High and Dry

This is a painting I made plein air at the Conservancy of Southwest Flordia in Naples, Florida. Not far from the Carribean Gardens zoo, the conservancy occupies the Flieischman property which once was vast orange groves. As I was painting this scene I became lost in thought, as plein air painters often will, to be startled back into reality by the roaring of a lion. My first thought was that it must be a Florida panther and I kind of freaked. After a moment , I realized it was coming from the zoo, but the sound of the roaring lion carried through the orange groves and palms and really sounded like it was very close!