Spend Valentine's Day with me at Bealls

I will be painting out loud on Valentine’s Day at Bealls Department Store at 13300 Cleveland Avenue in Fort Myers. In case you don’t already know (how would that even be possible????), I have been creating casual wear for Bealls for the past few years, and on February 14, 2017, you can watch me create a painting in 20 minutes or less and see my new collection, "Florida Floats My Boat."

The 16 paintings for this line were created on a floating studio near Palmetto, Florida along the Manatee River. During my four weeks aboard the "Aqua Lodge,” I splashed paint on my canvas as the house boat rocked from side to side with the incoming tides.

During this meet and greet, I will share a few fun stories that occurred during my time aboard "The Aqua Lodge."

 

But I must warn you - beware of flying paint! The action begins promptly at 11:00 am at Bealls Department Store. An autograph session immediately follows until 1:00 pm. Visitors are welcome to bring their cameras for a fun photo op with me and my zany trademark glasses.

See you there!

What do a seat cushion and canvas have in common?

So, here’s a little riddle for you to solve. When do a seat cushion and a canvas have in common? That’s easy! They both can support beautiful art. Now, if you’re curious to see how, then don’t miss the opening of my retrospective on Friday, January 6 inside the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center.

I’m calling this life-changing exhibition Palettes: Past Present and Pursuits, and it will include individual pieces and series I’ve assembled over the course of my career. There will be works I’ve done for Bealls, paintings and prints from my Beatles collection, other examples of my entertainment art, works I painted in Giverny and aboard an exact replica of Claude Monet’s floating studio, and many of the works I’ve painted out loud.

Trust me here. You don’t want to miss this exhibition.

The retrospective will be on display in the Grand Atrium between January 6 and January 24, 2017. The Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is located at 2301 First Street in the historic downtown Fort Myers River District. The gallery is open from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is free. The opening reception takes place on Friday, January 6 between 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.  Hope to see you there!

Thanks 'Sunshine Living' for spreading the news about Matlacha Island

Southern Living just published a really nice article about Matlacha Island and all there is to do out here. Here’s the link, so be sure to check it out.

 

We’ve come a really long way since the island was first settled following the Great Depression, but through all the twists and turns, we’ve managed to maintain the rugged individualism of our early pioneers.

 

It was around this time in 1929, that our first settlers arrived. Their names were George and Gay Kuhns. Oh, it’s true that there was another family living on the island when the Kuhns arrived. That was Eddie Young, his wife Nellie and their youngsters, but he had been hired by Lee County to work as the bridge tender, so that was a little bit different.

 

The Kuhns were from Buffalo, New York and lost everything in the days following the Great Depression. They quickly realized they couldn’t survive the winter living in their car, so they headed south and landed on The Fill, which is what people called the island back then (because it was created from fill dredged up from Matlacha Pass in order to create the roads that led to and from the original bridge that connected Cape Coral to Pine Island to the west.

The Fill had what just what the homeless Kuhns needed: temperate weather and bountiful fish and oysters to eat. “We carved ourselves a place to live out of the mangrove swamp, pitched a tent, and started to work,” Gay explained more than 50 years later. They didn’t know how to fish, but quickly learned.

At first, the Kuhns and Youngs were the only ones on the island. But after The Crash, people began to appear out of nowhere. They set up on the side of the road. One had a tent, but most lived in their cars, although there was one family who made their home in the body of a bread truck. “And we all thought they were rich,” said Gay Kuhns. Like a scene from Survivor, people began building huts with thatched roofs and rickety wood shacks.

And it’s that spirit that permeates the people who live and work on Matlacha Island today. We appreciate the resources and natural beauty God has given us. And as the Southern Living article notes, we are friendly, laid-back and ready to share our good fortune with family, friends and our island visitors. So make plans to come out and see us. But remember, set your phones and watches to “island time” when you cross the bridge into Matlacha Island.

