New History

It has occurred to me that I am painting history. The drought of 2007, the worst in recorded history for this area, is being included in my plien air paintings. I am doing a series of Nubbin's Slough right now, and it really shows how low Lake Okeechobee is! Just a tittle, like "Nubbin's Shore" is odd, because Nubbin's Slough never had a shore before! It was just a pile of rocks and then the water came up on the rocks. Now people walk out for a quarter of a mile to get to the edge of the water.

Mowing the lake

(Click on the image to enlarge)

This is so odd. the second largest fresh-water lake in the US, Lake Okeechobee, has grass and weeds growing for so long now that they are actually mowing it where the water used to be!

In the distance you can see bulldosers dump trucks and front-end loaders dredging up the sludge and the muck that has been coming down from the Kissimmee River for hundreds of years. They hope the lake will be cleaner and healthier when the water levels rise.

Here is a link to a painting I did in January, just before the drought, you can see the water came up close to the cypress tree.

http://fawnspaintings.blogspot.com/2007/05/last-december-plein-air.html

Not to Worry

I have been told they are not going to start building anything on Eagle Bay. They are just cleaning out the muck and settlement so the water will be clean when it fills back up.

All of the dirt here was a marsh, plus it went off to the right.

Wiped out

I went down to Eagle Bay today. This is a marsh of shallow water and all kinds of wildlife. The last time I went it was dry with grass growing everywhere, no water at all. Today I cried a few tears as I looked at what man has done. They have bull dosed the whole place! We are talking achres of wetlands completely wiped out! Machines, and piles of dirt are everywhere you look.

Click here to see Eagle Bay before the drought.