Behind the pastels in Apalachicola Florida

I have spent the last two weeks in Apalachicola, one of the oldest, most picturesque port cities in Florida. I came back here after first visiting here nearly a year ago while staying on a friend's boat and painting a mural in Carrabelle, which is a small town a half hour east of Apalachicola. Apalach, as the locals refer to it, has gone through several re-inventions of itself as a port city for lumber, cotton, and now as a fishing village and tourist destination. There are several art galleries in town and my return to Apalach was to capture some of the beauty of the town and make a connection with a gallery.
The following are some of the photographs and corresponding pastels from in and around Apalachicola,

The early morning light striking the spanish moss, in an already beautiful scene , made it an interesting challenge to capture in pastels.

The afternoon light on the sea grass offers endless opportunities to play with color.

This is such a beautiful tree. The challenge  to untangle the branches was solved by concentrating on the negative spaces, meaning the shapes of the spaces between the branches.

This is the early morning light just out of Apalach as seen from the Apalachicola bridge. For me the best views of sea grass is from up high in early morning or late afternoon. The highest point in Apalach is the arching bridge leading into town. I stopped twice on the bridge to take photographs. Each time I expected I might be chased away by the police for safety reasons. But I didn't stay long, and was able to get my pictures without interruption.

Punta Gorda Mural Proposal

Last January I visited my brother in Englewood Florida. While there, a friend told me about the murals of   the port city of Punta Gorda.  I took a drive there and discovered around twelve murals depicting Punta Gorda's history.  I was impressed by the number and quality of the murals. A large mural was in progress. The artist wasn't there at the time, but the scaffolding was in place. The mural was depicting the old Hotel Charlotte Harbor, and some of its more famous guests.(The original hotel no longer exists.) I thought then, that I would like to paint a mural in Punta Gorda.

I fell in love with south west Florida. Though I had to go back to Michigan in the spring, I knew I would be back. In late September I was back. I read an article in a local  paper about the recent dedication of the Hotel Charlotte Harbor mural. At the first opportunity I hopped on my motorcycle to see the finished mural. The proportion, I thought, was very good, but the design was static, and the use of color uninspiring. That is not to say I disliked the mural. I love murals, and technically it is well done. I just thought I could do better.

While there in Punta Gorda, I contacted the organizers of the murals, the Historical Mural Society, and was told that they were just now in the process of contacting artists for their next mural project. The next day he sent me an e-mail describing the project and some historical background and photos.

The mural project is a series of four murals, each about 16' wide and  6' tall, depicting four sports in Punta Gorda; sculling from the 1880's, hunting from the late 1800's to early 1900's, women's golf from the 1930's, and men's tennis from the 1930's.

This drawing depicts a famous race among the three top scullers in 1888, sponsored by the Hotel Charlotte Harbor, in the background. Apparently sculling was very popular at the time, and many people followed their favorite scullers.
 The sailing ship in the background is the "Oriole" owned by Caldwell Colt, the only son of the inventor of the colt revolver. An interesting side story, is that Caldwell drowned by falling overboard in Charlotte Harbor, in 1893.

The golfing panel features pro golfer Patty Berg, here playing with Louise Suggs, and Betsy Rawls, in the 1930's. Her amateur career began in Punta Gorda . She was the Associated Press athlete of the year in 1938.

There are no famous hunters that I could find, except perhaps Teddy Roosevelt, who did stay at the Hotel Charlotte Harbor on a "devil fish" fishing trip. While fishing he harpooned a 16' wide stingray which nearly sunk his boat before he managed to bring it in. But since I couldn't feature a hunter, I featured the hunted and the surrounding Fauna.

The final drawing features tennis player Bill Tilden from the 1930's.  He is playing on a court built especially for him by the Hotel Charlotte Harbor. In his day he was almost unbeatable, winning every major tournament.
You might have noticed that the hotel went through some changes from the sculling days. Built by the railroad, the hotel was the center piece of Punta Gorda until 1959. Most of the original Punta Gorda is gone, mostly from hurricanes, or in the case of Hotel Charlotte Harbor by fire.
I will know by December 6 if I get the commission.