Well the summer season is all but over ending with Labor day weekend. It's a feeling of Yeahhh and sighhh. But at last I will be able to get back to painting and hopefully some adventures with Martin.

He isn't fat he's BIG boned.!!

My favorite buddy...Pugsly.

No Oil here !!!

No pictures to post. Been busy at work. Hopefully I will get across the street and take some soon. So far no Oil has hit our beaches. The water is clear and beautiful. At one point the oil was ten miles offshore but with the winds and storms its moved to well over one hundred miles now,,,,Thank God. But still many areas in other states have been devastated. Such a sad and avoidable continuing event.

Missing in action.

Summer season was in full swing until BP oil spill messed things up. So now the fourth of July just around the corner and the beaches are really empty compared to normal. This year I had returned to Airbrushing T-Shirts after a ten year break. Just as things were gearing up BP oil spill shut them down. Still the money has been better than say... being a shampoo boy at a salon. So im posting a few pictures to show you the current remains of a tropical storm that also hit this week... Enough already!!! As you can see not much oil if that even is oil.!! But if you watch CNN Florida is covered with oil... At this time the Beaches are clean,,,water is clear and beautiful as ever.

Surf Fishing

Last trip to the beach this lady surf fishing caught my eye. Some day soon I hope to learn how to take pictures. I've been reading up on bracketing photos. My camera has a setting for that but I am clueless.

Another trip to favorite local marina. With everyone's busy schedule it has been difficult to find the time to sneak off and paint. But alas Martin and I made it out to one of our favorite places to paint. All was well , birds chirping and squirrels rustling, a light breeze blew across the water. You know that couldn't last. It was the after winter unveiling of Martin's legs.....SHORTS!! The glare was fierce. I quickly shielded my eyes as I turned only to see a poor squirrel trying to run . Unable to see he stepped out off the limb falling and screaming. Quickly I tossed some paper towels to break his fall. Missing the paper towels the poor little squirrel hit a pile of dead palm fronds. Acting like a trampoline the squirrel bounced up into the air flying over my head and landing on Martin's neck. The little squirrel shot down the front of his shirt. Panic set in as Martin fought to remove the squirrel. As fast as it had all happened it was over. The little squirrel fell out of his shirt and ran into the woods. Martin lifted his shirt to reveal small purple spots. Later we determined they were Squirrel hickies.
Disclaimer.... Everything you just read is Not true...well most of it. No animals were hurt during the writing of this pack of lies. No further word has been received as to if we shall be going painting again...
Author....Carrie U.

Oyster hang out

Martin and I went to the local Marina to paint. Nice warm weather for a change.

orange and lime

Red Pepper

Click here for purchase info.

Another Day at the beach. Yesterday Martin and I went on our weekly painting trip. Along with a cold breeze and Spring Breakers all over it still turned out to be a nice time.

Picture below is of a cactus like plant the hides in the sand on the dunes. Deadly little things that will go right through your shoe if you step on them. The thorns are around 2 1/2 inches long. Very painful , just ask Martin,,,lol

Day at the Beach

framed

"Surf"
"Pig-mints in a Blanket" framed.
Powdered jars of Artist pigments a pig and some mints in a blanket.

Another adventure

Recently on another trip to the beach to paint with the mercury dipping down into the low 40's, the wind was blowing at a gale force. Martin complained about how he left his jacket with the hoodie at home and kept eyeing my Carhart. I offered him my jacket as I headed off to the beach. Walking a series of dunes while carrying what seemed like 180 lbs of gear, I realized Martin was still hanging onto my Carhart. I shrugged him off and the negotiated a trade, my beanie for an old sable brush with 3 hairs, a must for painting vegetation. The deal sealed Martin headed back where the truck was parked on a bluff over looking the beach. Once again I continued on the path up and down the dunes being sand blasted as the wind gusted to a flash freezing 40 mph.
After hanging on to my easel while painting for an hour or so I discovered at some point I had put my glove into the white paint. I had paint everywhere. Feeling the cold and not hearing anything from Martin, knowing he had no Hoodie and only a cheap beannie (I kept the good one), I decided to pack up and start the long climb back up the hill. As I walked my mind played out different scenes . Poor Martin frozen to bumper of truck. Maybe he had wandered to the donut shop across the street? I quickened my pace to find him all tucked in the back of his truck, Mp3 player blasting, huge tropical drink(He had traded my x beanie for) and a bag of chips.

Surf

Sunset

Pig-Mints in a Blanket

Lemon

A local variety of lemon. Here if you have citrus trees you have a lemon tree to pollinate the other citrus.

Another painting adventure survived...Barely!!! I'm sure I gave at least a pint of blood to the local bug chapter. Encountered one rattle snake and a pelican that had the look in his eyes that said, " I can take him"! Other than that, the Burrito at Peppers was great (after painting treat). My painting was a total flop. No sense in" fibbing" about it! I mean yuck..Was totally blinded by the glare off the water and too busy fighting gnats and flies ( I could spend another paragraph on excuses but I'm sure you get the idea). I did however get a great shot of Martin before he was carried away by a swarm.Notice the nice equipment, pretty umbrella and all the fancy gadgets to attach. I had a dead palm frond stuck down the back of my shirt hanging over my shoulder in an attempt to block some of the sun.
Once Martin started talking about his great time in Hawaii and the ladies in grass skirts I quickly decided to remove the palm frond. However the visor he loaned me that his daughter had left in the truck wasn't much better. The fact that it said Cheerleading Camp in hot pink across the bill didn't help.
This for some reason was the most popular sand spot on the bay.
All in all I would say it was another good time out painting even though my painting was a flop or should I say floppier than usual..lol. Its always fun to go have some laughs. Ok I was just kidding about the Martin stuff,,geeze.. He is an awesome artist. Next two weeks we won't be going. Martin has a show to get ready for in South Florida. Check out his web page here.

Some recent stuff

A quick dog portrait for a friend.
Good example why you dont let direct sunlight on your canvas...sun blind wow its dark!
This is one of the days where my friend and I drove 60 miles and ended up painting 4 miles from where we started.