Winter escape

Rita’s in Port Saint Lucie, 7 x 9¼" watercolor

Rita napping, 4 x 9"

Just got back from a wonderful winter-escape trip to Port Saint Lucie, Florida, home of retired friend Rita Reinecker. We managed a couple of trips to Palm Beach and a couple to Stuart, FL, a town that neighbors Port Saint Lucie. Did very little painting, but had my watercolors with me so did manage to paint these three.

Poolside Retreat, 9¼ x 7" watercolor

From the dock

Dockside from the water, 6¾ x 8¾“

A gallery that represents me in Greensboro, NC, has several customers who have second homes in the Wilmington area. Since I was going to Wilmington anyway, I called Kathy, the gallery owner, for suggestions of places I might paint. I had already started Dockside from the street when it was suggested I paint the popular restaurant from the water. I thought I would have to find a boat, but turns out, Dockside has its own dock. Of course they would.

Onto Wrightsville Beach

Dockside from the street, 6¾ x 9½" watercolor

Actually, this popular seafood eatery is in Wilmington. Dockside Restaurant is, however, more highly associated with Wrightsville Beach. Located on the west side of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, it is just before one crosses over to Wrightsville Beach. It was perhaps the first seafood restaurant I can remember going to in North Carolina where the menu didn’t consist of mostly deep fried seafood. It was also the first place I tried soft shell crabs, served on buns with fries on the side. With all their legs extending out of the buns, the soft shell crab sandwiches look like they could run off. Buns with legs — who’da thought?

Back in North Carolina

Rx in Wilmington, 6½ x 9½" watercolor

I was back in Goldsboro [from my trip to Minnesota] about a month, when I felt the need to get away again, this time for three days in the Wilmington area. I drove down on a Tuesday. Thinking it might rain the entire time I was there, I contacted the owner of a couple of popular restaurants to ask if I might paint inside his restaurants in the event of rain. With some skepticism, he granted me permission to come in before the restaurants opened their doors for dinner. Turns out I didn’t need to stay indoors. Although the skies were threatening, I managed to do this watercolor upon arriving my first day there. For those not familiar, Rx restaurant got its name because it is located in a building that formally housed a 20th century drug store.

Side excursion

Bird Break, 3 x 8¾" watercolor

For sure this is a detour. It actually takes me back to a visit with my friend Rita, who in January 2015 was wintering in an RV park in Fort Meyers, Florida. A mutual friend of ours took me on a day trip south to the Everglades, a fabulous place to visit. Wildlife abounds in the National Park there. I took advantage of some time to do some sumi-e style watercolors. I painted mostly a Great Blue Heron, but couldn’t resist this alligator who seemed tame enough. Tomorrow, Bird Break is joining many other animals in a series of paintings I refer to as BehrCritters. Almost daily, a new BehrCritter watercolor goes up for auction. Click on today’s auction item, Looking Back, a pelican painted on a visit to Oak Island, NC.

Another interior

Blue kettle, 9x6" watercolor

Three days after my return to North Carolina in July, I drove to Blowing Rock, NC, where I taught a class to members of the local country club. I didn’t know until the night before that some of the students would be using, not what I had recommended, but watercolors and paper donated by Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff. The night before the class, in the kitchen of my host’s home, I decided I should do one myself using the materials provided. How I lust for her old fangled-looking stove. I just noticed, this floor has a striking resemblance to the floor in my last post.

The color of clean

Sunporch at Judy and Steve’s, 9x6" watercolor

I couldn’t get less done this morning if I tried. Guess it’s Saturday morning. Going back to some vacation days when I was more productive, here’s Sunporch at Judy and Steve’s. I didn’t notice ’til later, there wasn’t a speck on the floor. Not on the sunporch, not in the house; probably not even on the deck. When Judy isn’t concocting some wonderful dish, she is picking up specks. It wasn’t until I painted this piece that I notice the little dots on the painted floor match the round balls that hold up the bookcase. Clever.