Is this Ernest Hemingway? Or is it Brian Gordon Sinclair? (Hint: the bearded writer pictured here never lived in Key West.)

Hemingway, who lived and wrote in Key West throughout the 1930s, wasn’t Brian’s first major subject. Years ago, while tracing his Irish roots, Brian became fascinated with Irish revolutionary leader Patrick Pearse. After developing a successful one-man play about Pearse and the Irish Easter uprising of 1916, he began seeking another all-absorbing character.

“I wanted to find someone else to play who had that heroic quality,” he said. “I fell in love with the idea of being someone bigger than life, and standing on stage conveying theories and ideas that I could believe in with all my heart and brain.”

When Brian picked up Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms,” the author’s passion, prose and philosophy captured his imagination.

Backed by a crowd of “Ernest” supporters, Brian presents Canada's Hemingway On Stage Award during a past Hemingway Days celebration.

He had visited Key West previously on vacation, but returned with a purpose: to immerse himself in Hemingway’s life and experiences. He discovered the island’s Hemingway Days festival commemorating Ernest, visited the author’s Whitehead Street home and met “Papa” Hemingway Look-Alike Contest veteran Bob Orlin.

“It was the festival itself that attracted me,” Brian said. “If I was going to create a play, what better place to go than a place where they had a Hemingway festival?”

During that visit, though he hadn’t begun writing the script, he booked a Key West theater for the following year.

He also stepped into Hemingway’s skin for the first time. With his black hair and moustache, Brian resembled the author during his Key West years — so Bob Orlin convinced him to enter a “young Hemingway” contest at a local bar. He promptly won, using the prize money to continue his travels and research.

Brian Gordon Sinclair, in the persona of Ernest Hemingway, is surrounded by friends at La Terazza in Cojimar, Cuba.

When he began writing the play, however, a problem arose.

“My intention was to do one three-act play and that would be it,” said Brian. “By the time I got to the end of World War I, I already had enough for one play.”

Ultimately, “Hemingway On Stage” grew into a six-part series — each play exploring a facet of Ernest’s life and career, and each taking Brian onstage to create an intimate portrait of the iconic author.

As well as giving audiences new insights into Hemingway, the plays have brought a surprising benefit to their creator.

“Working on Ernest, with Ernest, has absolutely revitalized my life,” Brian reported. “His life encompassed so many different things that it became an adventure for me.”

Brian's in-depth portrayal provides audiences new insights into Ernest's complex and often troubled character.

Brian’s research has taken him to London, Paris, Spain’s Civil War battlefields and bullfighting rings, Hemingway’s childhood home in Illinois and many other places. He continues to present his plays in Key West where, like Ernest, he has found friends and inspiration.

“Everybody in Key West has treated me with such open arms and respect and kindness that I consider myself an honorary citizen of the place,” he said.

This year, Brian will step outside his six-part series to present a storytelling evening titled “Hemingway’s Hot Havana.” Ticket sales will benefit the Key West Art & Historical Society and the Hemingway Look-Alike Society Scholarship Fund.

He hopes to debut the final play in his “Hemingway On Stage” series during Hemingway Days 2011 — but that doesn’t mean he’ll say farewell to the author.

“Spiritually, I have become a friend of Ernest Hemingway,” Brian said, “and Ernest and I will be friends forever.”

Don’t head over to the property, the Key West home of the legendary author throughout the 1930s, expecting to see the tiny bundles of fur just yet. Born on Valentine’s Day, they’re living in a secure and secluded corner with their mother until they get older, well away from the crowds that flock to the literary mecca every day.

The friendly felines that inhabit the Hemingway home have become almost as big an attraction as Ernest's legacy. (Photo by Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau)

After all, the house may be the place where Hemingway spent the most productive years of his life, writing 70 percent of his classic works — but at this unique spot, the cats come first.

According to Dave Gonzales of the Hemingway house, that’s nothing new; Ernest himself was fascinated by felines.

“Hemingway was very much a cat lover,” said Dave. “He preferred the polydactyls — the six-toed cats that are world famous and sometimes called Hemingway cats.”

