Feb 28 & 29, 2012 - and so it ends.

Yesterday was spent cleaning out my studio and my living space. In the evening we celebrated my sister's birthday, and then went to my studio and brought my luggage to her house. This left me with some minor tidying up to do this morning before I handed in the keys.

After saying goodbye I went on a personal quest and, of course, found things to take pictures of on every street.

Today, I even had lunch with a new friend, and I have made more than one friend during my stay here. So many unexpected joys to be found in this environment.

we're all from somewhere else:
cyclist from Wyoming, vacationeer from Washington
we took each other's picture by the ocean

the morning of the 29th looked stormy,
but it was bluff

southernmost waters

southernmost southernmost house

southernmost beach resort's southernmost housekeeping staff

Feb 29: leaving the keys to my studio behind

official southernmost point of the US marker
90 miles to Cuba from here
long line up of folks wanting their picture taken here

I was walking and around the corner saw this man in a suit wearing flip flops
I knew I wanted his picture. So I offered to take their picture together and discovered they
had just been married on Smathers Beach. I asked them to pose showing their flip flops.
"Oh I got these special just for this," she said. Wedding shoes!
I wish this couple well... and if they are reading this, contact me
and I will send you what I said I would.

very good use of lettering here

lettering on sidewalks too

and into wet cement

I was searching for this exact spot
this is the sidewalk graffitti which started me dreaming
about what kind of place Key West was
It floored me that given the opportunity to stick a finger into wet cement this unknown author chose not to write his/his initials, or express their love to someone with a set of initials but instead
wrote FRIVOLITY and drew a little palm tree
what a place.

parrot in line behind me at the Banana Cafe

the colours of the ocean

banana tree with flower

kelp salad


Tomorrow I am off to Ft. Lauderdale, tangerine orange flight approved carrier containing a kitty with her papers and kitty valium for the kitty, plus one more suitcase than what I came here with.
Now that my time is over, I am ready to be home. And I hear it will be 49F tomorrow.

Brrrrrr.

self portrait on my last night as artist in residence

Feb 27 - Endpoint 1 of 3: shutting the studio down tonight

No matter how I tried to figure it out I was forced to resign myself to the unavoidable fact that today would be my last day to work in this studio. And it will be my final night in the cottage. On the plus side, I am in Key West until the morning of March 1st, still two days away, when we head down The Keys then turn north to the Ft. Lauderdale airport for an evening flight home to Toronto.


If all goes well, I'll have a Key West kitty to remind me everyday of my time spent here.

Having been the very first resident in this cottage was really great. I hope I leave good vibes for the next resident artist.

I'll be moved out by tomorrow night. The path from here to there seems impossible. I really moved in.

But seeing how compact all my prints can be when I roll them is heartening. Taking them down from my exhibit was tough.

Right now I'm lost in the emotions of this experience ending. In a day or two I'll begin to really understand what I have gained from this residency. It's impossible to do that while I am still here. I need some distance, and I'll get it, 1663 miles/2676 km to be exact.

up early to carve a few blocks outside
it was pure pleasure to work on my linos in the sun on this porch

calico wanderer decided to perch at the residency cottage next door
this kitty never came to my place

eventually it got too hot to carve and I retreated to air conditioning
I am very red right now, the perfect shade for a return to my Northern home

Feb 16-26: Key West Daily Linos

1st 16
2week print completed for exhibit



Night Walk
after show melancholy



en route
going off-island




Backseat to the Keys
viewing the Keys from the backseat of a car


Step into the Dark
walking at night


Sunset at Mallory Square
sunset celebrations


End of Road
mile 0 end of US Hwy 1 South




On the Horizon
cruise ship seen from Fort Zach beach


Robert Burridge en plein aire
Burridge workshop



Special Request

Feb 26 - Images from a Sunday Walk in Key West

tree trunk

good advice

unnecessary embellishment on a sidewalk


okie doakie sale inc street grates


very specific tree permit


more good advice



welcoming welcome


hot sauce bar

make art anywhere



advice spurned


no explanation needed


Old Island Arts Festival
the back of vendor's booths


feeding the local rooster on Duval Street

Feb 25th- and it's the weekend!

A short post tonight.

I started working on a two part print today.
This image will be superimposed on another block print.

print

block

I spent the day carving blocks and getting ready for a big printing session, probably on Monday and one more on my final day to print my second large cumulative print.

I'm also starting to plan for my trip back and I was out hunting down mailing tubes and trying to decide if I abandon my inks or bring them back.

Mostly though I am consumed with thinking about the new calico kitty who will be traveling back with me. A Key West girl cat. Caesar will be surprised.

Feb 24 - Final Friday of my residency

aquashoes, beach bag and no, kitty-who-bites, you can't come with

non-native pines at beach

pine canopy not at all like the northern pines I know

what this island is made of: coral
what it looks like: bone
alternate name for Key West: Bone Island

this mile marker has no markers on the back when looking at it from the beach
is that because once you reach the beach there is nowhere you'd rather be?

cruise ship over there

Went to Fort Zachary State Park this morning. Finally had a swim. I was surprised at how big the waves were and how hard I had to swim to go in one direction while it was effortless to travel in the other. I thought of all the "survival at sea" books I have read and how all those stories tell of folks being carried out to sea, or having to fight so hard to get to shore. I have a bit more of an idea what they were talking about. I mentioned this to the people I was with, and one of them said "Yes, we have a lot of surf today. It's very unusual," and I realized, I have never swum where there was "surf". Waves, yes. Surf? No.

came home to see the number 6 on the ground
heat had melted the glue right off of it
no wonder I feel like I got too much sun

After I settled down and cooled off fom the beach in the morning, I got an invite to go to a poetry reading in the evening. Leonel Valle and Deborah Linker were going to be reading poems of the Keys and I was excited to go. I am trying to cram as much of the Keys in me now as I can.

tonight's special event

Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge

Deborah Linker and Leonel Valle
I was thrilled to hear Leonel recite Florida Keys for me, in English and in Spanish.
I discovered it during my after-exhibit melancholia.
It just feels like the Keys to me and I know I will be re-reading it often when I am back home.

And I am still thinking about Deborah's poem, Slack Tide. Loved the idea of a slack tide when the tide goes neither in, nor out. It is a curious state for water, and others, to be in.