Monster found in an egg & More Florida travels.

From The Mystery and Lore of Monsters by C.J.S. Thompson/Curator of the Museum, Royal College of Surgeons

Recently I entered a work in the exhibition Abnormality in St. Petersburg Fl inspired by an account in a book I own on monsters of nature. The work "Monster Found in an Egg" is inspired by the following account by Pare- Another curious monster that he figures, he states was found in the innermost part of an egg. " It had the face of a man but hairs yielding a horrid representation of snakes, the chin had three other snakes stretched forth from the chin. "It was first seen at Autun at the house of one Bancheron, a lawyer, by a maid breaking many eggs to butter. The white of this egg give to a cat presently killed her.                                                                         

The sculpture is made of polyester resin, apoxie( a sculpting material acquired from Aves Studios) and plastic. I plan on creating a series of these or similar egg bound monsters.
Recently Kym and I also took a trip to Cedar Key with a leg of the journey in Silver River and a leg in Yankeetown. It is amazing to me the natural beauty of these places in Florida, especially since growing up in Florida I never saw these places.

Cedar Key is a small community off the west coast of Florida. It is known for its clam farming. We sampled some locally grown clams at the Seabreeze Restaurant along with other delicious fresh caught fish. The sunset was insane and then the nigh-time sky was the clearest view of the stars I have ever seen. The next trip we take here will be planned during a meteor shower to take advantage of the low light pollution.

Crystal River- our next stop- we stayed at the Port Marina and Hotel where we had a second floor private balcony with a view of the docks. In the evening we sat and listened to the manatees blasting air as they surfaced until they actually swam up into the dock area!

Our next stop- Yankeetown- Kym wanted to photograph the signs along the Follow That Dream Parkway. The Elvis Presley film Follow That Dream was filmed(1962) in this area hence the name of the road.

Words & music by Fred Wise - Ben Weisman)

Follow that dream, I gotta follow that dream

Keep a-movin, move along, keep a moving

I've got to follow that dream wherever that dream may lead

I've got to follow that dream to find the love I need

When your heart gets restless, time to move along

When your heart gets weary, time to sing a song

But when a dream is calling you,

There's just one thing that you can do

Well, you gotta follow that dream wherever that dream may lead

You gotta follow that dream to find the love you need

Keep a-movin, move along, keep a moving

Got to find me someone whose heart is free

Someone to look for my dream with me

And when I find her I may find out

Just what my dreams are all about

I've got to follow that dream wherever that dream may lead

I've got to follow that dream to find the love I need

I've got to follow that dream wherever that dream may lead

I've got to follow that dream to find the love I need

Keep a-movin, move along

Keep a-movin, move along

Keep a-movin, move along

We continued along till we stopped at a boat ramp with another astonishing view. Along the way we stopped at a beautiful victorian home for sale with a bunch of very unique features.

This home, which I intend to post more about, has remarkable decorative cast stones filling the gap between the floor and foundation. Very inspiring in their sculptural beauty when loosely stacked and a possible solution for my long time planned lizard habitats.

In the landscape throughout the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant has a very contrary presence. It is hard to accept the much maligned technology plop right in the center of all the natural beauty, but there it is. I first spied it from Cedar Key on the far horizon and then it continued to show up throughout the next day when a part in the trees allowed a view.

Many strange sights await tourists in the most common road side stops.

Yankeetown at the end of Follow That Dream Parkway.

View of the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant from Follow That Dream Parkway.

Pugzonya

Somewhere on Anna Marie Island 12/25/2012

Siesta Key sand sculptures.

November 11th 2012

Here are a few images from the The Siesta Key Master Sand Sculpture Contest.

This event is on its third year and involves only professional "sand artists".

I attended the event to glean the secrets of sand sculpting from the top players and took a few picts.

The events proceeds ($5 a head) go to the Mote Marine Laboratory Sea Turtle Conservation Program.

Bats need an audience too....for their paintings.

On October 27th 2012 I traveled to Gainesville Fl to attend the Lubee Bat Festival at the Lubee bat Conservancy (www.lubee.org). This organization researches and promotes the conservation of bat populations and ecosystems that bats play a role in. Bats are a much maligned yet incredibly important group of animals. The bats found at Lubee are fruit bats- flying foxes and are lots of fun to watch. I, however, never expected that they are also quite adept at painting.

The painting pictured below was purchased to help the organization raise funds. The picture is attributed to Pteropus vampyrus ( species of bat ) and Pen 11 (location of creation/studio address) and dated June 23rd 2012. 

Below- Bats painting another masterpiece!

The Graffiti Wall of Gainesville

On our way to the Lubee Bat Festival in Gainesville Fl we stopped at a public tag wall.

Tampa does not have such a space to my knowledge but I think it is a fantastic idea. As I photographed the wall there were at least two groups working on it. The people working did not know who sponsored the wall- just that it is legal to make art there.

Murals of St. Cloud

The first in a series of posts that visually documents recent trips around Florida.

We traveled to St. Cloud Fl, the location of the filming of 2000 Maniacs ( Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis) and documented, among other things, these murals in the downtown area.