Cedar Key, Florida 2023 ~ Our favorite little Gulf Coast Town.

 From the urban, artsy Savannah vibe to laid-back, 'Old Florida' Cedar Key.  Although Cedar Key sports two art galleries, two lovely gift shops and several restaurants, it's still a place for doing nothing, as it were. Our 'nothing' is long walk-abouts through town and sitting by the Gulf.  Our only 'sport' is bird watching from our deck, although the area offers fishing and kayaking. All the 'Old Florida' architecture and island colors are my muse.

We've been coming here for many years now, after being introduced to it by our friend Donna, who lives in St. Petersburg. We stopped by Cedar Key on our way to St Petersburg to see all the assemblage art on the Low Key Hideaway motel. We liked the town so much, we came back on the way home and then the following year, began coming to Cedar Key.

This mural has been here for awhile and this year looked refurbished. A bit of vintage beach photography highlights the welcome vibe.

Welcome to Cedar Key collage

This little cottage, hidden amongst the trees, is definitely a vibrant island house; named by it's owners as the 'Shaby Shax'.   The vibrant Peony is derived from a quilling-art piece by my friend Deb Booth, with her kind permission.

The Pink 'Shaby Shax' collage

Now for some sitting on the deck.

Winter Travels 2020 - Cedar Key - the Nature Coast of Florida

Once again I am a most fortunate person to spend some Winter time in one of my favorite places., Cedar Key - laid back, old-school Florida Gulf coast town.  A place to sit and watch and listen to the Gulf of Mexico from our vacation rental deck, meander the streets of historic Florida cottage architecture, with enough restaurants to please and boasting two art galleries.

Our favorite place for breakfast is the Second Street Cafe. Steamers is our go-to place for lunch and dinner. And Island Arts, now on Dock Street, is where we always bring something home from, especially from potter Frank DiGangi.

And once again, I have fun being inspired by what is around me for collage.  As always, I take my own photos, amplify the colors and alter them and add elements that catch my eye, many of which are extracted from other local photographs. The background images may have a bit of artistic modification, so if you came upon that place, it might look different than my collage. I travel with a hefty supply of images and google is always available to find just what I am looking for - or wasn't looking for!  Art fun.

This year I noticed several of my past Cedar Key collages have become 'historical' as some of the places, especially businesses, are no longer there.

Big Deck - Cedar Key, FL

Dilly Dally Mermaid on Second Street - Cedar Key

This lovely mermaid resides in the Dilly Dally Gally gift shop, in  the painting she is holding. Here she been freed to hang out on Second Street with her armadillo pal.

Cedar Key Circa 1930

Yellow In Cedar Key

Second Street Live Oak - Cedar Key

Cedar Key - Old Florida

Cedar Key is one of my favorite places.  It's a laid-back, funky little island town. friendly, casual, on the Gulf.  Colorful enough to sport two art galleries and award-winning clam chowder.  There is a big clam growing industry here and the Cedar Key clams are the sweetest, most tender I've ever had. A perfect place to chill out, release stress and  just 'be', especially in Winter,  And in that, lots of open-ended time to noodle around with photos and images to my heart's content, especially on cooler, cloudy, windy days.

The view from our screened porch is a wonderful Live Oak and then the Bay.  Perfect.

Live Oak - Cedar Key

There are a lot of colorful buildings here, folk art signage and lawn art - just what inspires me. Happy am I. And although I love the water and marshlands and bird sanctuary, the first thing that caught my eye for a collage was this funky jeep.

JEEP

We pass the Far Away Inn everyday, full of murals, yard art and welcoming rainbow flags.  And yes, the 'Judys" are paper dolls of a young Judy Garland.  The 'Let Us Be - We're Alive sign is also from the Far Away Inn artist.

Far Away Inn Judys

Let Us Be

There's not much of a beach here, but kayacking and boating is popular, The door to beyond featured here is from one of our favorite breakfast joints, Away From the World Cafe.  The name comes from a Dave Matthews song and the only music they play in the place is the Dave Matthews Band. 

Kayacked

Cedar Key has a small airport owned by the county.  Small enough that there is no control tower.  It was built during WWII for air/sea rescue and then given to the county.  Apparently the runway arrow had been recently painted, giving me this stark shot. As usual. all my original photos have been amplified, altered  and the colors saturated.

Into The Wild Blue