Sonnet Challenge #29

I spent some time in early August hoping we would get rained on, without joy.  I was hopeful yesterday too, with a wind coming up from the gulf, but the dessicating desert air all mopped it up and we just got haze.

Storm Building

I watch the nimbus build across the west
a great gray blanket blotting out the sun,
the gathering of storm has just begun –
we need the rain! The cumulus start to crest
off to the south, into great thunderheads.
The tension builds in the electric air.
I bring the lawn chairs in and thus prepare
for wind that might just tear such things to shreds
with its intensity. I know the drill;
stratus accumulate and start to bear down
as if to smother this belittled town –
they’ll rumble, crack and then they’ll start to spill.
The coulds build up as if to promise rain,
but in the afternoon’s heat dissipate again.

Tales from the field #14

Ice, fire and finally, water.

Monday morning – Labor Day – at Art in the Park in Flagstaff. I had 6 people sheltering in my booth from the hour of rain and….yes… that’s hail!

On the way home in the afternoon I spent 2 1/2 hours in traffic on the 17. At some points it was so slow that I had time to be reminded that I am a lifetime seargeant in the spelling police.

Tuesday evening…. ah, that’s more like a good water temperature. No, I’m not actually skinny dipping, the bikini is the same off-white as the parts that don’t see daylight too much.

Paintings in their forever home #3

I’ll often do two commissions so the client can choose which might work.
This is the first time that both did – and the client had the space for both.
It ended up being a great little grouping in this Sunnyvale home.  The two top ones are the new additions to the collection.  Both have poetry in them too!

And the collector is also a Cloud Appreciation Society member, like me!

Newer work #81

Well, a couple of paintings from a recent batch ended up going to forever homes before I had time to post them here!  Better get a few more up before the next show takes them away (I hope).  Though there are a few I wish I could hang onto for a while before they fledge the nest.

#1353 New Umbrella. Mixed media on panel. 9×12″ $90. Ready to hang and very shippable!

Newer Work #79

I guess there is sometimes a progession in the names.  Evening rain and Night Storm.  It’s been awhile since I’ve seen either of those, but here they are.

#1298 Evening Rain, 3.5×5″ watercolor collage in mat to fit 5×7″ frame. $25

Night storms are interesting because here we have the power go out in about 50% of good storms.

#1299, Night Storm III 3.5×5″ watercolor collage in mat to fit 5×7″ frame. $25

Silence, Trees, Weather.

Salton City, August. Weather coming in, I hear the thunder getting closer. I hope it will clear before I go out for an arts meeting this evening!

Yes, 9 days since I blogged – I’ve been on the road for most of those.  I have seen a lot of skies, a lot of roads and was astonished by Mount Shasta – whose awesome beauty I was unprepared for.

While I was in Bellevue, WA, there was a lull at the fair, during which I was able to add to my list of sonnets.  One step further to that bucket list item.

Tree Work

The upper leaves spread up to gather light

The lower leaves reach out to seek the sun

The branches stretch and grow with all their might

Until leaves redden when the summer’s done.

The colorful flowers that bloomed bright in the spring

Are now brown crisps around a precious seed

that wait for autumn’s winds to find their wings

and fly to other grounds that might just lead

to sprouting from the earth when spring returns,

to rooting and to spreading and to growth

into a new tree; life’s desire thus burns

for life itself will not succeed with sloth.

Look at a tree and it will show you how

To plan tomorrow just by doing now.

 

Newer Work #65

After the rain the sun….. but this it what it can look like before the rain.  A mixture of distant rain and haboob.  We have a storm forecast for today – just enough to wash the air and muddy the ground.  But it’s not here yet…. (oh please, oh please, one more storm this winter…..)

#1247 After the rain, the sun. Refractured watercolor 10×8″ matted to fit 14×11″ frame, $105.

Desert version…

Remains of the puddle from the last couple days.  The ocotillo is** actually blooming a little.

I’m dreaming of a wet Christmas

with every neighbor that I’ve met

May your ocotillo bloom red,

and my all your Christmases be wet.

Storm over the Badlands when we drove home yesterday.

 

Newer work #50

I thought I would choose the raindrop shapes and the pink background for this one because we always think of rain/water as blue/gray/white.  So I thought I would be obstreporous and go the other side of the color wheel.

#1229 Love Rain II. Mixed media on pine panel, 17″ diameter. $300.

The picture of this in place gives a much better idea of the texture and sheen.

Newer Work #44

#1221 Raining Again. Mixed media on panel, 17″ diameter. $300.

 

 

Raining again – yes, we need the rain here in the west.  We’ve been blessed with two storms so far since September and I’m hoping we’ll get more like our average 4″ this year (just not on weekends when there are shows….)