The Bridge in Deep Dene Park was completed recently as a donation to the OLPA (Olmsted Linear Park Alliance) auction to benefit the restoration and continued maintenance of one of the nations greatest treasures. The Linear Parks designed by the most famous landscape architect to have ever practiced Fredrick Law Olmsted is indeed a triumph of landscape design. Over two miles long and located in Historic Druid Hills in Atlanta it is one of only a few places Olmsted designed in the south including the Biltmore in Asheville, NC. Once neglected and actually slated for destruction by the Georgia Department of Transportation in the 1980's, the parks became a rallying cry for the neighborhood and some 15 years later they have been completely restored and provide the last complete linear park he designed still in existence. Many new amenities have been added over the years all included in the original design but never completed until now which provide bucolic spaces for the public to sit and relax or walk its entire length.

Deep Dene is the easternmost segment of the parks and the only completely natural space. Olmsted in his design wisdom realized that this area was a major drainage catchment and instead of paving around it let it remain natural to provide absorption for run-off. It to this day still functions as designed and has been updated to work even better.

This painting utilizing gauche and watercolor contains over 12 washes and I experimented with a new technique to create the woodland effect. A few more tries and I think it'll be a wonderful technique.

Seaside, FL

Here's a little painting I did a couple of years ago after a visit to Seaside in Florida. For those of you that have never visited Seaside it is the first really good example of New Urbanism planning in the United States and although it's meant to be a relaxing holiday beach retreat it has become a huge tourist attraction. Almost any day you'll find busloads of tourists milling around the place viewing the quite interesting architecture and enjoying the open space and beach.

This little house characterizes the 'beach' style of houses at Seaside. Although it seems strange to have a small tower on a house at the beach it harkens back to the day when sea captains built such a place on their homes so their wives could stand and view the harbour to welcome them back home after a long voyage. Only too often the sea captains would not return so these are sadly referred to as 'the widows peak' in coastal lore.