Tag Archives: Florida

Painting Florida’s Palm Trees
Each week or so, I try to pick a theme for my painting. These past couple of weeks, I have been looking at Florida’s palm trees. I had a couple of cigar box panels made from Honduran and Dominican Republic cedar. Light. Rather pretty. So I prepped the panels and then painted palm trees on […]

Artist-in-Residence: Painting and social distancing
This week I was scheduled to be one of the invited artists for the Santa Fe Springs Plein Air Paintout. Like so many other events, the Paintout was canceled. And so I have decided that I am not just social distancing, as has been ordered by the Governor of Florida, but I am now an […]

East Naples Winter Classic Pickleball Tournament – Women’s singles
The day before I played in the mixed doubles at the East Naples Winter Classic Pickleball Tournament, I watched the women’s singles competition at this same Pickleball Capital of the World. As I watched the matches, I admired both the agility and strategy of the players. For most of the games, the women played at […]

Pickleball Capital of the World
Playing pickleball at the East Naples Community Park was amazing. The park calls itself the Pickleball Capital of the World because it has more pickleball courts (54 courts – with 10 more to be added) than anywhere in the world. I had watched on YouTube the 2019 US Open Pickleball Championships, held at the East […]

Cycling and Painting the Hawthorne Trail
One of my New Year’s ambitions was to cycle the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail more often than I had in the previous year. By January 7, I’d cycled 80 miles on the trail. The trail is through sections of Paynes Prairie State Preserve. I enjoy going downhill at 24-26 mph, feeling the rush of wind on […]

Art Festival 2019 at Thornebrook
Come to the Art Festival at Thornebrook to see my latest artwork. The festival is Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 12-13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. My work includes pieces I created at the Lavender Festival in Oregon, views from hiking in the Grand Canyon, and new scenes from Barcelona. I will be selling original […]

Pickleball Fun
I have become enthralled with a game called Pickleball. Actually, I think I’m addicted. It’s a great workout. After hiking in the Smokies this past Spring, friend Richard made Pickleball sound pretty interesting. Richard plays Pickleball. So I researched Pickleball by reading books (Gale Leach and Prem Carnot), watching YouTube of the 2019 Pickleball Open, […]

Creativity and Purple Elephants
In making and selling both musical instruments and watercolors, I have conversations with many adults who tell me that they couldn’t play the flute or try watercolors themselves because they aren’t creative or artistic. Recently when I suggested to a friend that we could paint watercolors together on my upcoming visit with her, she emailed […]

Jingle Dress Dancers
Google Doodle’s Celebrating the Jingle Dress Dance is a reminder of the Jingle Dress Dancers I’ve seen at Native American powwows. The Jingle Dress Dancers were one of many dancers celebrating at the Chambers Powwows I’ve attended. All the powwow dancers convey different elements of Native American life and culture with costumes showcasing a connection […]

Carved Wood Spoons
I enjoy carving green wood into wooden spoons using an axe and knife. The first batch of spoons I carved were from horse chestnut. It was such an enjoyable experience and I really liked that the whole operation was portable. I could take the axe and knife with me and carve “on the road,” so-to-speak. When making flutes […]

WrenSong Kanteles
The kantele complements the Native American flute wonderfully. These are delightful instruments and easy to learn to play. They may take some time like the ukulele and Native American style flute to learn to play well. The kanteles I primarily make are 5-string versions. In 2018, I released a 6-string version but find that […]

GLAM Craft Show, Dec. 2
The GLAM Craft Show is a great way to find holiday gifts made by local artisans and crafters. This year’s GLAM event on Sunday, Dec. 2, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., will be held at First Magnitude Brewery. Admission is free. I’ll be selling several sizes of my fun pen, ink & watercolors. My […]