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Sarasota News Leader October 25, 2013 Page 104 process: Step One: Photograph the specimens for reference. Step Two: Arrange the compositional elements with preliminary sketches. Step Three: Prepare a graphite tonal drawing. Step Four: Complete a colored pencil study. Then — when satisfied — Step Five: Begin the watercolor painting. Two of her other large paintings, Sea Grape and Hat Palm —commissioned by the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation in the Dominican Republic — were painted from life. They seduce you into believing that you are in a tropical setting. Chocolate Makes Me Happy, a watercolor on cold press (rough textured paper) shows how chocolate is made from dried cocoa beans of William Bartram is shown in an image from Popular Science Monthly via Wikimedia Commons the cacao tree. The trees grow along mountain roads in the Dominican Republic. From Braida's notes we learn that the Olmec people in Mexico cultivated the cacao as early as 1500 B.C. We are treated to more chocolate with her cacao plant drawing, Disney at Selby, which began her studies of chocolate. Look for the artist's finished painting of a cacao hybrid tree in the museum's lobby. Sea Grape by Olivia Braida. Contributed photo Do not miss the page from the artist's notebook, Field Study of Vireo, a graphite and colored pencil study detailing how this clever tiny bird builds its intricate nest in a red mangrove tree. Black Whiskered Vireo and Sweet Arrowwood is on hot press (smooth) paper. It is fun to compare this with paintings — such as Red Ginger — done on cold press paper.