Famed Everglade photographer Clyde Butcher's is holding his annual "Muck About" is this weekend. Every Labor Day weekend Clyde Butcher invites the public to go for a walk in the River of Grass. It's a great opportunity to learn more about the Everglades in a non-threatening way, wonderful fun, gives you a great appreciation for the land and if you're lucky you'll get to meet Clyde. All three days from 9-3, $20 per person. Wear old closes and shoes and plan to get wet! This is truly something not to miss! Pass it on!

The Studio Gallery, which represents me here on Marco Island, will close for a couple of weeks for September vacation. I've taken back some of the paintings they had, and will give them new pieces for the fall. Thee October show at the Museum of the Everglades is coming together, and I have some new pieces for that. As it always does this time of year my small studio is getting very crowded, so it's a great time to buy a painting! "Nine of a Kind" is fun and colorful, and would look great going up a stairway, in a long line over a soft, or as a large piece here. The pieces are light enough to be hung on push-pins so you can change it around to suit you without banging up your walls!

Sometimes nature gives us the most incredible gifts of beauty. They all have to do with the effects of light in our environment. Such moments are fleeting, and if you are not alert and open to them you can miss them completely. As an artist, if I can get one of these moments down in a way that satisfies me, I've had a good day.

I spent part of yesterday with another artist, someone who ask if she could come over and "watch me paint" She wants to transition from water color, which she's done for years. We had a great time and shared some good art talk, and I've made a new friend.

We won't have the dark greens and drying up colors of fall for while yet, but for me it's the last week of summer. Kids have started back to school and there is a slight crispness to the early mornings. This morning I was fortunate enough to see fabulous clouds of an early morning thunderstorm building in the south just as the sun came up to light them magnificently in lush creams and pinks. I tried a photo but just couldn't capture the beauty well enough to pass it on, and didn't want to wake Bob, who's the real photographer!

Congratulations to Physician's Regional Hospital for purchasing "In the August Sun" and "Alone with a Palm!" They're at the framers now and you should see them soon in the lobby of the Dr's office building on Collier Blvd.

Recent summers have been spent working "en plein aire," but for a variety of reasons it just hasn't been possible this summer. I've been mostly working in the studio. In the field an artist tends to be more responsive and immediate, and the in studio more thoughtful and reflective. As artists we need a need a little of each if we are to grow in both spirit and technique. The studio time has been valuable, but I look forward to getting out in the field again next week! This painting was started back in May, and I'm finally satisfied with it. Have a great weekend!

What to do on a stormy day? Take a ride and make a painting! The clouds are dramatic and the light is mutable on a day like this. You can smell the moisture and the fresh earth. The rain fills up puddles and you understand why the everglades are called the river of grass.

In summer, usually in the early morning, sometimes the light just saturates and infuses the the landscape with color. The feeling is magical--sort of being bathed an apricot glow. I started this painting a while ago and just finished it up. I've been asked to be the featured artist in the Museum of the Everglades this October. Maybe you will see this painting there!

This is the season of plenty in the Everglades. Plenty of sun, plenty of water and plenty of breeze. Even though we are a little light on rain this year the cycle of renewal is well underway. The parched grasses of spring are sprouting new growth, the palms are all sporting new fronds and water creatures and insects are reproducing. Summer is a great time for renewal and abundance. I finished this painting over the weekend. It feels like summer and it's a beauty!

While traveling, in addition to the Edward Hopper exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston we saw a wonderful exhibition of Fitz Henry Lane and one of his students, Mary Blood Mellon, at the Cape Ann Historical Society in Gloucester, MA. Fitz Henry Lane, a Gloucester artist who's home still stands overlooking the harbor, was a well know luminist in the style of Florida's Martin Johnson Heade. Seeing a major exhibition affects both artists and our culture in ways only the future can tell.

Starting to paint again myself, I warmed up with this little mini-painting.

Our trip up the coast was all about family, so it will be a few days before I can show you a new painting. The trip was a busy one, filled with grandchildren and a stop in Washington, DC for some sightseeing. We visited the excellent Edward Hopper exhibition at MFA in Boston and were delighted to be able recognize some of the scenes painted by Hopper once we got to Gloucester, our final destination. Thanks to a great son-in-law I was surprised, honored, and absolutely delighted to have my family appear dressed in tee shirts with my paintings on the front!