Red Pepper

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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.

Wewahitchka Florida.

A shot of Martin painting. It was freezing, must of been a high of 59.
Martin . Hes heading back to the truck to get his water wings on. Safety first!!!
This is a creek that was overflowing.
To the bottom left of the photo is part of the parking area that normally would be above water.
This old house boat was tied up in some trees.

Dying Breed

Old shrimp boats are getting harder to find. They can't compete with the overseas imports.

Grey Day

Greyton

Greyton Beach State Park. Beautiful overcast day at the beach.

Hurricane Ida same location

This was about 75 feet down the beach from where Hurricane Ida painting was done three days earlier. If you look close you can see the gnats that gave up the ghost for art..lol And yes my photography still stinks.

Stormy Seas

Painting again at Panama City Beach Florida. The remnants of Hurricane Ida was still kicking up the surf and raining off and on. Between the wind and the cold rain it was quite a challenge, but in the end well worth it and lots of fun.

Camp Helen

Painting at Camp Helen.
Went painting again with Martin. We ended up at Camp Helen, located on the Gulf Coast at the west end of Panama City Beach. Beautiful little state park, followed by a 16 mile forced march through soft sugar white sand up and down dunes that reached heights of 300 ft( ok maybe 30 ft). After all that marching we were still maybe half way to the water. At this point I faked a cramp (something I learned from my girlfriend Carrie) and told Martin I wouldn't be able to go any farther. He grumbled a few words as I caught him thanking God. He then removed a flowered sun dress from his bag. A tradition we have had since the early days of painting. Whoever whines has to wear the dress.. My turn,,,sigh. Had a great time painting and finished the day off with a stop at Five Guys Burgers at Pier Park.

Deep South

Had a great day out painting with my friend Martin. We ended up at the new shrimp boat restaurant again. Lots of nice views from their Marina. This old shrimp boat called Deep South was sporting a huge banner saying fresh shrimp. I was going to name this painting fresh shrimp but... Martin said he was going to name his painting fresh shrimp. I considered calling this one Fresher shrimp than Martins... but in the end I decided on Deep South.
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