Everglades Fire, Daily Painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Sunny Side
7" x 5"

acrylic on Panel
$150 with FREE shipping and handling in the US

Family visits over and studio reclaimed! Everything is back in place and I managed to paint this small painting yesterday. I'm always pleased after a break to see that I can still paint, and I like the bright, painterly quality of this one.

The smell of smoke from a large Everglades fire is still strong this morning. Fires are a natural part of the wet season, May through October, when they are often started by lightening, but burn only until the next heavy thunderstorm. The fires keep larger trees from invading the sawgrass prairies by burning them out. The sawgrass will lose it's grass, but the roots remain alive because of water in and on top of the soil. Nutrients are released into the soil and a healthy regrowth follows.

Fires started during the dry season, when there is very little rain can be more harmful. While they still reduce undergrowth brush, they burn much hotter and deeper than a wet season fire. They can start the peat layer burning, and destroy the root systems of the plants. The results are much longer lasting, and the recovery of the area may take years.

The National Park Service gets the most visitors during the dry season because the temperatures are pleasant, the bugs are less, and the animals tend to congregate at the remaining water holes. We were surprised to see the large number of visitors to the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk. We've been visiting this boardwalk-nature walk for years, and have never seen more than a couple of other people. Last week there were many cars parked and a stream of visitors. A nice walk, but hard to see much wildlife with so many people!