Florida Nature Preserve Oil Painting

On a recent visit to Miami, a friend and I drove the Tamiami Trail west to visit this fabulous natural preserve. After a stop at Big Cypress Gallery for a view of legendary photographer Clyde Butcher’s work, we stopped at one of the boardwalk areas where I photographed a variety of birds and numerous alligators on the banks of a creek. Later we went on a dirt road looking for rarer animals. As the light faded, we saw a very distant dark figure of feline gait slowly crossing the road—perhaps an elusive Florida panther? This painting is a distillation of that memorable afternoon.