Summer

We have been in the middle of a heat wave with nearly a week of over 40c (104F) temperatures and I was feeling a bit sorry for myself. The pics on my friends blogs of snow made me wish for some cold. However, after reading a recent post by Doris on her blog about shovelling snow I gave this summer verses winter thing a lot of thought. I didn't much like the sound of shovelling snow and sore muscles. If you don't live with snow you don't realise that it will keep building up and eventually you wouldn't get out of your door! No, I thought, that's not for me. Its time I looked at the positives of summer instead of moaning about the heat. So here it goes.

THE POSITIVES OF A HOT SUMMER

Long, long days with the sun starting to rise around 6am and starting to set at 8.30pm. There's still some light at 9pm.

Going down to the beach in the evening to cool off and catch some sea breezes.

Not much laundry to do as you don't wear many clothes.

Washing dries in 15 minutes on the line.

No need to use hot water when taking a shower as the cold water in the pipes is warm enough.

Too hot to cook so a lot of fresh garden salads are on the menu.

Delicious stone fruits of peaches, apricots, nectarines etc are in glut supply. Not to mention all the cooling melons like watermelon, rock melon, honey dew etc. mmm!

Long cold drinks with the ice tinkling on the side of the glass.

Squirting people with my super pump action water gun.

School holidays so I get more time to play with Zoe.

Ice cream.

Barbecues.

Sleeping with all the windows open when there is a night breeze.

The list goes on and on. These are just some things off the top of my head. Yep I love summer even though I grumble about the heat sometimes. It is pretty special. Its like being on holiday in your own backyard. I think I would rather get up early and water the garden than shovel snow. Snow would be nice to visit but brr ...

My leg is on the mend. Thanks for all your well wishes :)

I Braved the Heat

Its been too hot to work in the studio so not much art has been done. I was getting antsy. I needed an art fix hehehe. I've been having a slight case of cabin fever creep up on me. We've had unusually hot weather. There has been no spring! Just straight into a summer heat wave. This means you close all windows and doors and pull the drapes closed and stay indoors. I have been going to gym in the mornings but that's it. So as you can see, the cabin fever is warranted. Well this morning I said "enough is enough". I stayed home from gym so I could spend a little time in the studio before it got too hot. I have one of those old water cooled coolers in the studio. I filled it with water and put it on high. I had it blowing right on me. I got in the 'zone' really quickly. Anyway 4 hours later I finished the piece I started before the heat wave. Woo! What a buzz hehehe.

The Tiled Floor

mixed media on canvas

50.8x60.9cm (20"x24")

I'm still not over the shoe thing. Think I still have one or two more in me. Wonder what that's all about. I got this off the net - SHOES : Shoes are symbols of your own personal determination to head in a particular direction. They tend to link to a wish to put a lot of effort into achieving something immediately. Well that fits!

Heatwave Continues

We are now in day 7 of our heatwave and the weather forecast tells us there is no relief until next Saturday when it is forecast to be 30C (86F). The last few nights have been cooler which makes for a good nights sleep and a happier outlook. Instead of being over 30C (86F) overnight its been around 25C/26C (77F-79F). The garden is holding up alright. Things gets a bit droopy in the afternoon but they are surviving. I'm glad I picked all the peaches when I did. They would not have lasted in this heat. The computer however is not doing too well. I'm having trouble with it crashing and not loading and freezing (hehehe freezing, there must be another word) and its all due to the extreme heat.

On the art side of things my creativity is flowing again YAY! Ideas a popping into my head and I'm feeling like my old self again. The only problem is its too hot to paint. The paint dries too quickly and I end up making a right mess of things. So instead I've been preparing some papers and working on backgrounds that don't need such careful consideration and drawing on images ready to paint when the weather settles down. I don't get a lot done as I feel a little lethargic and am constantly resting with a cool drink of water under the air conditioner.

Well I'm off to do some housework before the heat really sets in for the day. At least the washing doesn't take long to dry.

Its Summer

Yesterday the temperature reached 45.7C (114F). Its the hottest day for 70 years. Overnight it only got down to 33C (91F). Phew! You'd think with all that sweating a person would lose some weight, but not I!!! I think the worse thing about it all is the cabin fever. You don't really venture out much and you close all curtains from the outside heat. I suppose its a bit like hibernation only its hot. I envy my fish swimming around in their cool pond. Poor Jack is feeling the heat. He just lays around panting. He hates water so I can't even hose him down to keep him cool.

I did manage to do some artwork yesterday. The paint was drying even before I finished the brush stroke. Okay that's a bit of exaggeration but only a bit. I'm still just working on backgrounds until my creative flow returns. Like my good friend Laura says "you got to show up at the canvas" so that's what I'm doing. I'm actually enjoying just playing around with colour and texture without having a preconceived idea. Will have to brave the heat soon and go out for more canvases.

I went out with Julia last night. We went to see an Ani DiFranco concert. The venue was air conditioned YAY! Oh yeah and the concert was great too hehehe. Shame the man next to me couldn't sit still and wouldn't stop talking or singing. Perhaps if you drank less beer you wouldn't need to get up and go to the bathroom so often and disturb all the people around you. Ani is a very passionate story teller and I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Its great watching people that are passionate about their art. Very inspiring!

Mini Artist Block in Progress

I'm struggling with my art lately. I'm not sure why. I was in a real creative flow before Christmas. That flow was interrupted with Christmas preparations and I can't seem to get it back. I tried something new with my backgrounds and that didn't work. Now I'm able to do the background (see below) but whatever I paint on it I have to scrub back because it hasn't worked. I tell myself its because of the heat. Who can be creative in these temperatures, right? Then I tell myself its the change of routine with Bob being home. Bob does house renovations and that's always quiet after Christmas. Well we'll see. He's off to a job today. This is not a good time to be having a block with the exhibition coming up in May. Well today I've decided to put this piece to one side and start another background. That way I'm still being productive and when my creative flow returns I will have backgrounds completed and ready to go.



The forecast for today is 44C (111F) and the extended forecast shows it will stay hot right up to next Tuesday. The temperature didn't drop below 30C (86F) overnight, phew. Well I'm off to gym to cool down in the nice refreshing pool, do some aqua-aerobics and then come home and do some art. What more could a girl ask for?