Pin-Up Art of Gil Elvgren

I've always liked pin-up paintings.  I think it's because they have a classic look to them;  they are vintage, after all.  I also like them because they are so unrealistic.  Let's face it.  Most women are not shaped that way.  But I think they can be enjoyed for what they are:  fun, popular art. 

Perhaps the most well-known pin-up artist was Gil Elvgren (1914-1980). 

 

 

A graduate of the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts and the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Elvgren enjoyed a successful career from the 1930's through the 1970's working for companies such as Coca-Cola, Sealy Mattress Company, and General Electric as well as various other publishing and advertising companies.  He also created illustrations for Good Housekeeping and The Saturday Evening Post during the 1940's and 1950's.  Today Elvgren is still considered the most important pin-up and glamour artist of the 20th century. 

 

Personally, I prefer the paintings that include parrots. 

 

 

Or beaches...

 

 

And here's even a musical pin-up girl!

 

 



 

I think it is also fun to see the "before" photos for some of these paintings. 

 

 

 

I'll close with perhaps the most famous pin-up girl of all, Betty Grable.

 

 



 

 



Biking on Coquina Beach, Longboat Key

My husband and I recently took our bikes to Coquina Beach, which is located on Longboat Key near Longboat Pass.  The trip would have been even more fun if my bike tire hadn't popped.  It's hard not to have a good time in such a lovely spot though. 

Here are some pictures I took from the bridge over Longboat Pass before my tire popped. 

 

 

There aren't really that many shells worth collecting on Coquina Beach (at least not that day), but the water is great for swimming, and the sand is beautifully soft.  There is also a nice area equipped with picnic tables, shaded by the lovely but invasive Australian pines.  The bike path goes along the beach under the shade of the pines. 

 

The beach itself is lined with sand dunes and sea oats.

 

 

When I can't find any good shells, I fall back on my second favorite beach activity which is bird watching.  I love how the different sea birds all seem to have distinctive personalities.  The seagulls are my least favorite because they are always grouchy and squawking at other birds and stealing food.  I've even seen them land on the backs of fishing pelicans in order to steal their catches.  This is totally unnecessary as seagulls also have webbed feet and can swim just like the pelicans. 

 

Pelicans on the other hand seem pretty laid back.  They glide along on a breeze and fish and rest with a really easygoing attitude about them.  I also enjoy how graceful they are in the air and in the water in contrast with how awkward they are on land.  I love it when they do this:

 

 

 

My favorite sea birds are the sandpipers, sanderlings, turnstones, willets, and plovers; they all look pretty similar. They don't have webbed feet, but they eat bugs found in the sand right in the surf, so they run in and out of the surf with tiny, skinny legs, and they always seem to know exactly how to keep from getting too wet or washed into the sea.  They are very cute, and I've never seen them bother other birds like the seagulls do. 

 

 

Then there are the egrets.  I love their yellow feet.  They kind of crouch as they walk along the beach looking for food, and then when they see something, they dart very quickly.  I also love the way their feathers seem to be a particularly wispy texture; they blow in the wind beautifully. 

 

 

 

Lastly, the largest and most majestic of the sea birds here:  the heron.  They walk along the beach very slowly with great poise.  Often they stand in one place for great lengths of time, almost posing for the people taking pictures. 

 

 

That concludes our beach trip for that day.  We'll be going back to Coquina Beach soon with my newly replaced bike tire, and that will mean...more pictures later!!



 

 





Shelling at Johnson Shoals and Cayo Costa

Yesterday, my family and I spent the day out in our boat at Johnson Shoals near Boca Grande Pass and at the island of Cayo Costa.  It's nice to get away from the crowds on beaches that are accessible by car now and then and spend some time on the more remote islands of Florida.  

It was an absolutely beautiful day filled with blue skies, warm weather, and flying birds.  I took these next few photos with my phone, so the quality doesn't so it much justice, but this is Johnson Shoals.

 



The sandbar was teeming with sand dollars, alive and dead, and I also picked up quite a few sunray venus clams as well. 

 



Unfortunately, my phone camera wouldn't zoom far enough, but the lighthouse on Gasparilla Island can be seen from Johnson Shoals.  Hopefully I'll get a good picture of it next time, but here is a shot of it from the internet:

 



There is a lot of driftwood on Cayo Costa, which I think makes it a unique spot to take photos. 

 

Here are some of the shells we found:

 

 

 

We were pretty lucky to find a large amount of beautiful whelks.

 





Here are some close-ups of the largest find:

And finally, I will close with a couple pictures of the Sanibel Lighthouse, which is my favorite lighthouse, and which we have to pass in order to get home.