Hemingway lived in the Key West home, a Spanish colonial villa at 907 Whitehead St., from 1931 through 1939 with his second wife Pauline and their two sons. During that time he worked on many of his best-known novels and short stories — among them “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and the Key West-based “To Have and Have Not,” his only novel set in the United States — in a small second-story writing studio behind the house.

Fittingly, the property was recently designated a literary landmark.

Today, visitors touring the home-turned-museum are likely to find a cat or two unconcernedly sprawled on the studio table or napping on Hemingway’s former bed. Scores of them roam the grounds, seemingly secure in the knowledge that they belong there — and probably aware that they’ve become as big an attraction as the legacy of the author himself.

Toured by large numbers of visitors daily, the Hemingway property became a museum in 1964 and was recently designated a literary landmark. (Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau)

Most are named for Hemingway contemporaries or noted personalities (for example, Spencer Tracy, Gertrude Stein and Emily Dickinson) and many of them have oversized, slightly comical six-toed paws.

They owe their extra digit, Dave explained, to Snowball.

Snowball was Hemingway’s first polydactyl cat — given to the author’s sons, Patrick and Gregory, by a sea captain after the boys ran some errands for him. Captains, it seems, had a particular fondness for six-toed felines.

“They were thought to give the captains calm seas, prevailing winds and safe passages on their journeys,” said Dave. “They were considered lucky cats or mystical cats — therefore, captains being very superstitious, they had the cats on board the ship for their mystical or magical powers as well as their ability to catch mice better with that extra digit.”

Did Snowball’s “magic” have anything to do with Hemingway’s literary prowess during his Key West years? Who knows — but, for Ernest and family as for many other island residents, one cat led to another. Eventually, according to Dave, some 50 cats roamed the property.

Felines loom even larger at the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum today than they did in the legendary author's day. (Photo by Andy Newman/ Florida Keys News Bureau)

About the same number live at the Hemingway home today, and they’re pampered as befits the descendants (whether actual or honorary) of a literary giant’s muse “meows.” Their lives consist of good food, naps in sunny spots, admiration from an unceasing stream of visitors, and health care from a veterinarian who makes house calls every Wednesday.

Naturally, the birth of a litter of kittens is an occasion for great joy.

“We average one litter a year, and that litter carries the bloodline of Ernest Hemingway’s original clan of cats,” said Dave.

The mama cat is still very protective of the property’s four newest arrivals, so it’s hard to tell if their tiny paws have extra toes or not. But either way, their place in the world is assured — as members of the famed feline family at Key West’s Hemingway home.

"Sunrise in Big Pine" showcases both Valerie Fecher's talent and passion for the natural world. (Photos provided by Valerie Fecher)

Her inspiration to become a shutterbug came from her mother, a painter, who also passed her artistic drive down to Valerie’s sisters. One became a sculptor and the other a craftsperson.

The natural world also has exerted an ongoing influence on Valerie, dating from a 1967 family camping trip in Alaska. These days, she goes regularly to the Everglades with her lobsterman father, where they ride around on their airboat capturing images that she uses in her shows. On one of their treks, she was lucky enough to spot and photograph a rarely seen Florida panther.

Valerie grew up in Miami but, by the time she turned 14, her parents had chosen to move farther south.

Valerie is influenced by her family's creative heritage and love of the outdoors.

“In 1971, my parents decided to leave the rat race behind and move me and my two sisters down to the Keys,” said Valerie, who lived on Big Pine Key and attended Marathon High School. “Big Pine was a small rural area back then and they liked that.”

After graduating from high school, she attended Florida Keys Community College, where she honed her darkroom skills in the medium of black-and-white photography. She later received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in photography from Miami’s Florida International University.

Valerie eventually built a darkroom in her home that she used to develop her photos until it seemed the right time to embrace digital photography.

Nature and the water play a large role in her work, so she often takes off in a kayak right from her property on Big Pine to seek compelling images.

Valerie's "Clouds Out Back" contrasts the stillness of the water with the light-drenched energy of the billowy clouds.

While photographing outdoor subjects is her primary passion, portrait photography is Valerie’s second love. She even enjoys shooting portraits of local kids dressed up for Halloween.

Today, she’s a member of Big Pine’s Artists in Paradise Gallery, where her mother is a founding member, and happily displays her work in the gallery’s shows.

