La Bilirrubina!

11 days of Caribbean fun end today - we're back in Miami. It's been a fabulous time - lots of food, drink, new friends, great sunsets, crystal clear water, and another wonderful reunion with Olga's brother, Denys.....who made this all possible (spaseebo!). Yesterday we got a tour of the bridge and learned a bit of how he drives this city-on-the-water: 2800 guests and 900 crew. We met the captain, and he was very nice - considering Larissa was dressed to take over his job!

Royal Caribbean has the largest ships in the world, and in 2009 will launch the Genesis series which will be 220,000 tons - 3x the size of this ship, and easily the largest passenger ship in the world. I wouldn't be surprised to see Denys continue his wave of success and end up on one of those ships. At 28 and First Officer, it's already amazing what he has done and where he has been -I'm sure he'll be a captain sooner rather than later. The stories he tells are classic tales of the high seas - from circling the globe in the rough freighter training grounds, to the genteel passenger trade on these giant marvels of nautical engineering. We'll sure miss him, and hope to cross paths again soon.

I'll also miss the incendiary drumming and singing of my new Cuban friend, Mitchell Rodriguez. This guy is a music machine, and a very creative drummer....it's been a blast to hear him with the other three guys every night. I've always liked this style of latin music, but don't know many of the artists....need to check out more people like Juan Luis Guerra I guess. Anyway, Mitchell is BAD!!!!!

The view from our balcony.

From the balcony yesterday afternoon.



Larissa in charge from the pilot's chair...and what she doesn't see,

the quartermaster sees.

Day ????

Who knows what day it is, they all run together! I've gotten a few good shots that might become future paintings....but mostly I've been gorging myself, sleeping, and keeping an eye on the girls.

We had dinner a couple nights ago with Olga's brother, Denys, who is First Officer, and his good friend, the beautiful Jade from the UK



I'm looking forward to a tour of the bridge and seeing Denys navigate this 73,000 ton dinghy (he's used to larger ships) through some of the trickier waters.

Floridalia

A memorable week with a wonderful group of people in the workshop, seeing lots of friends, and introducing Larissa to even more - she's been having a blast. Temperatures in the 70s and 80s...the place to be in February.

There are more restaurants in Sarasota than anywhere, and we checked out some new ones....Gil and Kathy took us to Amici's, a very good Italian restaurant on Main St. We also went to the Columbia a couple of times, and two mornings at First Watch (which is now HQ'd in Lakewood Ranch, where I see my house is for sale - a steal compared to a couple of years ago)

With author Dennis Fried at First Watch.

There was an art festival going on downtown this weekend, and I met some watercolorists I didn't know. We're now in Miami and will be meeting up with Olga's brother who is First Officer with Royal Caribbean and is twisting our arms really hard to spend 10 days in the islands.

Next report from the Margarita Deck!

Art Center Sarasota Demo/Workshop

An expectant - and fortunately, friendly - crowd at Art Center Sarasota on Sunday, Feb. 10, to kick off the Watercolor On The Edge workshop. It's been a good week, a great group of people, and we are continuing to break new ground, introduce new techniques, demonstrate the power of Photoshop and digital projection, bust people out of their comfort zones, and of course destroy the myths, misconceptions, and lies re watercolor vs. acrylic mediums. I think we can safely add dozens more to the informed ranks of contemporary painters who are catching the wave of the future!

Teased in Tommytown

Jesse Claeys interviewed me and wrote a great feature about the new guitar in the Sioux City (Tommy Bolin's hometown) Weekender. Jesse is of course already quite familiar with the Iowa-born legend, and has done cover stories on Tommy publicizing the annual Bolin Fest.....so he can talk guitars, and it was a fun conversation. Check it out HERE.

We'll be in Florida tomorrow - I have a demo at Art Center Sarasota on Sunday afternoon, 2:00, the public is invited. A five-day workshop will follow. For more information, click HERE.