It's Florida in July. 

And June. And August. And September. And most of October. And sometimes, part of November. 

When you live in the state of perpetual summer, there's only one thing to do…head to the beach!

The page above was started here. I used torn tape to make the faux deckled edges and while, the page is not done, I am quite pleased with how it's turning out. 

The sketches are all from the John's Pass area where we'll be visiting in our Winter Interrupted: An Artist's Beach Holiday in January of 2015. 

The dolphins are frequently spotted playing in the channel underneath the bridge and there are always lots of birds around to keep us entertained. 

One of the things I found interesting was the changing color of the water.* Depending on where we were as well as the time of day and weather conditions, it changed appearance frequently even though the water is all of the same body. 

To create the faux deckled edges, I took white Artist's Tape, similar to this (I have no affiliation with the product or Amazon) and tore it in half. I then built random shaped boxes with the strips of tape, being careful to burnish the edges.

A note on burnishing edges: do yourself a HUGE favor and test out the tape and your sketchbook paper before you put the tape all over a page and find yourself with a disaster! Depending on the type of paper you have and the amount of texture is does or doesn't have, you may need to adjust how hard you burnish the edges. 

Also, the tape may not stick well (leaving you with lots of little bleeds). It may stick too well and tear the paper (in the exact wrong place) or it may not want to come up at all and you'll be forever stuck with tape on the page! 

I also would suggest you NOT leave it on the page for a long period of time. I put the tape on my page at the end of April, painted one square and then got distracted.

When I went to remove the tape from around the dolphins frolicking in the channel, the paper tore next to the binding. Luckily, it did not cause any major issues. 

Be sure to wait until the page is bone dry before removing the tape or the wet paper could tear. 

And last, but not least, even if you've used the tape before, be sure to do a test strip as manufacturers often change their processes and make significant changes to adhesive. 

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While we swelter in the heat, me thinks it's time to go take a dip in the ocean and watch the fireworks as the US celebrates Independence Day!

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Happy Fourth of July!!

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