“I’ve been with them about a decade, and the photography I show is mostly images from the Everglades and the Keys,” Valerie said. “The gallery has grown tremendously over the years from its original 13 members.”

Her husband, a fishing guide, shares her love of the outdoors. Most of their vacations are very active, generally including kayaking or snorkeling.

It’s hardly surprising that Valerie’s life and photos are inextricably entwined. Each reflects her passion for the beauty of the natural world she finds in the Florida Keys — the island chain that is both her home and her inspiration.

Ever wondered why there’s a gigantic panorama of fish and other sea creatures wrapped around a four-story building in the median of the Overseas Highway in Key Largo?

Actually, it’s the brainchild of an internationally acclaimed marine life artist who just happens to live in the Upper Keys.

Marine life artist Wyland takes a break after putting finishing touches on his 7,500-square-foot marine life mural in Key Largo. (Photo by Andy Newman/ Florida Keys News Bureau)

The 7,500-square-foot wraparound mural, located at mile marker 99.2, depicts the living coral reef that parallels the Florida Keys — the only living coral barrier reef in the continental U.S. And thanks to artist and environmentalist Wyland, Keys visitors can preview that reef’s breathtaking ecosystem without getting wet.

For some 30 years, Wyland has used his artistic talent to raise awareness about the need to preserve and protect the oceans and their inhabitants. An avid diver who’s spent hundreds of hours happily submerged in Florida Keys waters, he credits the Keys reef for inspiring much of his work.

“The Florida Keys is one of the best places in the world to dive,” said Wyland. “Every time I dive I learn more, and then I try to incorporate that into my paintings and my sculptures and my murals.”

A diver explores the coral reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo. (Photo by Bob Care/Florida Keys News Bureau)

In fact, just a few miles from the Key Largo mural site lies John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first underwater preserve in the United States.

Pennekamp is incorporated into the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which covers about 2,800 square nautical miles of coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove swamp on both sides of the Keys island chain — with an indigenous population that includes more than 600 species of fish and 55 varieties of coral. Savvy underwater enthusiasts call the area one of the most fascinating dive sites on the planet.

Wyland’s Key Largo mural, completed in 2007, features manatees, manta rays, corals, sea turtles, fish and bottlenose dolphins.

“This mural is really the gateway to the Florida Keys,” said the artist, who has painted 99 other mammoth marine life murals on buildings around the United States, Australia, France, Japan and other far-flung locations including New Zealand.

Wyland details the eye of a manatee during the creation of his Key Largo mural. (Photo by Gary Firstenberg)

Another of his marine life panoramas graces a former warehouse in Key West’s Historic Seaport district, and a third overlooks the Overseas Highway at mile marker 50 in Marathon. Like all of Wyland’s murals, they’re designed to motivate environmental awareness and responsibility — particularly in children.

“Art is something that can touch people’s emotion,” he said. “You can choose not to go into a gallery or a museum, but you can’t ignore a giant mural. If people see this beauty, I know they’ll want to get involved in protecting it.”

Next time you drive into or out of the Keys, immerse yourself in the island chain’s coral reef ecosystem at mile marker 99.2. It’s a great introduction to the underwater world … and you don’t even need to leave your car.

Actually, a lot of celebrities have wintered on the subtropical island where daytime temps in January and February generally exceed 70 degrees.

New York artist Cameron Gainer settles the Loch Ness Monster into its winter home in a Key West pond at the beginning of the 2008 Sculpture Key West exhibition. (Photo by Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau)

Robert Frost, for one — the renowned poet abandoned New England for a cottage on Key West’s Caroline Street each winter from 1945 to 1960.

But until a couple of years ago, though Key Westers had seen plenty of snowbirds flocking to the southernmost city to escape the northern cold, they’d never seen anything like the Loch Ness Monster.

Nessie journeyed south on a boat trailer with New York artist Cameron Gainer, who was participating in the 2008 Sculpture Key West exhibition. The annual juried exhibition features work in many types of traditional and experimental media, displayed beside the island’s Civil War-era forts and public gardens — and in several other “surprise” locations around Key West.

