back to reality

My reality at home is bitter, cold, and frozen fingers. It is hard to draw while wearing mittens and layers of protection. I've been posting a lot about how I am suffering in the winter here in Chicagoland.

The truth is that I haven't suffered every minute, I spent 5 days in Florida in the last week of January.

I was invited by dear friends to do some landscape painting on their golf course in Lemon Bay. This course is a National Audubon bird refuge, known for it's natural beauty. The first thing to do besides breathing very deeply of warm humid air is to get out the sketchbook and start planning the landscape composition. I was overwhelmed by the brilliant foliage greens and blue skies. All the colors looked garish to me after the winter white and grey that my eyes were accustomed to.