Aripeka, Florida is a tiny dot on a map. It might be easy to miss if you didn't know where to look, but is a wonderful old Florida town that time has left by, and kindly so. There is only one or two stores that sell everything from bait to snacks. No chains stores, no condo's, and there is still a quiet beauty that has been left fairly unharmed. These pictures on a holiday drive a year ago. Florida is not snow, sleds, and hot rum drinks around the fireplace. Real Florida is palms rustling in the gulf breeze, beautiful clear sunshine, cool evenings in the winter and pleasant days, egrets and herons wading along the shore.
Florida can be quirky too, red beach chairs, a Christmas wreath that holds a pack of cigarettes just right, a creative naive painter who captures the beauty of the tropical environment that they inhabit, a store that defies any hint of organization or Madison avenue advertising placement, and all of that right on the front porch of nature. It did not go unrecognized by a famous New York artist. James Rosenquist made it his home away from home, built a huge hanger size studio the size of two football fields here, and paints in the clear crystal light that cannot be found on cloudy winter days in New York City.
Florida can be quirky too, red beach chairs, a Christmas wreath that holds a pack of cigarettes just right, a creative naive painter who captures the beauty of the tropical environment that they inhabit, a store that defies any hint of organization or Madison avenue advertising placement, and all of that right on the front porch of nature. It did not go unrecognized by a famous New York artist. James Rosenquist made it his home away from home, built a huge hanger size studio the size of two football fields here, and paints in the clear crystal light that cannot be found on cloudy winter days in New York City.
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