Nessie, who turned out to be quite a surprise indeed, was destined for a winter home in a local pond at the entrance to Key West’s picturesque Old Town. But installing the 12-foot by 12.5-foot foam-and-fiberglass monster in the pond was no easy task.

Nessie isn't the only sculpted creature to visit Key West during the annual Sculpture Key West display. Here, artist Doug Makemson introduces "Henry," a nine-foot steel dog that starred in a previous exhibition. (Photo courtesy of Sculpture Key West)

Cameron was inspired to create Nessie by a 1934 photo that supposedly showed its humped back and long curving neck rising out of Scotland’s Loch Ness. To settle the monster in its warm-water winter home, he donned a wetsuit and jumped into the pond to guide the installation.

A Bobcat tractor, a small floating platform and a thick rope “leash” were required in the effort, which drew double-takes and laughter from passing drivers.

For the rest of that winter, much to the delight of absurdity-loving locals, Nessie startled unsuspecting passersby as they entered the historic Old Town district.

The 2010 Sculpture Key West exhibition doesn’t feature any legendary monsters — but that’s perfectly okay, because it includes plenty of other intriguing examples of artistry.

A sailboat is framed by the wood sculpture "Forest of Souls" on display at Sculpture Key West 2010. The wooden hoop by artist Jonathan Schork is composed of buttonwood, Brazilian pepper and Australian pine branches. (Photo by Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau)

Thirty-some artists hailing from Paris, Berlin and 11 American states are showcasing their work in three venues at this year’s exhibition: the waterfront grounds of Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, the tranquil and inspiring home of the Key West Garden Club at West Martello Tower, and the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden near the entrance to Key West.

Favorite sculptures include an 18-foot-tall wooden hoop-shaped memorial, a commentary on consumerism crafted out of recycled plastic bags, and an interactive “musical chairs” installation made (believe it or not) from discarded brass instruments that people can actually play.

At all three locations, the sculptures will remain on display through April 16.

Take a tip from a longtime Keys local who’s seen many previous Sculpture Key West exhibitions — Nessie might not be lurking around, but even so this is a “monstrously” good show. If you’re in the Keys, don’t miss it!

Maybe because of Key West’s quirky, renegade nature, it seems particularly suited to be the setting for contemporary mystery books. Today, there’s an entertaining crop of them, written by people who know the island well enough to portray it ruefully, humorously, lovingly and so accurately that readers can almost feel the humidity and smell the salt air.

John Leslie's Key West mystery series stars the enigmatic Gideon Lowry.

For example, check out the books of longtime Keys resident John Leslie, featuring Key West private investigator and piano player Gideon Lowry.

Shipwreck salvagers, Hemingway aficionados, greedy developers and celebrity tourists are just a few of the characters that enliven Gideon’s days. Melancholy rhythms and romantic misfortunes permeate his life — as does too much violence. His exploits are chronicled in books including “Night and Day” and “Killing Me Softly.”

Sadly, Gideon’s adventures are no longer widely available in major bookstores … but they can be found easily at www.amazon.com.

Tom Corcoran’s Key West mystery series debuted in 1998 with “The Mango Opera.” It continues in several other volumes, including the recent “Hawk Channel Chase,” detailing the adventures of freelance photographer Alex Rutledge.

Authors Michael Haskins (left) and Tom Corcoran are captured on camera at Key West Island Books, a popular literary hotspot on the island.

A Key West resident in the late 1970s, Corcoran was a photographer, disc jockey and close friend of the island’s renowned “pirate laureate,” singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett — and his books draw on his memories of that era as well as the southernmost city’s contemporary feel.

Read excerpts from Corcoran’s tales, and purchase his books, at www.tomcorcoran.net.

The latest talented entrant into the Key West mystery realm is Michael Haskins, whose background includes television work in Los Angeles and stints as a freelance press photographer and journalist.

Haskins’ first crime thriller “Chasin’ the Wind,” starring journalist Liam Michael “Mad Mick” Murphy, was published in March 2008. It’s a spicy conch chowder flavored with dashes of small-town politics, Cuban intrigue, neurotic federales and island attitude.

