Big Bear Lake

Here's another nice email from one of my customers. Big Bear Lake is a beautiful lake located in California. 

"Hello Larry! We received the print yesterday as promised!!  It is fantastic!!  Quality is beautiful and my daughters had a blast trying to find the mermaid!  They wanted more things to find so you left them wanting more!  :)  Can't wait to give it to my parents this weekend, I know they will love it as much as I do!!  You've been an incredible, helpful, responsive seller and I've enjoyed doing business with you!  Such a pleasure to have a totally positive buying experience on line.  Take care and have a great weekend! "

The Big Bear Lake map is painted in vintage style. I add waterfowl common to the lake flying over to give the map interest. As mentioned above, I add a tiny little mermaid for folks to search for.

This close up section gives you an idea of the detail that I include. I have many folks who purchase my maps for birthday, fathers day, Christmas, lake house warming, and wedding gifts.

All maps 16x32 size and above, come with a Certificate of Authenticity, a poem, and a sheet covering interesting facts about your LeoLakes Decor Map. 

To see if we have your lake, river, or bay, check-out my website LeoLakes.com. Enjoy

Neighbors in the woods!

We live in the "ten acre woods" and have lots of neighbors. I thought I would let you meet some of the finest neighbors in the world. They sometimes come by and visit, but like good neighbors, they don't stay too long.

Here's Racky the Raccoon, peeping in the backdoor. My wife thinks Racky is a bit of a peeping Tom. Speaking of Tom, Tom the Turkey stopped by for a snack.

Tom really strut's his stuff on most days, but this was Thanksgiving and Tom wanted to be alone for some reason?

Oh yeah, we have a house guest named Ring Neck the snake. Old Ring Neck only stayed a little while because he made the wife and teenagers nervous. I had to show Ring Neck the door after brooms were drawn. Too bad Ring Neck!

Some guests visit at night like Polly the possum. Polly was born in Tennessee and for some reason is attracted to orange. Go figure. Hmmmm... really why is this Possum on an orange blanket? Because he kicked Freckles the Feral cat, that my wife feeds, from his sleeping quarters in order to get to the food. Some guest are just like pigs. 

Ah, here's Fred the Fox. He's a little sneaky neighbor that likes to come by for a free meal. 

Last but not least, Dolly the Deer looking beautiful near the salt block.

.......and that's the end of the finest neighbors in the ten acre woods! 

If you ever need a beautiful map, then check out my website, LeoLakes.com

Vintage style Lakes Maps for the Lake House!

I often receive nice emails back from folks who have purchased one of my maps. It certainly makes one feel good when you get a comment like this one from a customer who purchased a Center Hill Lake Decor Map. 

"We received it yesterday and it is absolutely beautiful and perfect. What an artist! And I found the mermaids, finally! Thank You for an amazing work of art."

The Center Hill Lake Map has a nice vintage style look. I add waterfowl common to the lake flying over to give the map interest. I also include A few small fish and a tiny little mermaid.

I've added a close up section to give you an idea of the detail that I include. I have many folks who purchase my maps for birthday, fathers day, Christmas, lake house warming, and wedding gifts.

All maps 16x32 size and above, come with a Certificate of Authenticity, a poem, and a sheet covering interesting facts about your LeoLakes Decor Map. Here's the wonderful lake poem that my wife wrote about lakes, rivers, and bays.

"As I look over this beloved waterscape, The most amazing scenes appear in its wake, The sun arises above the shore, Giving grace and beauty to this place that I adore."  

To see if we have your lake, river, or bay, check-out my website LeoLakes.com. Enjoy

A unique wedding gift, A Wedding Map!

Interestingly, more folks are having their wedding on lakes and beaches. It makes for some great memories and picturesque wedding photos. In fact, I'm having more folks order lake or bay maps as wedding gifts. Uniquely, they place a heart and date with the couples name near the location of the wedding.  