 

 

Davis Art Center releases press release for Palettes retrospective

Here’s the press release that the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center has released about Palettes: Past Present and Pursuits, the retrospective of my work that opens January 6:

This January, the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center brings the eclectic work of Leoma Lovegrove to downtown Fort Myers. Leoma Lovegrove’s art is her life’s passion. For the first time, Lovegrove has assembled a lifetime of work for her show, “Retrospective; Palettes: Past Present and Pursuits.” Experience this exhibit beginning on Friday, January, 6, 2017 during Art Walk. Entertainment in the Grand Atrium will be hosted by DJ Ceron from 6 – 10 p.m. The Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is located at 2301 First St. in the historic downtown Fort Myers River District.

Everyday Lovegrove paints and creates using found items from the environment around her. She has built driftwood “Beach Boys” along Lake Superior, painted on flat stones from the shores of Saint-Malo, France, and painted scenes along the Seine River aboard Monet’s floating studio. In addition, Leoma created a designer line of clothing with her art images that are sold in all the Bealls Florida Department stores.

Leoma Lovegrove is an impressionist-expressionist painter known worldwide for her vivid, colorful paintings. Leoma is a graduate of Florida's prestigious Ringling School of Art. She makes her home and international headquarters on Matlacha Island and greets thousands of visitors every year at Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens. This is where Leoma is inspired to paint with endless creativity. She loves Matlacha Island and as the President of the Matlacha Island Chamber of Commerce, she promotes tourism to the Sunshine state. In the United States, her works are represented in numerous galleries. Most recently, Bealls Florida Department Stores is featuring her as their Florida artist under the designer label Leoma Lovegrove complete with her trademark eye glasses. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/pg/LeomaLovegrove.

>> What:  Leoma Lovegrove - “Retrospective; Palettes: Past Present and Pursuits.”

>> When: Opens: Jan. 6, 2017 - Art Walk, 6 – 10 p.m.

>> Ends: Closes: Jan. 24, 2017, 5pm

>> Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm

>> Cost: Free Admission, Donations Accepted

>> Info: Visit www.sbdac.com for info.

More Christmas tree trivia

So, here are some more Christmas tree fun facts and trivia:

President Franklin Pierce erected the first Christmas tree in the White House in 1856.

In 1894 President Grover Cleveland displayed the first electrically lighted White House Christmas tree, which was lit with numerous small multi-colored lights.

In 1917, Albert Sadacca, then a teenager, suggested to his family’s novelty lighting company, that they consider selling colored strands of Christmas lights to the public.

In 1919, General Electric first introduced the cone-shaped Christmas light, which became the industry standard until the 1970s.

In 1927, General Electric and the associated Edison Electric distribution companies introduced a color-light contest as a marketing tool designed to encourage neighborhood decorating. This strategy was so successful that by the end of the 1920s, communities all over the United States began to hold decorating competitions featuring multi-colored lights. Today, Woodstock (VT), Ashville (NC), Jackson (WY), Taos (NM), Durango (CO) and Corning (NY) head the list of best small towns for Christmas. 

Henry Ford was also part of holiday traditions with his love of Santa Claus and inventive holiday decorating. His favorite holiday was Christmas, and he created a large Santa’s Workshop at his Michigan Estate with lavish garden decorations, activities such as pony rides and games. He may have even dressed as Santa. He welcomed family, friends and the students from his school at Greenfield Village and distributed gifts, and holiday cheer for everyone.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree dates back to the Depression Era days.

 

The first tree at Rockefeller Center was placed in 1931. It was a small unadorned tree placed by construction workers at the center of the construction site. Two years later, another tree was placed there, this time with lights. The tallest tree displayed at Rockefeller Center came in 1948 and was a Norway Spruce that measured in at 100 feet tall and hailed from Killingworth, Connecticut. These days, the giant Rockefeller Center tree is laden with over 25,000 Christmas lights.

