One of the things that I love most about my chosen profession is that I get to combine the activities and things that I enjoy into paintings. Yesterday morning's activities included a landscape photoshoot in an old quarry in the everglades. Combining photography with exploring the outdoors and incorporating some of those photos into the backgrounds of my paintings is like a dream come true. Seriously, I love my job! The cicadas were singing and one could hear the throaty sound of a distant alligator. The old quarry is the perfect setting for my current series of work because of its expansive views of the sky, distant trees and multiple lakes. It's truly a beautiful location. Here are a couple of shots of interesting wildlife and other tidbits we ran into while my husband and I were hiking!