Greetings from Oregon which is currently imitating Arizona, Nevada, or possibly the Sahara. Seriously. For the last week, we have been experiencing record-setting triple digit highs: 106, 104, or 108 depending on where you were. It was so hot that my porch got up to 94 degrees one day, event with the fan plugged in and the mister going.

To beat the heat, I have been getting up at 5am to walk the dog. This is completely unnatural behavior for me. The only upside has been the collection of gorgeous sunrises.

As for actual painting… well… my excuse is that it’s been very hot.

On a more positive note, I did meet the deadline for the October WSO show, so either “Scent of Season” or “Modern Charger” has a fighting chance to get in.

Each got one last minute adjustment.

I have until next weekend to figure out what (if anything) to enter in the NWWS show. If you don’t try, you don’t get in.

In other art news, this next weekend I will be doing the Englewood Forest Festival. The weather is projected to be cooler, and even if it’s not, it’s a very shady park. I hope you’ll consider swinging by.

This weekend I participated in the local Artists in Action “Paint the Town” event at Cubanisimo Vineyards. Again, I battled the heat, even in my shady spot and ended up with a light sunburn on my neck. It was a beautiful spot, with red tailed hawks and bluebirds everywhere you looked. Unfortunately, my camera chose to misbehave (that’s my story…) and I don’t have pictures to show off. You’ll have to make do with my works in progress.

I worked on them some today in the studio, but I reached a frustration point and decided to do this.

I’ll paint red if I want to

Yes, my artistic maturity level dipped.

Signing off… got to get up early again tomorrow to walk the dog. This heat wave is expected to last through Wednesday. Ugg.