Tuesday, November 20, 2012

11/20/2012 The Signs of John Pennekamp

(Key Largo, FL)

I shared this sign with you in an earlier post and want to give you the background on it.

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The picture on the sign was created by renowned marine life artist Pasta Pantaleo and donated to the park.  The donation of his time and talent was made because of the artists belief that we all should do something that benefits our environment.

Panataleo , born in Italy  spent his childhood in Brooklyn, NY and then settled in the Florida Keys. It was a long time before he realized that his natural artistic ability could be combined with his love of marine life with amazing results.  The underwater scene on the park sign is an excellent example of the results of that combination.

Pantaleo is particularly fond of snorkeling and diving the Pennekamp reefs and has painted many images of what he sees underwater.  The image on the sign was inspired by a a dive he was enjoying one fall day, when the pictured marine life swam by.  A school of yellowtail snapper swimming by a hawksbill sea turtle and elkhorn coral are what’s featured in this painting.  Pantaleo felt this image represented this park perfectly.

Working from underwater photographs, he and friends made several dives and took many pictures to get just the right photographs.  These photos were used to recreate the scene he saw that autumn day.
The artist is active in marine conservation causes and is a member and executive officer of the Coastal Conservation Association.

Now there was another sign we saw that we were very pleased to see!

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Oh yeah, I think I’ll find lots of stuff to share you these next two months.

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