A GOOD DAY

It's a good day today....a glorious day, as a matter of fact!

I'm writing this on Sunday.

The neighborhood is blessedly quiet.

The temperature is quite comfortable.

The clouds are keeping the hot sun at bay.

There's a gentle, cooling breeze.

I have been in my studio all morning with the doors wide open.

Lovely!

And.............

It's a good day because I've had a couple of  days of productive painting.

And one magical experience when the canvas seemed to bloom into a painting, right before my eyes!

I nearly cried in joy and gratitude.

It is for those moments I paint.  It's as if the heavens open up and shower artistic blessings on me...in abundance!

....and the angels sing..........

I went to Brandon's new studio-apartment one day last week.  The building is so happy looking, I just had to paint it.

Here it is.

#103

11 x 14 on canvas

I love the brightly colored buildings in Tucson.  Isn't that chartreuse fabulous?

When I had finished that painting, I was left with remnants of chartreuse, blue, black and white paint on my palette.  So, I thought I'd play with making some desert greys...and also to try to make a painting 'be' something recognizable with little, or no, details.

I put spots and splotches and streaks of paint on this little 5 x 7 masonite panel and I quite like how it turned out.

After I put the final touch of ochre paint on this one, I wanted to try another painting in which I would make a real effort to simplify, simplify, SIMPLIFY!

I searched through my photos and found one I thought might work.

This is when the magic happened.

RAIN ON THE CHIRACAHUAS

18 X 24 on canvas

There's one more..........

I painted this one several weeks ago.  I had it 'done'....or so I thought....

Today, I saw some ways to improve upon what I had and I really like it, now.

CANYON RIVER

9 X 12 on masonite board

It has been a really good day!

And now, it's time for a nap.

I will go to sleep counting my blessings!

WORTH THE WAIT

It's monsoon in Tucson.

That's when the heat-weary inhabitants can be observed, throughout the day, scanning the skies in hopes of seeing rain coming their way.

I got petulant last week about the lack of rain at our house....so, I painted this. 

Paint it and it will come.

At least,  that was my hope, my intention and my prayer!

WAITING

18 X 24

We finally got several decent showers at our house. 

I'm taking full credit.

Of course, this probably helped.

Look what happens when it rains!

This is my Texas Ranger.  Most of the year, it's a rather dull grey-green, non-descript bush.

  But when it rains!  Oh my!

It explodes into a cloud of lavender blossoms. 

It smells like heaven!

If you look real close, up near the top, you can see a bee getting drunk on nectar!

At this time of year, lots of days I ask myself,

Why on earth do you live in this hotternhell country?

Then the magic of rain on the desert happens......

and I know why.

And I am grateful!

SPOILED ROTTEN!!!

It's HOT!



It's that time of year, on the Sonoran Desert, when the heat and humidity are opressive.


We just had another go-round with a sewer back up which left us without a working toilet for two da_ _ days!


Combine those two facts and imagine what you will.


It was NOT a pretty picture!


However..............


I was watching some CNN coverage of current conditions in Haiti and my state of mind got adjusted.


I was watching tv in my 10' X 26' studio.


With an air conditioner.


With four solid walls.


With a faucet which gives me safe, fresh water whenever I want it.


With windows which let in the light.


With screens which keep the bugs out.


My studio....just those 260 square feet of space....would be pure luxury to any of the poor souls in this world who are living...every day...with none of those listed 'ammenities.'


Including a working toilet....EVER!

I am spoiled.


And


I have NOTHING to complain about!

And


I am

GRATEFUL.

THE DOLDRUMS

I am in my annual pre-monsoon doldrums.

This is the one part of the year when I ask myself,

"Self, why in the hell do you live in Tucson?"

Self doesn't have enough energy to answer.

My major activity is to occasionally drag my over-heated body to the front yard to see what I can see to the south of us.

Then, to the back yard to check conditions there.

This looks promising.

Alas, it was nothing but empty promises.

Our house is 'cooled' by what is known as a 'swamp cooler.'  It works beautifully, untill the humidity reaches about 20% and then it is basically nothing more than a fan for your whole house. 

