt Springs is pretty isolated as Florida cities go.  You know you are out there when you have to ask the convenience store clerk where you can get cell phone coverage and he says:  “ . . . down the road take a left at the fork and at the top the hill behind the billboard right across from the moose lodge people stop there and usually get a couple of bars.”  I left the convenience store and looked to my left and there was a big alligator hanging from a pole with a bunch of people standing around.  Now I’m a big fan of the show “Swamp People” so I had to stop.  I guess I should provide the following disclaimer at this point:  [The opinions expressed in this post are solely the opinions of the poster.  They do not reflect the opinions of any other artists, sponsors, advertisers or other individuals or groups associated with this blog.]  Now I’m a conservationist.  I’m an environmentalist.  I support these causes.  But I also grew up in Florida during a time when the alligator was an endangered species, and, in my personal opinion, they are not endangered anymore.  At least in Florida they aren’t.  So I, in my personal opinion, am not against licensed hunting of alligators.  This gator was ‘harvested’ with the appropriate tag based on a application made by the hunters.  In my photo with the gator you will notice that there is a tag in the tail.  Is this appropriate hunting?  I’d be interested in people’s opinions.   Sure I understand the moral questions.  But don’t talk to me about that unless you’re a vegan.  (I’m a vegetarian by the way, but not for any of those reasons).  Well anyway, I thought this would make an interesting adventure to write about.  You see stuff like this when you get in the outdoors.  And these gators look really big when you’re watching them from the comfort of your couch.  They are a whole bunch bigger up close.   Besides, as a Seminole what’s so bad about one less gator? : )

Thanks for looking.

Steve Andrews

Hopkins Prairie (Part One)

Oak Hammock 5 x 7

          I was down at Lake Weir last week which is just south of Ocala, so I decided to take a painting trip to nearby Hopkins Prairie.  If you check the google earth map on the left side of this blog you will see that Hopkins Prairie is located in the middle of the Ocala National Forest.  On google earth finding Hopkins Prairie looks relatively easy.  The national forest is cut into squares by long north-south and east-west roads. Just get on State Road 40 and go over two and up two and over a half and there should be a big neon sign with an arrow.  No, it’s not that easy.    First of all the numbers on the roads don’t seem to match the ones on google earth.  Then my GPS tells me I’m not on a road, and when there is a road it has different name than used by google earth or the forest service.  So bottom line I got to drive an extra 15 miles through beautiful dirt roads and see about a dozen wild turkeys, six deer and one bear. (It looked like a bear, but it was a long way down the road so I’m not positive).

          Hopkins Prairie is a beautiful peaceful place.  It is very isolated. I saw only three people the whole day and I’ll have to admit I was kind of spooked.  Maybe it was that almost bear sighting, or the constant muted thump, thump, thump of the gun firing range that you can hear even though it was almost five miles away.  (It must have been the wind because I didn’t hear it the next day.  But, how many people shoot how many guns, how many times?  Seriously, either it was that firing range or there is a war going on in the forest.)    

          The isolation was creepy.  I kept thinking about two movies.  One was “Deliverance”.  (Was that a banjo I just heard?).  The other was the scene in Shawshank Redemption where Morgan Freeman is looking for the box at the rock fence under the giant elm tree.   It’s really quiet except every time the wind blows or the bugs start making noise he stops and looks in every direction.  That was me.  (No bear is sneaking up on me!)

           Fact is I love this isolated exposure to nature.  It is one of my favorite parts of plein air painting.  I did three paintings.  The one above is a little 5 x 7 sketch, just looking at colors and values.  I also got some great reference material AND I spent most of the day outside the range of cell towers so I could only think about painting.  That’s a good thing.  So, if you need some time away from your cell phone plan a trip to Hopkins Prairie.  And bring a better map than mine. 

           This is part one of Hopkins Prairie.  There is more adventure to come involving alligators and wild game tracking.  Stay tuned and thanks for looking. 

