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A variation of my previous pen-and-ink notan of the public pier in Crescent Lake, next to the public boat ramp in Crescent City, Florida. This time I created the optical effect of a midtone for the sky by drawing in swirly curls (which afterwards look like capital S-es laying on the side). The ripples on the lake get closer together in the distance, while the trees on the opposite shore are just one dark silhouette in the distance.

I chose the curls for the sky as an homage to the paintings and drawings of Vincent van Gogh, whose skies often contained swirls and curls even in between the clouds, and captured my imagination back in the third grade the first time I saw his work in a book at the school library.

I often joke that I learned to draw and paint because it is easier and quicker for me than getting a good photograph. I do still make the attempt to use my camera more effectively from time to time, but I have more natural aptitude to using a pencil or paint. Often what few photographs I am satisfied with become reference for my artwork. I work with charcoal, soft pastels, oil pastels, watercolor, acrylic, and am learning oil painting. I tend towards more realistic, although I have dabbled in impressionism when the fancy strikes. I live at the dead end of a dirt road in rural Florida with my husband and a yardful of critters, while the local deer and wild turkeys eat my annual efforts at gardening.