Visiting the Chihuly Museum in Florida

During our fun road trip back up north from my parents’ house, Alan and I popped over to the Dale Chihuly Museum in St Pete and we were really pleased with the way the works were presented. I wouldn’t call it a massive collection at the Morean Arts Center by any means, but it’s a respectable one and the way they have each collection of pieces assembled in ways that visitors can experience them from up close and in many angles is truly delightful.

These are massive works of blown glass that completely take over a room, both physically and conceptually. You literally cannot help but stare at a Chihuly when you are lucky enough to see one in the wild. It’s a rarity so the museum was a great opportunity.

I love that so much of Chihuly’s work is focused simply on the lines and organic shapes of the serendipitous forms. We learned that so much of the work coming out of his workshop is simply repeated happenstance until something comes out that moves him.

Even the work that is playful is not silly or unskilled. It’s more just filled with a little Burton-esque wonderment…

I would looooove to have a wall taken over with blown glass art! I mean just look at how the light and shadows from the pieces interact with the environment (ie the wall). Imagine if they were placed on a wall where the moving sunlight could change the composition throughout the day?! Magnificent!

Yay! Another amazing collection added to the list!

… definitely add it to yours if you make it down to St Pete as well!

PS We also went (back) to the Salvador Dali Museum. It was my third time but Alan’s first. I decided to just enjoy taking in the art rather than taking all the pics this time since I had been there before and even made a super swell blog post and YouTube video sharing my visit to the Dali museum. If you haven’t seen those, definitely check them out because I have a feeling with these two great places to visit (and plenty more in the area!) you’ll be looking into flights in no time (or pulling a Birdie and jumping in a van for a road trip!).

Here’s just a few faves, but classics like the Hallucinogenic Toreador and his melting time piece can be found here.

So fun!

1.13.2022

It's a Van Life Christmas!

I’ve been down van life traveling and visiting my folks down in Florida for almost two weeks and it feels so good to be back in the tropics again!!

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the absolute abundance of wildlife is blowing my mind all over again.

This is an extra special visit, not only for obvious holiday reasons, but it’s the first time bringing my sweetie Alan down to meet the family. Everyone got along so wonderfully and we had a blast road tripping back up north, camping for two nights in Withlacoochee State Park where we hiked and biked and then kayaked…

We had hoped to see some manatees but it had been too warm for them to come into the springs. I did get to swim with them a few years ago though! See the manatee art I made after that special experience here.

before spending New Year’s night at a Hipcamp with alpacas, chickens, sheep, goats, and ducks. So cool! There was a tiny lil wobbly alpaca baby that was just born a few hours before we arrived who still had his umbilical cord hanging, and I even got to cuddle the softest baby lamb.

Waking up the next day I joyfully experienced my first time in an outdoor shower with an alpaca view! What a way to welcome 2022!

I just got back home and I’m super psyched to start working on my art biz to catch up on a few things that have fallen by the wayside during this last crazy busy semester. I’m teaching two less classes this semester so I’ll be able to get back on my ‘A’ game art-making wise.

So cheers to you and all the best wishes for this next year coming up! I’ve got soooo much planned for you here and on my YouTube channel - yay!

1.4.2022

Happy Merry Xmas + New Years!

I’m down in Florida with the family and smiling big big every minute! I hope you are too!

Here’s a few pics from the Nossi School of Art admin and staff holiday party… what can I say, I love my coworkers!

Check out those Amazon Gift Cards our team won at trivia! We killed it!

Have the happiest merriest Christmas and a splendoriffic New Year! See ya in 2022!!

Feeling well at home at home again in the sunny land of citrus!

Cruisin on my stepdad’s boat with Alan

12.25.2022

Quick Visit to St. Pete

Oh my gosh I had to run an errand in St. Pete yesterday which afforded me about two hours exploring outside of the house and it was GLORIOUS!! Plus this is such an adorable and artsy city anyway, it’s right up my alley.. not to big, not too crowded, but still a bustling art scene (during normal times).

My first stop was the Leslie Curren Gallery which has a great variety of traditional work, but also lots of textured abstracts and small sculptures. I’ve always loved art exhibits, but now that I haven’t seen one since March I enjoyed experiencing these works twice as much!

Copper Tritschellers

Steven Kenny

Afterwards I strolled down to the Morean Arts Center and was really blown away by this fabric artist who puts so much detail and layers into each piece. Simply remarkable!

Krystle Lemonias

I also loved these alleyway paintings! They really feel so familiar, like you’ve viewed this space before out of the corner of your eye but you just can’t place it…. I should have taken a better reference photo so you could see the size because this piece is about 8 feet tall and is a wonderfully full of detail.

Nicolas Kalemba

And what’s not to love about some sumptuous flowing oozing colors that look almost like alien ice cream?!

Chelsea Rowe

All in all a pretty super duper way to spend the day!

