Lone Palm daily painting by Everglades painter Jo-Ann Sanborn

Lone Palm, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 7"x5"

Today's funky and somewhat stylized little palm is all alone looking out into a vast Fakahatchee prairie.  The sky is subdued and the next hammock so distant as to lack identifying character.  Will this little guy find the strength to survive and even flourish, or wither and die from lack of companionship and sheltering arms?

He's small and scrawny, but tough.  If he survives his youth, he'll provide homes and food to the prairie birds and animals, and shelter from the relentless sun.  I'm betting on him!

If you'd like to see more of the Fakahatchee, there's a new "ghost rider" tram tour given by Friends of the Fakahatchee.  Say hello to my little friend when you pass him by! 

"GHOST RIDER" TRAM TOURS - 2013

 

Tuesday, February 19 , Tuesday, February 26, Thursday, February 28, Tuesday, March 5

Cost $25/person, Reservations Required!

Phone (239) 695-1023 or email FOF_90@hotmail.com

Download a Reservation Form or Book Online.

Camp in the Fakahatchee, and Alone by the Water,daily painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Alone by the Water, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 2013

Camp in the Fakahatchee

We drove out Janes Scenic Drive to where a number of tram roads branch off, each closed to vehicles by a locked gate.  The trams are raised roads remaining from the logging of giant cypress trees in the 40's. 

The trams are only available to walkers unless you happen to still own a bit of property.  My new friends owned such property and had a key to gate #7, so that we could go further by car.  I transferred from my car to theirs, squeezing into the back with Lelia, a beautiful weimaraner.  

The road was narrow and close with greenery brushing the sides of the truck, but it was dry, and the truck had no trouble navigating another mile deep into the Fakahatchee.  It would be different in the summer months when the heavy rains would turn the road to mud and the mosquitos attempt to eat you alive. 

We stopped the car with just enough room for another vechicle to pass, in an area filled with dense greenery.  We jumped out, unpacked the car, and took our provisions over a footbridge to a small camp sent on cinderblooks raising it above the remaining shallow water.  (to be continued)

Fall Parade daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Fall Parade, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 5"x7"

 

 

This is a group of palms in the Fakahatchee further south than the group I've been painting.  The reds and oranges of autumn have still crept in.  I had to fuss with the color of the sky to get the temperature cool enough.  It went from orange, then yellow, both too warm, a light blue didn't suit me, and finally the cool pink seems to work well. 

 

Doing the little dailies is a pleasure since it's It's been quite busy in the studio, and I have sevaral commissions to finish. Most are going well, but one is giving me a hard time.  I know that the cause is I'm unclear about exactly what the client expects.  Most likely this is my fault rather than the client.  If I don't ask the right questions or get the right feedback there can be a disconnect. 

 

I'm excited about the concept for the painting,  so I'll just  have to give it a dramatic revision to see if I can get it control and going in a direction I can work with.  If not, I'll go back for more guidance to be sure we're on the same track. 

 



Reception Invitation, Last Stand painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Last Stand, Jo-Ann Sanborn

Acrylic on Canvas, 9 12x12 pieces

You're Invited!

Corner of the Glades

New Work, Jo-Ann Sanborn

Reception February 10th, 6-9 pm.m

Aura Fine Art Gallery

837 Fifth Avenue South

Naples, FL  34145

upstairs over Chops!

I’ve been asked to hold a solo show at Aura Fine Art Gallery in Naples, and I've been working on new paintings since early summer when the show was first offered.  The gallery is showing three pieces of my work in anticipation of the show, and I'll deliver another 22 paintings next week. 

Most of the scenes are from the Fakahatchee.  It's been difficult for me to get further afield this year, and some great new access has come available close to Marco Island. Some of the new paintings have been previewed on this blog, and other pieces haven’t been shown anywhere yet.

The painting above, Last Stand, is a new, colorful, nine-piece painting that will be sold as one piece.  I painted something quite similar but different quite a few years ago that's hanging in a dentist office, and wanted to explore the idea further.  It can be hung as shown, or the pieces can be configure to fit your space needs or your aesthetic.  There's been quite a bit of interest as I've worked on the piece in the studio, and you can see it in person at the reception. 

You are invited to the reception, Thursday, February 10th, from 6-9. If you haven’t received a post card about the show from me, it’s because you are not on my mailing list, you have moved and didn’t tell me, or I don’t have your complete address as in the case of some condos. 

In addition, he Post Office is returning the cards to me with a “not deliverable as addressed” label. Yet when I check the address, it is exactly as it appears on my list, delivered previously, or if I check the phone book or online, the address is correct. Almost 10% of the cards have been returned for unknown reasons.  It’s an infuriating waste of money to put stamps on mail that is not delivered even though the address seems correct.

If you have not received a card from me you are still invited! You're welcome to bring friends, too.  Put it on your calendar right now, come along and join the fun. We’ll have a good time, you’ll see my latest work, and if things go well some paintings will be going to new homes.

If you are not able to attend the reception, the paintings will be on display at Aura Gallery from Feb. 10 to Feb. 24. Thanks, Barb and Tim for this opportunity! 

Oh, if you’d like to be added to my snail mail list (at your own peril) you can email me here.

Seth Godin, One of a Kind painting by Everglades artist JoAnn Sanborn

One of a Kind

16x20, acrylic on canvas

$400

This palm caught my eye at the head of the Marsh Trail, the new trail into the Fakahatchee only a few miles from Marco Island. It was absolutely glowing in the warmth of the late afternoon sun. I took a photo and wanted to paint it before the memory faded. A few minutes later the sun had moved in the sky and the palm didn't have nearly the same appeal.

Times are fast changing, and one way I try to stay up to date is to read the blog of Seth Godin. He wrote "Tribes" and he's trying once again to update our thinking. His ideas are revolutionary, and he has an extraordinary group of friends You can get his new ebook, free, here.Wish I had time to figure out what a riff is--I'll save that exercise for later!

Visit the Everglades

"There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth: remote, never wholly known" says Marjory Stoneman Douglas, author of The Everglades, River of Grass written in 1947. Although South Florida is now populated with millions of people, we're fortunate that her book was instrumental in promoting the preservation of thousands of acres of Everglades on both the national and state levels. In addition to Everglades National Park, we can enjoy the Big Cypress National Preserve, Seminole State Park, the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, and the Florida Panther Preserve right here in Collier County! Each of these areas have "friends" groups if you'd like to get involved, or to support them financially. Living here on Marco, on a small lot, I really appreciate the opportunity to have such open space only a few miles away. Marjory Stoneman Douglas lived to well over one hundred, and didn't start her work on preserving the Glades till well into her sixties. Shows us it's never too late to make a difference!

Dancing in Sunlight
7" x 5"

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