Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you hear about the state of Florida, what comes to your mind? Hurricanes, heat, humidity, alligators, a place where the old retire to ....did I say ALLIGATORS?? One of the watercolor classes I'm taking is basically a sharing of ideas taught by one another. The only male in our class was going to teach us about painting an alligator. When I first heard this I immediately thought UGH! For over a week I went back and forth about whether I wanted to go and paint this creature. I finally decided I would take the class. It wasn't necessarily about the alligator so much as it was about learning more techniques about drawing and painting.
I have to honestly say, that I have never traced anything onto my watercolor papers. I like to do my own sketching and sometimes I have to keep erasing and keep sketching to get it in the right proportions.
Owen, the only male in our class, had gone to Mayaka State Park where he took a tram ride and saw one of the largest and oldest alligators in the park, per the tram driver. As usual, I took forever to complete my painting, wanting to get it just right.
The background is showing all the vines and heavy brush that are in the park. Have you ever seen an alligator up close? They really are a rather bland color and can easily blend into the background. In less than two weeks, Mr. Cottage and I, along with Molly, will be driving from Sarasota to Key West to visit some friends of ours. The only way to get there, from here, is to drive through what is known as alligator alley. I-75 goes through the Everglades and everyone knows that it's filled with alligators, as well as snakes and other yucky creatures. I will be taking my camera along and hope to show some photos after we return. FYI, the length of the alligator's snout, in inches, equals the length in feet that he is. Now I want to know, do you really want to go and measure his nose to determine how long he really is?
No thank you, i would NOT be measuring his nose!! LOL.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very challenging class to me... you did a great job! xoxo
Well, perhaps a very long tape measure to measure an alligator. If you have time in the Everglades - the airboat rides are a blast. We did get pretty close to a gator on our ride but I kept my hands in the boat.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Florida we used to have two alligators come and bask in the sun on the side of the lake we lived on... not too scary when you have grown up seeing crocodiles... now those things are freaky... my daughter used to call them cute crocs... all a matter of perspective... have fun at the keys, I loved it when we headed down there from Jupiter and hope you get the chance to do a little sketching or painting of the keys...xx
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