Thomas Edison and his partner, Edward Johnston, introduced the world to electric Christmas lights

In the years following the Civil War, Christmas trees continued to rise in popularity. Where Europeans favored trees they could sit atop a table, Americans preferred big, full floor-to-ceiling trees that ranged between 7 and 12 feet in height. And they decorated their trees with homemade ornaments, as it would be decades before store-bought varieties became commercially available. For color, people would encircle their trees with strings of garland consisting of nuts, berries, candies and brightly-colored kernels of dyed popcorn. But they still lighted them with candles ... until Thomas Edison and his partner in the Edison Illuminating Company (the precursor to Con Edison) invented the electrical Christmas light.

In 1880, Thomas Edison and his muckers created several strands of electric light bulbs for use as  Christmas decorations. They hung them on the outside of his laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, where passengers traveling on a nearby railroad had the privilege of glimpsing the first holiday electric light display in history. Two years later, Edison’s friend and partner in the Edison Illuminating Company, Edward Johnston, decided that the outdoor bulbs could also be used to light Christmas trees. So he wired together 80 red, white and blue bulbs and strung them around the Christmas tree in this home in New York City. Not only was the tree lit up, it revolved on a rotating base. Thanks to a story published by a Detroit newspaper reporter about Johnston’s rotating Christmas tree, he's now regarded as the father of Christmas tree lights.

Over the next 20 or so years, businesses began using Christmas lights in window displays. But as electricity was just being installed in many places, the services of a wireman, the equivalent of a modern-day electrician, were necessary to wire the lights to an existing outlet. It wasn’t until 1903 that people were able to start using Christmas lights in their homes. In that year, General Electric began offering kits of electric Christmas lights to the public for the very first time. These lights included miniature GE/Edison carbon filament lamps with blue, green, red and white bulbs.

There’s more to this story, so keep visiting this blog. And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

The Christmas tree lot was born in 1851

The Christmas tree lot was born in 1851. That was the year following the Christmas tree illustration in Godey’s. What happened is that a woodsman by the name of Mark Carr chopped down a couple dozen evergreens in the Catskill Mountains. He loaded them on a sled and transported them with a team of oxen to Manhattan’s Washington Market. He thought he was taking a risk. Instead, the astonished New Yorkers who happened through Washington Market the day he arrived quickly snapped up his entire stock.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, today there are close to 350 million trees growing on 15,000 Christmas tree farms in the United States alone. U.S. consumers purchase between 25 and 30 million real trees each year, spending $1.32 billion annually and supporting 100,000 full-time and seasonal jobs. For every Christmas tree harvested, one to three seedlings are planted the following Spring. It can take as long as 15 years to grow a 6-7 foot tree, but the average growing time is 7 years.

The top Christmas tree producing states are Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Washington. The most common tree species are balsam fir, Douglas fir, Fraser fir, noble fir, Scotch pine, Virginia pine and white pine. Real trees are a renewable, recyclable resource - compared to artificial trees, which contain non-biodegradable plastics and toxic metals such as lead. Still, Americans also purchase between 8 and 10 million fake trees each year. 

The Christmas tree comes to America .... in 1850

In the days before social media, Twitter and TMZ, what happened behind palace doors did not filter down to the masses, who were largely ignorant of the lavish Christmas trees the royals decorated every year. That landscape changed dramatically after Charlotte’s granddaughter, Victoria, became queen thanks to a 16-page illustrated supplement printed by the London Illustrated News on December 23, 1848.

The supplement contained a woodcut engraving of Victoria, Albert, five of their children and a governess gathered around a table-top evergreen adorned with sweets and ornaments, illuminated by candles and topped by an angel. Unwrapped presents—dolls, mounted cavalrymen and a figurine in a horse-drawn chariot—encircle its base. The tree itself, with six uniformly spaced tiers of boughs, looked too meticulous to be real. It was a depiction of a picture-perfect family Christmas, worthy of a holiday card.