6.25.2020

Visit to Circle B Bar Nature Preserve, FL

When I read ‘lots of wildlife' in the reviews, I honestly did not think much of it… but WOW was I wrong! I got so much closer to huge dinosaurs in the form of herons, cranes, and gators than I could have ever imagined!!

What an awesome up-close animal crossing experience! These cranes were not concerned about our presence at all!

Do you see that camo gator hiding out in plain sight in the pic above? We also got to see a heron tousling with his “sushi” dinner before getting spooked by a really big alligator splash just behind him.

And how about this Florescent Swamp Chicken (possibly not the scientific name) pecking here and there?! I wish the brightness of her face would have come through the photo more - it was like traffic cone orange!

There were literally huge wetland birds in every direction, mostly oblivious to our passing by. Circle B Bar is over 1,200 acres of nature preserve with about 10 miles of trails throughout with both hikers and families enjoying all this pristine coastline, so the animals at this point feel very safe and carry on their normal activities as if we weren’t even there. So fascinating!

I was literally speechless with just how many HUUGE gators there were just a foot or so below the grassy pathway. We even saw and heard them leaping out of the water at prey, sometimes within fifteen feet of us! Yikes!!

All in all, a fabulous day with my adventure buddy Baila!

Oh, and in case you’re wondering… I do believe I’ve made a personal breakthrough and will be carrying a parasol with me from now on on flatland hikes because this Bird is officially over getting sunburned, ya dig??? ;)

6.17.2020

First Campout in Vaughn the Adventure Van

Woo hoo for Vaughn the Adventure Van!!

I’m beside myself with excitement and to celebrate I have already taken him out for his first campout at Myakka River State Park here in Florida. I haven’t started outfitting him with my proper bed and storage yet, but for just grabbing gear form my parents’ house so far I think we’re doing pretty well!

First my friend Baila (who was actually my neighbor and hike buddy on O’ahu who recently relocated to the east coast too!) and I decided to go on a relatively local adventure around town…

then we hopped on down to Warm Mineral Springs in North Port for a rejuvenating dip. Not too bad being able to swim outside in December!

We were so grateful to find such a peaceful and gorgeous camping spot just before sunset.

This park was extra cool because it features an elevated canopy walk 26 feet tall so visitors can experience all the unique air plants and local birds at eye level. Such an enlightening experience!

The trees were absolutely teaming with aerophytes! And after that fun catwalk, you get to climb up a 74 foot wooden tower to literally look down upon the trees as far as the eye can see in this super flat Florida landscape.

I mean, WOW!

Those trees are over 30 feet tall

Good thing Venkman isn’t afraid of heights!

One of the neatest plants on the journey so far…

On our way out we got to see about a dozen big fat happy gators sunning on the bank too. Fun to see from a distance, but they appeared around 8 feet long so I think we’ll stick to the roads for now:)

12.11.2019

Travel :: Swimming with Manatees + Tiffany Glass Collection in Central Florida

Hey-o! So I will be the first to admit that I can be soooo bad when it comes to posting 'on time.' I swear, if I post vacation pics within a month of returning home from said trip I'll think I'm doing great! Ha! 

Well suffice to say here at the end of the month, I had a really great time in mid-January visiting my mama (and stepdad) in Lake Placid, Florida and then touristing around Winter Park, Inverness, and Crystal River on a little excursion for just the two of us. Partially due to the fact that I am an only child, my mom and I are the best travel buddies and we're always looking for something new and different to do.

Maxfield Parrish

Art Nouveau-inspired early electric lamp

We decided to road trip around central to west coast Florida, during which we stayed in two cute B 'n B's and ate all kinds of yummy vegan and veggie meals at various restaurants. Mom and I filled our days visiting a few art collections, as well as taking a boat tour of Winter Park and a 22 mile bike trip on a greenway through Inverness, and (my favorite!) kayaking to swim with the wintering manatees in Crystal River. Such a full few days!!

The Tiffany Glass Collection:

So down in Crystal River a magical thing happens every year - the manatees congregate by the hundreds next to the warm springs during the colder winter months. Mom and I rented a double kayak, wetsuit, snorkel etc at a spot right by the springs and got to paddle out to the sanctuary. Mama didn’t get in but I swam around with the friendly guys for about 45 mins and it was so incredible!!

Just two peas in a pod... :)

As you can see in the pic there are restricted areas so any manatees that are sleeping or don’t want to interact won’t be bothered, but when we arrived there was another tour boat with snorkelers and that guide was familiar with the specific manatees so when a super friendly young one approached me he told me the manatee was craving a belly scratch! I started scratching his back a lil and sure enough he turned and gave me his belly!! He felt like what I imagine an elephant would feel like:):)

Of course I was so excited when I got home I decided to paint a little manatee in gouache to hang in my studio (above).

Enjoy 45 seconds of underwater manatee excitement! All I had to film with was one of those waterproof iPhone bag thingies so don't expect Spielberg, though I did get a few nice shots showing how docile and calm they are (and you might even catch a floating dreadlock too ;) ).

::

originally published January 28, 2018