"The Adventure Starts Here " by artist Brenda Hofreiter

This painting was created at Wekiva Island in Longwood, FL. For the past 6 years there has been a Paint Out to help environmental groups supporting the Wekiva River Basin. It is near Wekiva Springs State Park and the 30 invited artists stay at the Youth Group Cabins during the paint out. A good time is always had by all at this event. Also during this event, I along with several other paintout artists painted a piano that will be auctioned off to support music education in Seminole County. There is an image of that below.

This painting was created along the creek bank that connects to the Wekiva River. In this painting you can see the stacks of canoes awaiting rental and the ramp where loading and unloading takes place. Two canoes have been returned, their orange life vests gleaming in the morning sun. It is early spring and the
winter colors in the trees along the banks are rapidly changing. It was a cloudy day and rain was falling periodically during the creation of this piece. I've included an image or two of my painting in the rain set up for you to see below. I especially loved the dark cabbage palm leaning out over the creek against the bright yellows and red/browns of the remaining fall folliage in the distant trees. This bank is a favorite fishing spot for the locals and many fishermen stopped to admire this work-in-progress.
I shared the bank with them and a large blue heron who had speared a fish, but lost it. The fish was still
alive and later was caught by one of the fishermen. They crowded around talking about the damaged fish. They thought the wound was caused by another fish, but I believe it was the Blue Heron who had inflicted the damage earlier that day.