Victoria was a trendsetter on a par with Princess Diana and Princess Kate from modern times. By the following year, everyone – rich and poor – was putting up Christmas trees. In addition to the London Illustrated News, Cassell’s Magazine and The Graphic started doing annual pieces on the royal Christmas tree phenomenon. And in 1850, the phenomenon spread to America.

In that year, the Victorian Christmas tree engraving came to the attention of a woman by the name of Sarah Josepha Hale. In addition to being the reputed author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Hale was the editor of a influential monthly magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book. Hale “Americanized” the engraving - removing Victoria’s tiara, Albert’s royal sash and moustache, and the boxes of German biscuits from beneath the Christmas tree.

The Godey’s engraving was one of the first widely circulated illustrations of a decorated Christmas tree in the United States, and it was soon followed by similar depictions in Harper’s and other major American publications. [The one to the right is an engraving by no less than Winslow Homer.] As a result, Christmas trees came into vogue in America as they had in England – as I’ll share with you in my next post.

Thanks to Queen Charlotte, the legend of the Christmas tree grew and grew

In 1800, Queen Charlotte decided to hold a huge Christmas party for the children of the nobility of Windsor, but instead of decorating a yew bough as she’d done in years past, she potted a live tree, covered it with baubles and fruit, and stood it in the middle of the drawing room at Queen’s Lodge surrounded by presents. “[F]rom the branches of [this tree] hung bunches of sweetmeats, almonds and raisins in papers, fruits and toys, most tastefully arranged; the whole illuminated by small wax candles,” wrote Dr. John Watkins, the Queen’s official biographer, who added that “after the company had walked round and admired the tree, each child obtained a portion of the sweets it bore, together with a toy, and then all returned home quite delighted.”

Actually, the good doctor underestimated the effect the tree had on the kids. When they arrived at the house on the evening of Christmas Day and beheld that magical tree aglitter with tinsel and glass, they believed themselves transported straight to fairyland. Their happiness knew no bounds.

And that’s when and how Christmas trees became the rage in English upper-class circles, where they formed the focal point at countless children’s gatherings. Any evergreen would work, including pines and firs. And all of them were lit by candles, adorned with trinkets and surrounded by piles of presents.

 

Trees placed on table tops usually also had either a Noah’s Ark or a model farm and numerous gaily-painted wooden animals set out among the presents beneath the branches to add that extra special touch.

By the time Queen Charlotte died in 1818, the Christmas-tree tradition was firmly established in royal society. And it continued to flourish among the aristocracy in the decades following her death.  But it would be nearly three more decades before the tradition was adopted by the masses. Ah, but that’s a topic for another post.

How a princess from Germany introduced the Christmas tree to England

When a young German princess by the name of Charlotte left Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1761 and came to England to marry King George, she brought with her many of the customs that she had practiced as a child, including the setting up of a yew branch in the house at Christmas. But as England’s new monarch, Queen Charlotte transformed the essentially private yew-branch ritual of her homeland into a more public celebration that could be enjoyed by her family, their friends and all the members of the Royal Household.

Queen Charlotte placed her yew bough not in the parlor of the family’s living quarters, but in one of the largest room in Windsor Castle and at Kew Palace. Assisted by her ladies-in-waiting, she decorated the bough herself, and when all the wax tapers had been lit, the whole court gathered round to admire the bough and sang carols. The festivity ended with a distribution of gifts from the branch, which included such items as clothes, jewels, plates, toys and sweets.

The royal yew boughs caused quite a stir among the nobility, who had never seen anything like them before. But it was nothing to the sensation created in 1800, when the first real English Christmas tree appeared at court. I’ll tell you that story in my next post.

Plans are underway for Davis Art Center retrospective in January

Palettes: Past Present and Pursuits is coming to the historic Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center on January 6. In case you haven’t heard (how’s that even possible?), that's the name we've given to the retrospective of my work that is going to fill the walls of the grand atrium. The exhibition will be my very first retrospective, and it is going to be incredible. This I promise you.