An avid reader as well as an author, Michael Haskins writes in a home study surrounded by good books and family photographs. (Photo by Paul Clarin)

Haskins, who settled in Key West in the early 1990s, had his first island-city crime story published in the prestigious “Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.” When he conceived Mick Murphy, he made Key West a vital character in Mick’s story — using authentic street names, pub names and local reference points.

When he crafted the book, Haskins made Mick a likeable and reality-based character that readers might enjoy meeting for a casual drink or two.

In a nod to friend and mentor Tom Corcoran, Haskins even depicted Murphy reading one of Corcoran’s Alex Rutledge books, creating a situation that could only happen in a novel — the protagonist of a mystery based in Key West reading a mystery based in Key West.

Shown here at a book signing, Michael Haskins drew on his years in Key West to flavor the crime thriller "Chasin' the Wind," set in the quirky and charismatic island city. (Photo by Paul Clarin)

Clearly, the island has earned an enduring place in the world of mystery writers (and readers!). Its accepting lifestyle and undemanding pace seemingly leave plenty of room for the creative consciousness to roam.

“If you come here to write or paint or be a photographer and you let yourself do what you want, then you’re going to do well down here,” said Haskins. “Key West — the island, the city, the atmosphere — is a muse.”

Haskins has completed a second Mick Murphy novel and is at work on his third. To read their initial chapters, and get purchase info for “Chasin’ the Wind,” visit www.michaelhaskins.net.

Once, when I was young and naïve, I accompanied a boyfriend on a vacation to a lush tropical country that shall remain nameless. We lazed on white-sand beaches, snorkeled in azure seas, and danced under a romantic full moon.

Let's face it ... this is just not the kind of thing that belongs in a hotel bathtub.

On our final night in this idyllic setting, my boyfriend nearly got hauled off to a third-world prison for grilling a fish.

I was out picking up last-minute gifts. Fueled by too many frozen drinks and worried that smoke from his grill might rise from our hotel room’s balcony (where grills were prohibited), he decided to cook his “catch of the day” on a makeshift barbecue in the bathtub — a place he regarded as perfectly reasonable.

By the time I returned, our room was unnervingly full of fishy-smelling smoke and a 350-pound security guard named Raoul, who couldn’t decide whether to laugh or call the federales.

Laughter won — but when smoke alarms in the corridor began shrieking, the federales arrived even without Raoul’s summons.

Now here's a fun-filled experience involving fish: feeding tarpon from the dock at Robbie's Marina in Islamorada. (Photo by Bob Krist/Florida Keys News Bureau)

As we fled the country the next morning, I found myself reflecting that this wasn’t the way a vacation was supposed to be.

A vacation is supposed to be relaxing. Renewing. Fun. Filled with unexpected happenings (though not those involving large armed guards) and new discoveries.

And that’s what vacationing in the Keys is all about.

Sure, you can have a wonderful time partying in the local bars and doing a little shopping. But even if you think you know the island chain pretty well, you’ll create far richer memories if you take your vacation experience to the next level.

Here are three of my favorite spots in the Upper and Middle Keys for doing just that.

Robbie’s Marina, MM 77.5 bayside in Islamorada, www.robbies.com. Robbie’s is a wonderfully funky marina with a true Old Keys atmosphere — and the biggest draw is feeding wild tarpon from the marina’s dock. The gang at Robbie’s has been feeding these fishy friends for decades, and kids and grownups delight in purchasing buckets of bait to share the oddly satisfying experience. You’ll also find eco-tours and watersports excursions, fishing charters and the (wait for it!) Hungry Tarpon restaurant.

Imaginative crafts and fine art await visitors to Islamorada's Rain Barrel.

The Rain Barrel Artisans’ Village, MM 86.7 bayside in Islamorada,  www.keysdirectory.com/rainbarrel/.  This artisans’ enclave features work by scores of skilled creative spirits, and many of the finest have working studios onsite. Take a leisurely ramble through the sprawling property, watching the resident artists and chatting with them as they work. Under the spell of this center for artistry, I guarantee you’ll be inspired to launch a new exploration of your own creativity. 

