ARLINGTON STREET MARINA IN JACKSONVILLE

Arlington Street Marina, Jacksonville, 5.5 x 8.5 ink drawing by George C. Clark     AVAILABLE

The Arlington Street Marina on the St. Johns River was across the street from the cottage we rented in Jacksonville.  I went over one morning after breakfast and sketched this tugboat being refitted.

FLORIDA DUNES IN COLOR

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida,  8.5 x 15.5 inch ink, watercolor and colored pencil by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

Here is the full color version of a drawing I made on-site in Florida recently. 

DUNES ON THE FLORIDA COAST

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, 8 x 15.5 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I made this drawing last month at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve on the Atlantic coast north of St. Augustine, Florida, a lovely stretch of beach, dunes, and coastal wetlands.  Swimmers, surfers and fishermen can access the beach, but only via wooden boardwalks that protect the fragile plants that anchor the dunes in place.  I drew from an overlook on one of those boardwalks across a 2-page spread in my sketchbook, which I later cut out of its binding and flattened for framing.  I will probably do a full color version of this image with watercolors.

George C. Clark drawing beach dunes in Florida.  Photo by Pat Clark.

ANOTHER PAINTING FROM TARPON SPRINGS, FLORIDA

Two by Two by Two, 15 x 8 inch ink and watercolor painting by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

Another painting from my trip to Florida in March.  The title refers to the two ospreys in flight, the two big fishing trawlers moored across the river, and the two smaller sponge boats in the foreground.

TANKMATES IN SARASOTA

Tankmates, Sarasota, Florida, 8 x 11 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I drew this big green sea turtle from life at the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota last month.  There were two manatees in the same tank, but they wouldn't hold still long enough to be drawn, so I photographed them.  Later I drew one in and then added watercolor.

OLD TRAWLER, TARPON SPRINGS, FLORIDA

Old Trawler, Tarpon Springs, Florida, 8 x 9 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I drew this old trawler last month from a riverside picnic table in the old fishing and spongeing port of Tarpon Springs, just north of St. Petersburg.  Afterwards I had grilled shrimp for lunch at a restaurant on a pier that had its own shrimp boat tied up alongside.

KOI POND, SARASOTA, FLORIDA

Koi Pond, Sarasota, 10 x 8 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I sketched the ornamental carp in this koi pond at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota about three weeks ago.  It's an amazing place, with the second largest collection of air plants (orchids, etc.) in the world.

ART SALE AT THE PALETTE AND CHISEL SATURDAY APRIL 26

Audubon House, Key West, 8.5 x 9 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

This little ink and watercolor landscape is one of 6 works on paper I will have in the Art Sale at the Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Arts at 1012 N. Dearborn Street in Chicago next Saturday, April 26, from 11am to 4pm.  This sale features hundreds of work in various mediums.  My other paintings in the sale will be a railroad image and four female nudes.

FLORIDA KEYS PELICAN

Brown Pelican, Plantation Key, Florida,  10 x 8 inch ink, watercolor and colored pencil drawing by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

Last spring one of the places we stopped at while driving up the keys from Key West to Miami was the Wild Bird Sanctuary on Plantation Key.  They rehabilitate injured wild birds there, and keep some that can't survive in the wild on display.  Others, like this wild brown pelican, just fly in and hang out because it's a cool place.

EVERGLADES ALLIGATOR, TAKE 2

Alligator, 7 x 18 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    SOLD

When I was in Florida last May I tried to sketch alligators at the Everglades Alligator Farm just outside the Everglades National Park, but none of the gators would hold still long enough to be drawn.  I wound up drawing this across a double page spread in my sketchbook back at my South Beach hotel while looking at a couple of on-site photos displayed on my camera's screen.  I posted the right half of it back in May on this blog.  I have since cut the spread out of the sketchbook, flattened and framed it for my recent show at Arts on Elston, so I can now post the whole drawing.

SOUTH BEACH TWILIGHT

South Beach Twilight, 10 x 14 inch watercolor and colored pencil by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

When I was in Miami Beach in May I went for a walk before supper one evening along the Atlantic at Lummus Park.  I really liked the soft twilight colors, but the light was fading too fast to work on-site so I did this painting later from memory and photos.

FLORIDA PRIMEVAL

Florida Primeval, 10.5 x 13.5 inch ink and watercolor painting by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I found this customer at the Everglades Alligator Farm just outside the Everglades National Park.  I saw plenty of wild alligators and even a couple of crocodiles too, but they were all in the water and mostly moving too fast to photograph, let alone draw.

AUDUBON HOUSE, KEY WEST

Audubon House, Key West, 8 x 8.5 inch ink, watercolor and colored pencil by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

This is called the Audubon House because John James Aududon spent several weeks painting in the garden here in 1832 when he was working on his Birds of North America project.  The house here now was built about 20 years after Audubon's visit and is open to the public as a museum of Key West life in the mid-19th century.

 George C. Clark drawing the Audubon House               photo by Pat Clark

YELLOW HOUSE IN KEY WEST OLD TOWN

Yellow House, Key West, 10 x 8 inch ink, watercolor and colored pencil painting by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I sketched this conch house in Key West's Old Town from the balcony of the Eden House hotel a couple of weeks ago.  I hadn't been to the Florida Keys since I was 11.  I enjoyed it then, but I appreciated the experience a lot more this time.

EVERGLADES ALLIGATOR

Everglades Alligator (detail), 8 x 17 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark

I tried to sketch this gator in the Florida Everglades last week, but he wouldn't hold still long enough to be drawn.  I photographed him, and did this drawing from my photographs.  I actually drew the whole gator across a 2-page spread of my 8 x 8.5 inch inch sketchbook.  It is on a single sheet of paper, but the middle of it is folded and stitched into the binding of the sketchbook.  I won't be able to flatten the drawing out to be properly photographed or framed until I cut the sketchbook's binding apart, which I fully intend to do, but just not yet.

BIRDS OF PREY AUDUBON CENTER, MAITLAND, FLORIDA

Birds of Prey, Audubon Center, Maitland, Florida, 9 x 12 inch print from an ink drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I sketched two hawks, a buzzard, and an owl from life at the Audubon Center near Orlando, Florida.  The owl's name is Owen.  This is one of two drawings I will have in Avram Eisen's "The Birds," the Spring exhibition at AVRAM EISEN GALLERY, 5204 N. Damen, Chicago, IL 60625.  The show opens with a brunch reception on Saturday, May 5, 2012 from 11am to 2pm and runs through the end of May.  Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 11am to 6pm, Saturday noon to 5pm, and Sunday noon to 4pm.