In a few days I will be going away from the smoke and the drought of the northwest to the land of blue skies and ocean breezes.
This workshop couldn't come at a better time. It's been such a hot and dry summer... Still some wonderful times but Autumn couldn't come fast enough for me.
Here are some photographs of life here in our little town by the river just before a big hailstorm came and destroyed almost all the flowers and the leaves on the trees in my garden. I feel even worse though, for the orchards and wineries and local vegetable gardens. You can see how dry it is across the river.
These photographs of white pelicans were taken before it got really smokey here, when summer still seemed like summer.
We had a beautiful family day playing in the front garden. Mandy will always be my little girl... she still has that satisfied smile that she always had when she played and explored outside.
She shared all her flower secrets with lovley litte Sophia.
These are hollyhock dolls, they were quite a hit.
And these two will brighten any day...
Not to mention Murphy, who is dressed up for an afternoon in the garden.
Daisy chains are so pretty anywhere.
These may be the last photographs of flowers that I post for awhile.
On the night of the hailstorm the sky darkend and the clouds turned orange.
And it seemed as if winter was here again. But don't let this fool you, this thunder and lightning storm caused much damage and started many fires all over the region.
Here is a small video of my back garden,
This and all of our trees have hardly any leaves left. They were shredded and broken and demolished. Here they are surrounded by white balls of hail.
So...... it's no wonder I have been painting my heart out inside!
These two photos are close-ups of an encaustic painting, "Highlands."
And a large collage on canvas "Where the Land Meets the Sky"...
And a two abstract landscapes, also encaustic... I haven't named this one yet.
And this is "Bayside Magic."
I always get inspired before a workshop, and because this is the first encaustic workshop that I will be teaching, I painted every day for the last month. I really want to know what I am doing!
There is supposed to be thunder and dry lightning again tonight. But I sure wish it would rain.
Hopefully next time I write it will be cooler.
