Drying Off, 6x6 Oil Painting

I returned to my Everglades photos for this one. We were on the Anhinga Trail, and there was this Anhinga. There are a zillion paintings of these birds with their wings spread, letting their feathers dry. I thought this was much more interesting and funny, with all those unruly feathers sticking out. I would have named it "Ready for My Closeup," but that is the name of another painting I'm working on, which will be in the Pieces of 8 upcoming show, "Black and White and Red All Over."

PURCHASE

posted by Carmen

Snails, Flowers and Friends in the Everglades

Just had to add a few of my pictures of snails, flowers and friends from our recent Everglades trip. It was fantastic! This was the only time I've been to the Everglades when the weather was cool and the mosquitoes were almost zero! It's not the best time for capturing images of the Liguus Tree Snails as they are usually sleeping through the dry season in some comfortable crook of a tree and not moving around. But, I did locate a few (about 12) and have included some of their pictures below.

 The above snail was crawling on the ground. Cindy spotted him as I was focusing on the trees. To find one on the ground, alive, and moving around during the dry season is unusual.

It was also a great time for finding thistles and tiny little wild flowers.

I am so grateful to have friends willing to travel to the Everglades and even camp two nights there. (See how close they are to that huge alligator!) Thank you,  Carmen and Cindy!

Ever Amazing Everglades

Ever since Kathy returned from her "artist in residency" last summer in the Everglades I have wanted to go down. A chance to plein aire paint, see the park and spend some time with friends recently presented itself and I grabbed the chance to go.  Sooooo, intrepid women that we are Carmen, Kathy and I loaded up our tent, our paints, our gumption with a bit of food and headed out on our road trip.

We were not disappointed, when we weren't laughing we were learning new things, and after we learned we painted.  Despite the fact that we arrived to discover there was no electricity and no water at the campsite, we perserved and became very resourceful.  Here is part of our story in photos:

The wildlife was spectacular...and as Kathy promised, staying inside the park made it all up close and personal.  This was only a sample of the animals we got to observe...and it being mating season we got in on a little more unusual activity courtesy of the 'gators!

We did a lot of photography so readers can expect some everglades-themed paintings soon!

Cindy (L) and Carmen (R) put in some hours painting plein aire.  Here we are seated by the lake that abutted our campground at Long Pine Key.

Kathy even spotted some of her beloved Linguus Snails that she has been studying.

Back at the campsite Carmen and I found time to work on our travel journals filled with sketches, watercolor and special momentos of the memorable time we spent together in the
Everglades National Park.  Stay tuned for art work from this trip.

Cindy Michaud
see more at: www.cindymichaudart.blogspot.com

Spoonbill Collage, 10x10

I rendered this same guy in oil, and I thought he would make a nice collage. Mixing colors on a palette and mixing them in scraps of paper are two different things. Sometimes the values are determined by the text or designs I find. In the outspread wing I was just stumped until I used red-on-white text, which gave me just the value I wanted.

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posted by Carmen

Donation to Everglades Completed

Just after we left on retreat I got an email that my donation to the Everglades was due on October 25th. (I really have until next July to donate, but by delivering it early, they frame it for their Christmas Show.) Since I didn't get home until October 2oth, that left me struggling to get it finalized (they wanted a version without words) and printed in time to deliver it.

I'm happy to report that a local business was wonderful to work with and printed my poster to a beautiful watercolor paper at a very reasonable price. The colors were true and the turnaround time was less that 24 hours. For those of you looking for a nice printing resource for your artwork or photos, I'd like to recommend Canvas Depot. You can find them online at http://www.canvasdepot.com/ or you can drop in to the former Christmas Cottage in downtown Melbourne where they have a booth.

And for anyone interested in Liguus Snails, let me know. I have a half hour photo heavy presentation that I'm happy to give at schools or local gatherings to tell anyone about these wonderful little creatures, their habitat, and why they are protected.

And if you want to find and photograph them for yourselves, they can only be found in Florida, between Big Cypress, the Everglades and the Keys.

Update from the Everglades

I'm having a great time in the Everglades. As the Artist in Residence for July I have a wonderful little apartment right at the entrance to the park. And since the park is open 24 hours, I can come and go whenever I please. That usually means up and out the door with the sunrise, hiking the trails taking pictures til the heat and mosquitoes are too much for me at 1:30, working on cataloging my images and creating stuff in the cool of air conditioning, and then out walking again from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

I'm finding beautiful snails, white peacock butterflies, big and little alligators, lubber grasshoppers, marvelous birds, turtles, snakes, deer, tourists from all over the world and what have to be the nicest most supportive rangers and park staff I've ever encountered. I've been here 10 days and the only downer is the lack of internet connectivity. I'm taking a short break in Miami Beach to have access. Then back to the park where you could easily while a way hours just sitting at the overlook at Pa-hay-okee marveling at how amazingly beautiful a swamp can be.

And, for everyone out there 62 or older - did you know that for $10 you can buy a Senior Lifetime Pass at ANY National Park and it's good for free entrance to ALL National Parks for the rest of your life! It has tons of other benefits also, including getting anyone else in your vehicle in free with you. This has to be one of the greatest things for seniors that this country offers. I'm loving it. Don't fail to get one if you haven't already.

The Great Tree Snail Hunt

I've just returned from a wonderful trip to the Everglades looking for Liguus Tree Snails. They're an inspiration for a project that I've wanted to do that explores the relationship between the patterns on these beautiful shells and the incredible designs on Seminole/Miccosukee clothing. When I first saw the collection of tree snail shells in cases at the Ernest Coe Visitor Center over 30 years ago I immediately thought of the designs in Seminole Patchwork. The relationship seemed obvious. But research back then didn't support a connection. Still, it has stuck in my head that there is one.

The cases have long since vanished - possibly in Hurricane Andrew. And speculation is that the snails with the beautiful colors I saw in those shells are now extinct. During my trip I was able to find and photograph over 50 unique snails at Royal Palm, Pinelands and Pinecrest. As you can see in the three photos of snails here, they are still amazingly beautiful and inspiring.

I also visited the outstanding Ah-tha-thi-ki Museum south of Clewiston to do research on the origins of the clothing in their library. The Museum itself is small but the exhibits are so modern and incredibly well designed it's a real treat to visit. And their collection is said to have over 4000 artifacts, much of it early clothing samples. I didn't even get to that yet!

Last month I purchased Henry's Close's wonderful book on the Liguus (The Liguus Tree Snails of South Florida) and he devoted a small chapter to the connection between the snails and Seminole clothing. And at the Museum library yesterday I found a quote from Harriet Bedell back in 1941 that totally supports the idea. The quest for more information is going to be fun! I have much more research to do and am excited to have the opportunity to be the Artist in Residence in the Everglades for the month of July to continue work on my project.

If you have an interest in Liguus or Seminole clothing, please write!