Florida 1998

In January of 1998 I drove down to Florida to visit some friends who lived in Melbourne, on the east coast of the state. It was a very new experience to me to see a city built on a sandbar by the ocean. The land was astonishingly flat, and the vegetation looked like it came from another planet. I was also surprised at how lightly built the houses were, as if a hurricane could blow them away like balsa wood. While I was in Florida the weather changed and by the time I got to Disney World I had to buy a wildly overpriced sweatshirt to keep the chill away. Yes, Florida chill. It isn't always warm there in the winter. I don't think I'll move there.

Of course I had my sketchbook and colored pencils with me so I did drawings whenever I could. This is the street my friends lived on. The palm trees fascinated me, as did the spiky brush vegetation that persisted where the developers and builders hadn't cleared it. I ate conch fritters and fried alligator meat at a touristy restaurant called "Conchy Joe's." Right now the Florida folk are staring into their screens at mountains of snow in my old home place, Boston. 

Florida street sketch is inks on sketchbook page with colored pencils, 8 1/2" x 4 1/2", January 25, 1998.