Steve Andrews

Paynes Prairie State Park

12x16 inches

acrylic on panel

palette knife

There is an area inside the state park that I really love to paint. It is between the entrance and Puggy Road. It is full of weeds, tall grasses, and palms scattered among the giant oaks. In the fall and winter, the colors turn to blues, rusts, wheats, and olives. That's my favorite painting spot in the park.

Linda Blondheim

Angeline, Thanks so much for writing and I'm glad you like the blog. That was a fun workshops and I'm so glad I was able to be a positive influence for you in painting.
Love,
Linda

Gaining momentum...

This has been an exciting week of making plans with one of our new sponsors and one of our conservation partners.  We are busy finalizing opportunities for the public to meet us, to see and buy our paintings in support of conservation and art, and to get to know our conservation partners, what they do and how we can all support their efforts to preserve our natural world for future generations. 

Early in the week I met with our newest sponsor, Gainesville Wild Birds Unlimited. In case you don't know them, Bubba (that's him in the photo) and Ingrid opened Wild Birds Unlimited in Gainesville a couple of years ago.  It has become a haven for bird and nature lovers seeking everything from creature comforts and food for our birds to guidebooks to natural bugspray ~ a must for those of us who paint outdoors!  Bubba is also the chair of the field trip committee for the Alachua Audubon Society.  They have planned 30 field trips this season! Some of the trips are through the very prairies we are painting.  The schedule will be published this week and can be found at www.flmnh.ufl.edu/aud.

Today I drove out to Prairie Creek Lodge to meet with Hutch and Lesa of Alachua Conservation Trust. It was a beautiful drive under the billowing clouds which kept the temperature manageable and gave me a glimmer of hope that cooler weather is on the way. The lodge itself was a hive of enthusiastic activity punctuated by the ringing of the telephone and the happy smiles of those at work on various projects. Soon the weather will have cooled enough for us to really get out into the prairies to explore and paint on location. Hutch told me that the normally wet prairies are so dry at the moment that in places the cypress knees are totally exposed and so tall. Perhaps it has been the very hot and dry weather, but there seems to be a noticeable absense of the plants which usually give the prairies their unique colors at this time of year. Once we have them finalized, we will share with you news of the plans which Six Artists Six Prairies and the Alachua Conservation Trust are making.

Watch for news about November and February....

Mary Jane Volkmann

Prairie Pines

Pines

12x9 inches

acrylic on panel

Pine Flatwoods and Dry Prairies are part of the Upland Ecosystem. Prior to the advent of air conditioning, Florida was an unbearable place for people to live. The things that sustained Florida before tourism were turpentine harvesting, logging and other industries that depended on these upland ecosystems. Nearly half of the land area in Florida is pine flatwoods - generally flat, low lying land with poorly drained soil. In fact, the term "flatwoods" arose from the noticeable lack of topographic relief in the lands of this habitat. One of the most famous prairies in Florida is Paynes Prairie, a state reserve just south of Gainesville, Florida.- From http://www.floridiannature.com/

I've always loved to paint pine trees and they often rim a prairie like Hopkins Prairie near Ocala.

 

Linda Blondheim



Paynes Prairie in the Morning Mist

Early one morning I drove into Paynes Prairie to have a look around to see what had changed in the landscape.  I often do this.  It's part of finding peace, solitude and inspiration.  As I rounded one of the first corners, the sun was rising through a thick veil of mist, casting pearls of light on the dew covered flowering grasses which had sprung up after a fire the year before.  It was so beautiful!  There was design everywhere I looked.  I got out of my car and just stood there, trying to take it all in.  Those of you who know me know my passion for detail and how the intricacies of nature leave me rather breathless with excitement.  Now that it's too hot for me to paint outdoors, I decided to challenge myself to paint this scene in acrylics, working from some photographs I took that day.

Mary Jane Volkmann