"Florida Cracker"

Hi everyone!

This blog is about a very special painting.

As some of you know, I had the opportunity to spend a little time

in the Tallahassee area in May of 2011.  

While I was driving around in the town where our brother Joey lived, 

I came upon a little shack of a cottage in the woods.

It is located right there on main street where you get off of Interstate 10 

going into Joey's little town of Loyd, Florida.

For some reason I was completely taken with this little falling down shack.

I went back to it three times in two trips to Tallahassee  

and took photos each time.

I suppose it was my way of having a little piece of my brother Joey 
without having to go back to his house again.

I did go to Joey's house once during that visit to Tallahassee.

After Betti and Tim asked me to go back again and try to find our 
sister n law, I found it too painful for me to return.  
So instead I drove around looking for very old houses to photograph.  

And of course to find a few more memories of some of my times 
spent with Joey in Lloyd before he died.

This one really struck me.  Like I said, I went back three times 
for photographs 

Well . . .Some of you know that I currently spend a great deal 
of my time painting pictures.

This little shack was a Must to paint and because it took me a very long time to complete  I am so ancious and proud, I could go no longer without sharing my story with all of you.

I have received so much personal enjoyment in painting this  shack.  

I hope that you all can enjoy it a little as well.   

To me it will always be this little shack I stumbled across while looking for memories of my time spent with my brother Joey.

Enjoy!!!

Contender in the "Art by the Sea" show in January 2013
  

Three trips and wonderful photos

It's me.

As it stands in real life.

Look very close in the painting and you will see the bottle.

I couldn't help it.  I had to take it.

There was no evidence of the house ever having had indoor plumbing or electric of any kind

and the wall paper was hanging everywhere.  The floors were rotted out.  On my second trip back I took the wine bottle out of the window and have it in my kitchen window.  Still unwashed on the inside.

I had removed another really cool piece of wall paper with palm trees on it but walked off without it.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!