Among Friends, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 40"x30"

Among Friends is the first painting I completed in 2013.  It marks 20 years since I left New England for the south.  When I first arrived on Marco Island and crossed over the bridge into a new life, it felt like I was in an alien land.  

I didn't know anything about palm trees or palm rats.  The profusion of flowers were different from what I was used to. There were no familiar landforms of hills and rocks to help me find my way.  And then there were the Everglades, rich with bold shapes and uncommon colors, and I fell in love.  

A lot of the population is transient, and another group comes and goes seasonally.  Several people I met early on have left to go back to somewhere else they call home.  Some stay in touch and others are lost to time and distance.  It took took a while to form friendships that will last. 

Now, however, I feel as though I'm among friends on Marco Island. It's a crazy group, some artists, some not.  Each one from somewhere else, with all the baggage of a lifetime but still up for a laugh.  You have a special place in my heart, and I treasure you all.