Fog!

Fog!, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

The weather in southwest Florida in the wintertime tends to be drier than our humid summers (also known as the rainy season). Lately, though, we’ve had an abundance of fog. Fog in the morning is not unusual, when cold landmasses meet the warmer air off of the Gulf of Mexico. But fog at 2 p.m.? Very unusual. We watched the visibility become worse as the afternoon progressed, when normally the fog is lifting and melting away with the sunshine.

I captured a composite watercolor sketch in my nature journal of the cabbage palms near the beach. Since a foggy atmosphere dampens and desaturates the color of things, I used a limited palette of neutral colors. Later I added a touch of watercolor pencil for some foggy texture, trying to add a dense feeling.

Drier days are predicted, thank goodness. Last month the fog was so thick across the center of the state that officials closed the section of Interstate 75 that connects Naples and Ft. Lauderdale (about 105 miles)!

You can click on the image caption above to see it larger on my Flickr photostream.

A bit of news

30th Worldwide SketchCrawl
Just a quick update…our local paper sent a photographer to our SketchCrawl and created a small photo gallery for the online version. You can see us in action by clicking on this link.

A Reprint
Other nice news – Artella has once again reprinted one of my blog articles in their e-Zine, The Art Journal Journey.  This article is one on leaf printing, and describes my explorations using watercolors and acrylics. If you’re interested in printing with leaves, you can read about leaf printing here, with my follow-up article here.

A past client shares photos

I did some illustrations for Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) that they used in signage for parks at Oleta River and at a rare scrub preserve. Robin Gray-Urgellés, the biologist working on the program, very kindly sent me photos of the finished kiosks as well as permission to use her images. Thank you, Robin!

And a past illustration is reused for a great event
If you are in the South Florida area Saturday March 12th, consider visiting The Randell Research Center in Pineland for their Sixth Annual Calusa Heritage Day event. You can find information here, and in more detail here.  I’m honored to have my illustration used for their promotional posters and flyers. The image is done on scratchboard and depicts a wooden mask surrounded by native plants used by the Calusa peoples.