We have some big surprises in store for the exhibition and its opening! As these photos show, I met just yesterday with Davis Art Center Executive Director Jim Griffith, Melissa Tschari DeHaven and Tom Hall to do some preliminary planning. The ideas were running like water cascading over Niagara Falls following a rainstorm. Believe me, you don't want to miss this show. So make plans to attend the opening. And visit this blog between now and January 6 for updates and teasers about this spectacular event.

The Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is located at 2301 First Street, in the heart of the downtown Fort Myers River District. Once the United States Post Office, the grand atrium boasts walls that are more than 20 feet tall. Just watch me fill them with my art.

The legend of the first Christmas tree dates back to 1536

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm painting a Christmas tree or scene each day during the month of December in the lead up to Christmas Day. Here's a couple of more of the trees I've painted .... along with the legend of how we came to decorate Christmas trees.

As legend has it, on a cold winter night in 1536, Martin Luther was walking through a pine forest near his home in Wittenberg, Germany. Looking up suddenly, he noticed thousands of stars glimmering like diamonds through the branches of the trees. The sight inspired him that Christmas to set up a candle-lit fir tree inside his house to remind his children of the starry heavens from which God sent his Son to save man from his sinful nature.

Word spread. The practice caught on. And by 1605, decorated Christmas trees were in vogue throughout all of Germany. How do we know? Well, in that year, an anonymous author described how the citizens of Strasburg set up fir trees in their parlor and hung paper roses, apples, wafers, gold foil and candies from the trees’ fragrant branches. Some folks brought box trees or yews inside to decorate instead of firs.

The custom persisted in Germany for more than 150 years before it spread across the English Channel to Great Britain. I’ll tell you about that in my next post.

Cape Coral City Council voted to annex acreage over our objections

I'm sad to report that in spite of the opposition voiced by more than 20 residents of Matlacha and Pine Island on Monday, the Cape Coral City Council voted 4-3 to go ahead and annex that 5-acre parcel on Pine Island Road. Made up of six individual lots that the city purchased in 2012, the parcel in question presently serves as a parking lot for the boat launch ramp at D & D Bait & Tackle.

The city claims it wants to add the property to its parks plan and improve the ramp access points. Jessica Cosden, Richard Leon and Williams cast the dissenting votes. Councilmember Jim Burch was an excused absence.

In approving annexation, the City Council dismissed our concerns about the wildlife in the estuary, the threat of overdevelopment, pollution of the waters since the Ceitus boat lift was removed, and the financial impact on the Matlacha Fire Control District, which serves the property in question.

The Council also swept aside my observation that the property is part of Matlacha and annexation is a threat to our historical sovereignty.

One speaker cited the city's recent approval of eight-story structures at the Seven Islands property over the objections of the neighboring residents as a clear message that this council will do what it wants with the property against citizen opposition.

Other citizens asked council to sell the property to Matlacha instead of annexing it, or donate it to the Calusa Land Trust for preservation.

Birdi Smock, president of the Matlacha Civic Association, has scheduled a "Protector Rally" on Saturday, December 17, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Matlacha Bridge. "We invite everyone to participate in this rally. Be sure to bring water, a hat and sunscreen. You can make your own sign or use one of ours (most will say "NO to annexation of Matlacha".) Also bring a positive attitude - this is a peaceful rally. We will be gathering at the bridge before 11 a.m."

I’ll keep you posted on the action we can and should take next.

I've been painting a Christmas tree each day this month to show my Christmas spirit. The tree I painted on December 11 was easy. I awoke on the 11th in Columbus, Ohio to 5 inches of freshly fallen snow. Nothing puts you in the Christmas spirit than to look out over a landscape freshly dusted with snow!

I am gratified by the response my trees are getting on Facebook. Carol Morningstar, for instance, said that my tree should be made into a U.S. postal stamp. She called it "heartwarming eye candy!" Thanks Carol.

