Florida Hammock Evening by Spence Guerin

Florida Hammock Evening, 1994

oil on hardboard panel

7 x 4.75 in

Inv: SG-2103

The dense, tangled growth of a Florida Hammock is, says this artist, a mentally and physically exhausting thing to paint. This could be almost anyplace in old Florida, but it was painted along Taylor Creek Road outside Tosohatchee Preserve -- now Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area -- east of Orlando and on west side of the St. Johns River. In the daylight hours the artist was working on a major hammock painting -- 4x5-ft. 'Tootoosahatchee' -- which went on over a three-year period, and in the evenings this and other small paintings were done. On such projects, the artist stayed on location or nearby, in his step van mobile studio.