Pigeon Key's restored historic structures and tranquil atmosphere offer visitors a glimpse of the Overseas Railway era. (Photo courtesy of the Pigeon Key Foundation)

Pigeon Key, www.pigeonkey.net. Just over two miles west of Marathon, nestled beneath what’s now called the Old Seven Mile Bridge, lies the five-acre historic treasure of Pigeon Key. In the early 1900s the island was a base camp for workers constructing the original Seven Mile Bridge, the centerpiece of the astonishing Overseas Railway that stretched from mainland Florida to Key West. Today, you can reach Pigeon Key by ferry or by biking or walking along a portion of the old bridge. Once you’re there, the modern world fades away beneath the true tranquility of the Keys. Spend the day touring the railroad museum, exploring the restored turn-of-the-century buildings, soaking up sun, snorkeling the tidal shoreline and absorbing the history of the early Florida Keys.

Whether you follow these suggestions or find your own adventure, let it recharge your batteries and introduce you to a new aspect of the fabulous Florida Keys.

But, please (and I speak from experience here), don’t even THINK about grilling fish in your hotel bathtub.

Perhaps I should call you Papa, since that’s the persona you created down here in Key West, but I admire your work so much that it seems too presumptuous.

"I've spotted you in Key West once or twice ..." (Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau)

You may think it odd that I’m writing you this letter, since you’re presumably now typing on that great battered Royal in the sky (I can’t, somehow, believe you’ve graduated to a laptop or become embroiled in the “Mac versus PC” debate that obsesses your literary legatees).

The fact is, though, I’ve spotted you in Key West once or twice since you departed this life for pleasanter Islands in the Stream — outside Sloppy Joe’s, and on Whitehead Street near your house (you were staring bemusedly at the camera-draped visitors clamoring to get in).

So I know that, on occasion, you escape the celestial realm and return to the place where you loved to raise (excuse the reference) a little hell. And I thought I should alert you about something you might want to slip away for.

Lorian Hemingway and Casa Antigua grand dame Mary Ann Worth share a quiet moment in the historic property's atrium garden. (Photo by Tom Oosterhoudt, Conch Color)

You’re probably aware that Key West has changed since your day, but you might not be aware that you’re regarded as its literary patron saint. In fact, almost 30 years ago, a fellow named Michael Whalton created a festival here honoring your work and lifestyle. Hemingway Days, it’s called. Your brother Leicester had great fun participating in it until he took your path home. 

Anyway, one of the most popular Hemingway Days events is Lorian Hemingway’s announcement of the winners of her short story competition. If you actually do use a laptop, check it out at www.shortstorycompetition.com.

Your granddaughter Lorian has become highly acclaimed for authoring three fine books (look for her memoir “Walk on Water” in that big bookstore in the sky) — though her style is lyrical whereas yours was spare to the bone. 

Critically acclaimed as an author and journalist, Lorian spends hundreds of hours each year encouraging writers who haven't yet achieved success. (Photo by Tom Corcoran)

Lorian shares your love of Key West, and for the past 29 years she’s helped other writers who haven’t yet gotten the recognition they deserve.

Her short story contest offers cash awards — useful whether you have or have not — as well as recognition. And it’s so popular that this year it got 1,000-plus entries from all over the world.

Some of the past winning stories have been downright dazzling, and some of the winning writers have gone on to earn world-class literary fellowships and major publishing deals.

Anyway, Lorian will announce this year’s contest winners at 8 p.m. Friday, July 24, at Casa Antigua (it’s at 314 Simonton St.). You’ll remember the place, though not by that name — it’s the renovated Trevor and Morris Apartments where you stayed when you discovered Key West in 1928.

These days, most of the interior is a huge atrium garden open to the sky, with palm trees and a pool surrounded by beautiful old brick walls. It’s the home of a local publisher named Tom Oosterhoudt and his mother, Mary Ann Worth, and they generously open it up every year for Lorian’s awards event.

"Most attendees, Mr. Hemingway, will believe you're there in spirit anyway ..." (Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau)

After the winners are announced, the audience hears the first public reading of the top story and Tom talks about your history with Casa Antigua. He even gives tours of the place — and I’ll bet you’d really enjoy seeing what a showplace those old apartments have become.

But honestly, Mr. Hemingway, if you can’t get your head out of the clouds, don’t fret about missing the awards (or even Hemingway Days itself). I’ll tell you a secret: most attendees will believe you’re there in spirit anyway.