Not long ago, I was asked to add two hearts to one of my lake decor maps. The first heart was placed near the location that the couple first met and labeled, "The Day We Met" with the date. A second heart was added to the location that they were wed, labeled "Our Wedding Date." with the date. This makes a great family heirloom! If you know someone who is getting married on or near a lake or bay, then why not give them a unique wedding gift, "A wedding map." Check-out my maps at LeoLakes.com

Venice Rookery Photos

Last week I traveled to Florida and got a chance to visit the Venice Rookery, which is located in Venice Florida. The rookery is a great place to photograph and view many birds nesting during February, March and April. Waterfowl nest on the island in the middle of the small lake. There's a gravel path that faces the island were folks set-up to take pictures and view the birds.

I arrived at 6:00 am and there was a fine mist in the air, great for photography. The island was not loaded with birds as I've seen before, but still a number of birds were nesting. 

This Great Blue Heron with the spiked hair just returned from the gulf on a fishing trip. The adults take turns fishing, feeding and protecting the chicks.

Nesting Egrets with a small chick. The birds nest on the island for security. Believe it or not here's the security guard, alligator.

  

The resident gator cruises the waters in hopes of a meal. Without the gator, raccoon's could possibly raid the island. 

If you enjoy nature, birds, and the outdoors, then you should take a trip to the Venice Rookery located in Venice Florida. Sometimes it's more fun photographing the bird watchers, watching the birds. Be careful while photographing and watch for gators.

Beautiful Lemon Bay Florida

Last week I was in Florida and got to do a little fishing in Lemon Bay, which is located between Sarasota and Ft Myers, Florida. Our first stop was the bait shop to get live shrimp, 3 dozen for $12 bucks. Talking with the bait shop worker, we found that the recent pattern has the fish biting in the morning and they stop by noon. Soooo, we were out on the water in the morning and the weather couldn't have been better.

The bay was as calm as glass and the temp was about 75 degrees. Perfect for a day of fishing.

You can see our target fishing spot just ahead in this photo, the bridge. We have found that fish like to stay near the bridge supports. We should catch red snapper, snook, and sheepshead.

Here, Pop is preparing to wet a hook in the bay! Right at the start, we were catching fish. They were small at first, red snapper and snook, but started to become larger as the day moved on.

Just as we started fishing, the wind kicked up and the water started to get choppy. Also, other fishermen had the same idea as we did, fish near the bridge. Lucky for us, the bridge proved to be successful.  

SHARK!!! SHARK!!!................Nope, it's a bottle nose dolphin. Pop told me that last week a dolphin swam under a fishermen's boat and grabbed his catch of the day. This dolphin did move near our boat, but didn't attempt to steal our fish. Anyway, just like clockwork, as noon neared, the fish stopped biting.

The reward of the day, fresh fish (sheepshead to be exact and dressed up in an old convict outfit, black and white stripped). Oh yeah, checkout these teeth below. 

This fellow looks like a hockey player. I took this picture of a sheepshead to show you their teeth. I think they look like human teeth? You don't want to put a finger in there. Sheepshead use their teeth to crush the shells of their prey and grind them up like a garbage disposal. Anyway, sheepshead smell like fish, but taste chicken sort up? I think we have a few fat shrimp left over from fishing. Perfect to put on the barbie with these sheepshead, yum...... 

Hey, Checkout My Maps at LeoMaps.com

Fishing With Emotions!

Okay, sometimes I draw humorous cartoons. Some folks say the humorous part is debatable, but I think they're funny. Soooo.......check these out.  You may have had a few of these, "Fishing Emotions".

Well, what do you think? Oh yeah, check-out my Lake Decor Maps.

Is a pencil becoming old school?

It's true, pencil and paper have now become obsolete. Here's my new 24HD Cintiq graphic monitor. I can draw directly on the screen and it's great for photo retouch, cartoons, and my custom maps. A little pricey, but worth it. It's almost the same as using an actual pencil and paper, which is now becoming old school. Technology is good, but I still enjoy a good old pencil and piece of fresh paper, sometimes!

Check-out my maps at LeoLake.com. Also "Life is short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream."