MORN'IN Y'ALL

Hello blog buddies,

Well another chilly morning but nice clear skies and bright sunshine!

We'll do a quick laundry this morning while we wait for it to warm up a bit and then head out in search of nice beaches!  Our friends tell us that Boca Grande is a beautiful beach so we will seek and find and check it out. Additionally we will do some more checking into various sections of Punta Gorda.  We've pretty much have checked out the downtown shops and store and like what we see so now time to see some of the outskirts.  There are also some towns surrounding Punta Gorda that we want to look into.

Perhaps in a week or so we'll look at a few rentals in the area to see how much they are and what one gets for the money.

Soooooo once again I won't bore you with endless jibber/jabber.

Have a great week end and enjoy life - it's one thing we can't get two of  and we don't get a "DO OVER!!!"

JR    :>)

Yo Dudes

Good Morning,

Well another chilly morning - about 42 but blue skies and bright sunshine so it will warm up quickly.

The music at the park was really great last nite - cold down there - right on the harbor but a very enjoyable time!!!

Today we need to take the RV to the Ford dealer for the 10,000 mile checkup.  We will of course have to unhook the RV from the electric-water-sewer and move it off the lot, which is easy to do HOWEVER--- This lot was very hard to get the RV reasonably level soooooooo  I will mark where our leveling blocks are and upon returning put them down in the same spots and drive up onto them.  Should be pretty close!!!

We may need to borrow some 2x8's from the campground manager as the ground is soft here - sort of sandy and the RV tires have sunk a bit into the ground.  I should really carry some 2x8's about 2 - 3 feet long just for this purpose - but - have yet to do so!  It represents added weight which is not always a good thing for the RV.

Have a good day my friends and remember be good to yourself and to those around you - in the business world we had a saying "Be nice to the people on your way up - as you will meet them on your way down."

JR      :>)

Yo Dudes

Yo,

Well in the very low 50's this morning Brrrrrrrr!  Come noon it will be in the low 70's so a chilly morning is easy to take.

Going to a Punta Gorda park this evening where local musicians gather and play for the public.  They have three pavilions with different styles of music playing in each.  Our friend Wayne plays in one of these pavilions - joining with other musicians and sometimes going solo.  Should be lots of fun.  Some sing along as well - I'm not much of a sing-a-long guy but I certainly do enjoy music!!!!

Depends on how soon it warms up today as to what we do before the music starts around 6 pm

So I won't take up your time with endless jibber-jabber and I wish y'all a wonderful day.

JR       :>) 

A Quick Hello

Hello my buddies,

A bit chilly this morning - about 58 degrees but forecast to warm up to about 72 later today.

We met with a RE Broker yesterday and it was a bit disappointing as most of the "Bank Owned" properties have been snatched up.  We did find some very nice condos at very reasonable prices but with condos the HOA fee is way out of line as most of the amenities they put into the condo development are not something we would use very often - except the pool!!!! :>)
Some of the condo fees run $350-$450 per month!!!!  Not for us.

So now we will investigate the rental market.  Also our friends down here may be investing in rental properties which wold be ideal for us and them as they know us as very responsible people who would be very good tenants to have.  As I say we are not in a rush as we have a whole west coast journey planned starting next spring so fall of 2013 is perhaps when we would be ready to want to put down some roots.  If of course something wonderful came along that was hard to pass up then we would take a serious look.

So while we wait for the day to warm up a bit - Melissa will be writing - I'll be painting and then we'll go out into the surrounding area on a little journey to check out Punta Gorda some more - so far it looks very nice!

Later Dudes,

:>)     JR  

 

No Rain Yet - so I paint

Yo my friends,

Well, it looks like it wants to rain but we only got a couple of drops - so I decided to paint anyways!!!

As most of you know, I love to paint pears so that was the exercise of this this morning.

First I would like to show you the pool that our friends in Punta Gorda have in a screened in lanai attached to the back of their house:

A canal runs along behind their house

OK. now for the pears - this is 9 x 12 done wet into wet very quickly on a canvas sheet.

I love to paint stems

"ODD MAN OUT"

9X12 ON CANVAS SHEET

 The background around and above the pears is not painted - it is just raw untouched canvas and I will most likely leave it that way as it provides a bright background for the pears to be against.

Some times backgrounds in certain still life paintings IMHO confuse the painting and the eye of the viewer.  The bright colors of the pears and the shadows cast by the pear I feel holds the painting together for the viewer and a BG is not needed.

Now that is just my opinion and since I'm the artist and it's my painting, that's the way it is going to stay!!!!!  :>)

Have a great day my friends - we are meeting with a RE Broker this afternoon - the Broker who found and sold the house to our friends Nancy & Wayne - We'll see where this journey takes us.

JR      :>)

Lazy Day

Yo my blog buddies,

Well - today was a lazy day for us - did not do much at all - threw another load into the laundry and just sort of sat outside and enjoyed the day.  It clouded up a bit and rain showers are predicted for tonight into tomorrow.  Can't complain as the sky has been blue and the sun shinning since we arrived!!!

If the rain comes as predicted - I will setup my easel inside the RV and paint tomorrow and Melissa plans on writing.  So it will be another lazy day!!!

We had a great evening last nite at our friends Nancy & Wayne's house - some great food and music!  Wayne plays the guitar and his younger brother was visiting who also plays the guitar so music and singing into the night!!!  On Thursday nite we are going to a park in which they give concerts - from what I understand there are 3 separate pavilions with musicians in each and Wayne does some of his great guitar playing in one of the pavilions.  Should be a lot of fun!

Well - have a great evening and I'll be back at y'all tomorrow.

JR   :>)

GOOD VERY EARLY AFTERNOON 11/4

Yo my friends,

It's about 12:10 here - beautiful day 80 degrees lots of sun and a nice little breeze!

Decided to do some more painting this morning:

This one is sort of an experiment - I call it "THE RACE"It is 18 x 20 on heavy linen paper.  Done quickly wet into wet with brush and palette knife

Throw in the sky and ocean

Throw in some sail boats - palette knife work

Slam- Bam - SWISH-SWISH

As I say an experiment - just having fun - getting the arm and eye to move together!!

This one is 24 x 18 on heavy linen paper and is a scene in Acadia National Park in Maine

Done wet into wet very quickly as well.

This is my easel setup outside our RV - 

Detail of the trees - I normally put the sky in first but decided to put the trees in first just to mix it up a little

Throw in the ocean - BAM!

Toss in a sky - BAM-BAM-BAM

Close  up of trees after BAMMING in the sky

Close up of sky

I will finish this one perhaps tomorrow as we are going to our friends house tonight - we have not seen them for about a year - she is a painter also - 

JR    :>)