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.