Painting Prep

Painting Prep
Originally uploaded by davidzentz.

John Harte, 79, sits in Straub Park in St. Petersburg sketching in preparation for a watercolor of the Grayl's Hotel on Beach Drive, part of a continuing series of watercolors of notable area buildings, including the Progress Energy Building, the Pennsylvania Hotel and Park Shore Plaza. Originally from Nebraska, Harte has lived and worked as an artist from his home studio in St. Petersburg for 5 years. On the winding journey from Nebraska to Florida he spent 21 years in California and was a commercial artist in New York City. Locally, Harte says he has work exhibited in such places as the Red Cloud Indian Arts Gallery, Sarasota's Palm Avenue Gallery and Miami's Historical Museum of Southern Florida, as well as in the California's Oakland Museum of California and the Palm Springs Desert Museum. "I particularly like to do buildings under construction and historic buildings," Harte says. The Grayl's Hotel building is a Spanish Mission style building erected in 1922, according to its website. He markets his paintings to the owners of the buildings. (Times photo by David Zentz)