With admiration,

A Fan

Visual artistry can be seen all over the Florida Keys: in palm-fringed shorescapes that edge the Atlantic Ocean, orange and purple abstracts unrolling across the sky at sunset, and the clean-lined sculptural arches of the old Overseas Highway bridges.

Almost anywhere you look in the Florida Keys, you'll see the artistry of the natural world. (Photo by Bob Krist/Florida Keys News Bureau)

Yet even if you ignore these creative efforts, and even if you never step inside one of the Keys’ eclectic galleries, you’ll still see a wide variety of art. From offbeat large-scale sculptures to murals promoting ocean conservation, outdoor artistry flourishes in the island chain.

Some prime examples can be spotted along the Overseas Highway in the Upper Keys. Maybe because the road stretches above and beside the waters of the Atlantic and Florida Bay, a good number of the roadside creations depict the area’s abundant marine life.

For example, there’s Betsy. Betsy is a giant sculpted Florida Keys spiny lobster — a 30-foot-tall, 40-foot-long sculpted Florida Keys spiny lobster, to be more specific — that greets visitors to the Rain Barrel Artists Village at mile marker 87 bayside in Islamorada.

Crafted in the 1980s by an area artist named Richard Blaze, Betsy became a much-photographed icon in another Upper Keys location before she “retired” and vanished from the scene.

You don't see this every day! Betsy the lobster sculpture rolls down the Florida Keys Overseas Highway en route to her new home. (Photo by Bob Care/Florida Keys News Bureau)

In late March 2009, she reappeared. Perched on a special trailer, the gigantic crustacean was chauffeured by local sheriff’s deputies along the Overseas Highway to her new home outside the open-air artists’ enclave.

Up the road in Key Largo, you’ll find a 7,500-square-foot mural portraying other undersea denizens — inhabitants of the living coral reef that parallels the Keys. Painted in 2007 by the renowned marine life artist Wyland, an Upper Keys resident, the mural wraps around all four sides of a four-story building in the highway median at mile marker 99.2.

“It’s the gateway to the Florida Keys,” said Wyland, who credits his frequent Keys reef dives with being an ongoing inspiration for his work. “The idea was to welcome people as they drove in from South Florida with a depiction of the sun warming the tropical waters here — taking people above and below the surface to see the tremendous abundance of marine life and color.

Marine life artist Wyland takes a break during the creation of his massive undersea mural at the gateway to the Keys. (Photo by Gary Firstenberg)

The mural features manatees, manta rays, corals, indigenous fish and bottlenose dolphins. Like Wyland’s other large-scale creations around the world, it’s designed to encourage environmental awareness and stewardship.

Another outdoor mural is making a splash in the Upper Keys as well. At mile marker 83 bayside in Islamorada, two exterior walls of the Florida Keys History of Diving Museum are the “canvas” for an undersea vista painted by acclaimed artists David Dunleavy and Guy Harvey.

Dedicated in February 2005, the 360-foot mural includes manatees, a whale shark, finfish and endangered species found on the nearby reef.

Also in Islamorada, outside Theater of the Sea at mile marker 84.5 oceanside, stands one of the Keys’ most surprising marine life sculptures. Carved out of an unusual medium — shrubbery — it represents the friendly dolphins that inhabit area waters.

Created from ficus growing on shaped metal frames, the leafy dolphins have been frolicking outside the popular marine park, believed to be one of the oldest such spots in the world, for more than 15 years.

Merina is one of the engaging "stars" at Dolphin Research Center ... and outside the center, a giant sculpture of a mother dolphin and calf welcome visitors. (Photo courtesy of DRC)

You’ll discover another dolphin sculpture down the Overseas Highway at mile marker 59 in the Marathon area. A dolphin mother approximately 30 feet tall, flanked by her smaller calf, beckons visitors to Dolphin Research Center, a not-for-profit education and research facility.

Sculpted in 1978 by Dale Hudson and Gary Jones, the piece entices visitors inside to meet the dolphin pod that lives in the center’s saltwater lagoons — and to experience DRC’s fascinating educational and interactive programs.

The outdoor art described here is only a sampling of the offerings that enliven the Keys landscape. Just as unique are a towering mermaid, a playful dog made of flowers, lifelike “human” bronzes that elicit double-takes and smiles, and many more.

