Vacation Pears

These pears came right off the breakfast buffet at the Embassy Suites in Tampa Florida. I liked the personality that these guys have.

The First of the Pears

This was the first of many pears. This was painted quite some time ago. I tend to stick to things that I have success with. I have liked pears as an ongoing theme.

Daredevils

I thought that this would make an interesting piece. I went out and bought three of the large size daredevil fishing lures. They were much larger than the ones I actually used when I was a kid.

Tabasco

This one started my hot sauce collection and my pepper growing. I got tired of always buying peppers for my still life's, so I have been growing them ever since. I also have a decent collection of hot sauce bottles. My "masterpiece" has been drawn for some time now. Never got a round to painting it. It has about 20 hot sauce bottles in it. Someday!

Pierre Cardin Gloves, circa 1962

I took these gloves to work with me one day. I got to thinking about them and their history. I have had these gloves for 44 years. I received them for a Christmas present when I was eight. They were big on me then and they are small on me now. The reason for the gift was the sensitivity of my hands to the cold. The October before Christmas I was carving a Halloween pumpkin. The very last cut on the pumpkin my slimy hand slid across the blade of the knife. Long story short, I cut the nerves and tendons on the two smallest fingers of my right hand. Three and a half hour surgery to put my fingers back together. I still have wires holding my tendons together. So my fingers became very sensitive to the cold. After reading my journal entry about this painting my wife bought me a new pair of gloves for Christmas this past December. My fingers did not grow as big as my other fingers and I do not have full movement in them. I do have full feeling though. The sensitivity to cold has lessened over the years. I am glad that surgeons were able to put this humpty dumpty back together again.

Clearwater Beach

What a wonderful day at the beach on Monday. This picture says it all for me!

Donna's Treasures

We spent a wonderful day at Clearwater Beach. Very relaxing. A beautiful beach with very fine white sand. Some fun shells to collect and good friends to keep us company. We also took an excursion on the Sea Screamer out into the Gulf. Finally found some Dolphins that had a good time in our wake. Saw a couple of dozen jumps within fifteen feet of the boat. Very cool. It was a great day in Tampa.