Street Artists - Key West

On my travels, I enjoy watching and visiting with street artists. They all are unique, having such a diverse set of skills, personalities, and interesting stories of the past. I try to purchase at least one piece of art when I travel to my favorite locations.

Our recent trip to Key West allowed several opportunities to get to know a couple of artists who market their creations to visitors of the island town. On our walk to breakfast, we passed Bob Surrett who had his artwork set up on the sidewalk along South Street within a block of the popular destination known as “The Southernmost Point.”

He told me that he’d heard of Gallipolis and I thought he was blowing smoke until he mentioned that Gallipolis had been settled by a group of people from France. He told me he had a special technique using a custom made paint pallet knife. I looked closely as he painted and asked, “Isn’t that a piece of cardboard?” With a wink and a grin he said, “Yes, it is, but I tore it to a custom size.”

I couldn’t resist purchasing a small painting he’d made of the moon rising from behind the Key West Lighthouse. He had framed it with small pieces of wood. It is quite a unique piece of art.

One morning as we were having our breakfast, I spotted an artist set up on the pier painting a likeness of “The Southernmost House.” When we finished eating we walked out the pier to examine his work. William C. Sasser introduced himself and welcomed us to watch as he worked. He had several pieces of art on display for sale. William had a degree in art and was very precise with his brushstrokes. 

I chose the painting above because of the sign hanging on the palm tree. Go right and you get to Key West; go left and you return to reality. Very appropriate for my personal attitude. Like Jimmy Buffett says, “The lower the latitude, the better the attitude.”