Thanks to Dave Jeronimus for reposting my photo of the Christmas tree painting.

The original paintings are on sale at the gallery. We'd love to have you drop in, but if you can't make it out to Matlacha Island, we can ship - at no additional cost to you.

Merry Christmas, one and all.

Annexation would undermine quaint, old town feel Matlacha Island strives to preserve

The City of Cape Coral owns five acres of land along Pine Island Road. It now wants to annex and rezone it. As President of the Matlacha Island Chamber of Commerce, a resident and owner of Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens, I oppose this action by Cape Coral.

While it’s true that Cape Coral has not stated what they intend to do with the land if it is annexed, all Matlacha Island residents, business owners and visitors believe that we alone should control what’s done with the strip that forms the gateway to Matlacha and Pine Island.

It is as simple as this: Ever since Matlacha Island was created from fill dredged from Matlacha Pass in order to create a bridge and roadway connecting Pine Island to the mainland, the people who've lived here have strived to preserve the small, old town feel of our community.

Understand, our earliest pioneers were transplants looking for a place to call our own during the Great Depression. Some lived in their cars. Others lived in tents. The lucky ones pieced together shacks and shanties from pine trees and the mangroves that lined our shores. They lived on the fish and oysters they found in our waters. Both were abundant back then, and we appreciated these and our other natural resources and local assets.

But the folks who settled Matlacha weren't esteemed as pioneers. To the contrary, they were labeled squatters and the police tried to make them leave. They refused. They persisted. They fought for every inch of soil they reclaimed from nature in those difficult years between 1929 and the start of World War II. Every day was a struggle. But eventually, they earned the right to keep and to homestead the land on which they settled.

Outsiders cannot understand or appreciate just how highly we prize our independence or heritage. Every mangrove, every shoal, every inch of our one mile by one mile island is precious to us. And we have long strived to maintain our unique small time, old town character, first as a community of crusty old hardboiled shrimpers and mullet fishermen and now as quirky but tough-minded artists, musicians and authors.  

Given this background, it would be a travesty to now allow developers to circumvent our steadfast efforts to resist the legion of developers who’ve wanted to build condominiums, high rises and resort hotels here and on Pine Island by enabling them to erect densely-populated projects on the stretch of Pine Island Road leading to the fishingest bridge in the world.

 

There’s also a matter of the environment. For decades, Cape Coral has allowed developers to dredge canals that empty into the waters surrounding Matlacha and Pine Island. The water from these canals has changed the salinity of our waters  and stormwater run-off that enters these canals contains staggering concentrations of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals.

 

 

 Mixed and mingled with the nutrient-laden freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee, the water from Cape Coral's canals has reduced the number of fish produced during spawning season in our estuaries, ruined our fishing and killed off the scallop and oyster beds that once thrived in our waters.

“We know this is an environmentally sensitive area as it is designated as a manatee protected area and endangered sawfish are trying to survive there as well,” notes Birdi Smock, President of the Matlacha Civic Association. “ These waters are home to 86 threatened and endangered species.”

Given the Cape's woeful environmental record, what would make us or any reasonable person think that Cape Coral will now act to protect our waters, fish and other wildlife as they permit development on the five acres it wishes to annex.

And then there's the matter of precedent. I agree with Roger Wood, who serves as the president of the Greater Pine Island Civic Association, who has stated that “we could see [Cape Coral] moving west on Pine Island Road and annexing more property." If it works once, why not a second or third time as well?
 

For all these reasons and more, I oppose the proposed annexation and would ask the City of Cape Coral to deny the request for annexation. Please join us in opposing annexation of this land by Cape Coral. The Cape coral City Council meets to consider the matter on Monday, December 12 at 4:30 p.m.. Council chambers are located at 1015 Cultural Park Blvd. Please attend and let your voice be heard.