Sketch and Sip

What the heck is it? Well as it turns out it is a very unique, instructional painting class! We got a bunch of friends together, brought some wine and snacks and we came home with an original piece of art! We were guided through the process step-by-step and I think we were all pretty surprised at the end!
Setting up refreshments

The end goal

Here we go

An hour into it

Look at us! We are artists!

Opposite ends of the island

According to NASA the noon last night, March 19th, was a full Moon of rare size and beauty which rose in the east at sunset. It was a super "perigee moon"--the biggest in almost 20 years.
The sun setting

The moon rising

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Enjoying St. Patrick's Day the Holmes Beach way!

Pontoon ride

It was a gorgeous day for a pontoon ride and that's exactly what we did! Saw a few dolphins, some nice homes and lots and lots of blue sky and water!

St Armands Circle

Exploring the Gulf coast can be so much fun and this week I wandered down towards Sarasota and spent a few hours walking around St. Armands Circle. A great place to spend an afternoon poking around. St. Armands Circle is an exclusive island located just off the coast of Sarasota, Florida that features over 130 shops, boutiques, art galleries and restaurants surrounding a large European-style roundabout with a park in the middle. Charles St. Amand, a French pioneer, purchased a Florida mangrove island located just west of the fishing village of Sarasota in 1893. The three tracts of land totaled about 131 acres. St. Amand settled in this area where he fished in the surrounding waters and raised produce. Land deeds later misspelled his name as “Armand” and the name eventually stuck. The island is today called St. Armands Key. In 1917, the leading circus magnate in the country, John Ringling bought all of St. Armands Key, Bird Key and Lido Key. Ringling dreamed of a shopping plaza designed around a roundabout similar to those found in European cities. Luxury homes and resorts were planned for the area around Ringling’s visionary “Circle.”

Our winter reunion

A busy week with my friends. Carolyn and Nancy and I spent 4 days together this week and we had such fun! We've been friends for almost 40 years now and we hadn't seen each other in a while so we laughed and had a grand time!

Kissing Sailor

During my exploration of Sarasota I came across this is statue depicting a sailor kissing a nurse in celebration of the end of World War II. Did a quick google of the statue and found that at the end of WWII, photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt snapped a now famous photo of a sailor kissing a young nurse in New York’s Times Square. In 2005, when artist J. Seward Johnson was invited to participate in the annual exhibition of large scale sculptures displayed along the Bayfront in Sarasota, Florida, he decided to recreate the photo in a 26-foot high Styrofoam sculpture. The piece, named “Unconditional Surrender” by Seward, was so popular that local residents attempted to keep it in Sarasota permanently, but they were unable to find enough donors to pay for the sculpture. Recently, a new aluminum version returned to Sarasota. It is currently on display at Marina Jack in Sarasota, FL.