A not very effective fan.

So, we spend a lot of time here.

Occasionally, we will open our doors wide to catch even the smallest breeze.

Top:  Miss Daisy-yes, she has grown up!
Bottom:  Codi-yes, she finally accepted Miss Daisy.

The cats are demonstrating how I spend most of my time these days. 
Laying around.  (I know it's 'lying' around.  I'm from uneducated stock. That's how we talk.)
Doing nothing.
Becoming an expert on all things HGTV.

I want rain! 

A big, thunder-booming, lightening-flashing, downpour!

I want my street to be filled, curb-to-curb, by a veritable torrent of water!

I want to stop being jealous envious as all get out, when my friend e-mails me from Texas and says, "It's raining again...and it is so nice and cool!"

BAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The studio has a real air conditioner!  I can make it darn near cold out here, if I wish.  The only thing is, it never really feels cold.  It is just less hot.  Partly, it's because when I paint, I am standing directly beneath a four foot shop light, which, of course, gives off  H.E.A.T.  

So, I don't even want to paint.

'BIG' is coming along.  I have made some major changes on it and have more to do, but I just can't seem to make myself do it. 

Or anything else, for that matter.

Yesterday afternoon, I saw this....way off in the distance.

I am going to take that as a promise that it WILL rain....eventually!

Meanwhile, I am trying to remember what THIS felt like!

I am grateful for HGTV.

I am grateful for my recliner.

I am grateful for our ice-maker.

I am grateful for the ice cream in the freezer.

I am grateful that eventually the rains will come....

I am grateful that eventually the humidity will go....

And once again, I will feel

Grateful to live in Tucson, Arizona!

BIG!!

That's what this is.

48" tall by 64" wide, to be exact.

Brandon talked me into buying it from him because he needs to make more space in his own studio. I'll admit, it was pretty easy for him to talk me into it.

I had no idea what I'd do with it but I figured it would tell me...eventually.  And it did.  This is my CANYON DREAM....in progress.

It is based on one of my favorite places on planet Earth, Canyon de Chelley, on the Navajo Reservation in Northeastern Arizona.  I've never been down into the canyon, only up on the rim.  Some day, I'd love to go on a canyon tour, but until then, my dream painting will just have to do.

What I have found amazing is that painting these big canvases is much easier, in many ways, than painting a smaller one.  I am less constrained by space and therefore I am less constrained in the painting of it.  It's just downright fun!

My biggest struggle with this painting has nothing to do with the size.  It's all about my ineffective, incorrect and inept use of the color green!  Virtually all the greens are just too 'green.'  And it ain't easy being green, as Kermit the Frog so wisely told us.  I am thinking that perhaps this monster painting will be the very thing to break me from my wrong thinking regarding the color green.  I sure hope so!

My friend, Lori e-mailed me yesterday morning and asked if Iwanted to accompany her and her sister, Susan and sister's friend, Mary (visiting Tucson from Canada) on a little jaunt to have a Sonoran Hot Dog.  I am thinking that a Mexican Hot Dog is about the only thing with enough power to entice me out of my studio and away from a.  my big painting...and b.  the air conditioner going at full blast.

I said 'YES!!!' with no hesitation. 

And ate two of them...with no hesitation!

While we were out, we decided to do a little tourist-y sight seeing.  We took a short drive through part of  Barrio Viejo 

click here

 and then a longer drive out over Gate's Pass.

That was especially fun because my last painting, just before I started my BIG one, was of Gate's Pass.

The good food, good fun and the heat just wiped me out and I took a lovely, long nap after I got home.  I awoke to...........................drum roll please!

RAIN!!!!!!!

Not much of a rain...but enough to make the air smell sweet and to cool things off a bit....and to make beautiful music on my tin-roofed patio.   It's time for our rainy season, so I'm hoping we get lots more.

And, I am hoping that you find as much to be grateful for as I'm finding these days. 

A B.I.G. canvas to play on
and
R.A.I.N.