Where are they? What other examples of open-air artistry can be spotted in the Keys? Share descriptions of your favorites by submitting a comment below.   

Tia Sillers takes the microphone at the Key West Songwriters Festival, brushing back her dark curls. She speaks a few words in a throaty voice, her smile flashing.

Tia Sillers is one of hundreds of chart-topping songwriters who have lit up the stage at the annual Key West Songwriters Festival.

When she starts singing one of her songs, she exudes a joy so deep it’s almost tangible. Her initial verse resounds with passionate conviction — a conviction that only a song’s writer can give it. She begins the chorus: “I hope you dance …”

A reverent hush falls over the audience. Lee Ann Womack’s hit recording of “I Hope You Dance” has become a classic, but Tia’s own version is so compelling that it’s like hearing the song for the first time.

Such moments of magic aren’t unusual at the annual Key West Songwriters Festival, set this year for April 29 through May 3 with more than 100 writer-participants. Now in its 14th year, the festival gives some of America’s foremost writers a chance to perform their hits and showcase their new songs in a laid-back tropical setting.

Longtime festival participant Chuck Cannon has a storyteller's sense of humor and a talent that has propelled his songs to the top of the charts.

In past years, it has offered intimate performances by such luminaries as Mavericks founder Raul Malo; Chuck Cannon, who co-wrote the blistering “How Do You Like Me Now?” with Toby Keith; Gary Nicholson, writer for Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King and Stevie Nicks; Scotty Emerick, who co-wrote “Beer For My Horses” for Keith and Willie Nelson; and Pat Alger, whose “The Thunder Rolls” helped propel Garth Brooks to superstardom.

“The very successful songwriters, by and large, are good performers too,” says Charlie Bauer, the festival’s longtime director and guiding spirit. “Not only do they come up with new songs all the time, but they can explain where the songs came from.”

In the early- and mid-1900s, it was writers of prose, plays and poems that embraced Key West: Ernest Hemingway, Robert Frost, Tennessee Williams, Elizabeth Bishop and their contemporaries.

In more recent years, the island has become a haven for songwriters. Former musical residents include the late Shel Silverstein, “pirate laureate” Jimmy Buffett and even Jerry Jeff Walker of “Mr. Bojangles” fame.

Today, some of America’s most notable tune-spinners regard Key West as an ideal place to relax and recharge their batteries away from everyday career pressures.

“I step off the plane and this just feels like home,” says Grammy winner and veteran Songwriters Festival participant Brett James.

Scores of other writers also discovered the island as guests of Charlie Bauer. For Charlie, the annual festival provides an opportunity to share his love of Key West with leading songwriters, while sharing their world-class music with local and visiting audiences.

As attendees of past performances can attest, festival concerts often contain moments of pure enchantment — spontaneous harmonizing between musical cohorts, or a jam session where each participant’s creativity outdoes the previous efforts.

Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson (left) proclaimed James Slater's "Key West Address" the official song of the island city.

According to many songwriters, Key West itself is responsible for much of the creative magic.

“Some switch gets flipped here as far as creativity,” says Chris Lindsey, who co-wrote Lonestar’s smash hit “Amazed.” “It’s not that we don’t write in Nashville, because we do — but it’s different here.”

Troy Verges, who co-wrote “Who I Am” for Jessica Andrews, agrees completely.

“I definitely feel more creative here,” he says of Key West. “You write songs, get on your bike, go down to Duval Street and absorb a bunch of craziness, go back and write another song, and just keep doing it. It doesn’t get old.”

One of those songs, written by festival favorite James Slater and titled “Key West Address,” was named the island city’s official song by Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson during the 2008 Songwriters Festival kickoff reception.

That’s hardly surprising. With its infectious melody and upbeat lyrics, the song is a musical love letter to the place:

“GIVE ME A KEY WEST ADDRESS, A TATTOOED WAITRESS

AND A FISH THAT’S BIGGER THAN THE HOLE IN MY NET

A GOOD BOTTLE OF RUM, A FINE CUBAN CIGAR

LIFE WILL TAKE CARE OF THE REST

GIVE ME A KEY WEST ADDRESS …”