Monday's Jackrabbit

Another week begins with a cool, cloudy day. I may not be a fan of the cold, but if it rains, (which it might) I will not complain. We haven't seen rain in far too long. Even the desert needs rain, every now and then. When we don't see rain, the native creatures get creative in their quest to survive. This morning, when I went outside with Mr. Pono the dog, I discovered that one of the drip hoses for my plants had been pulled out of the ground and the end of it had been chewed off. Part of the hose was in the middle of our dusty dirt road. I have learned to bury the irrigation system, but clearly even that won't protect it from the thirstiest of varmits. If I had to bet on who the culprit was, my money would be on the beloved jack rabbit. They are cool-looking and have wonderful ears, but they are also known to eat any landscaping plant known and basically cause gardening mischief.

I have still been hard at work in the studio, but this is my last week of oil painting before the Art Tours. For those of you who aren't aware of it, an oil painting can takes weeks or even MONTHS to dry completely, depending on how thick the paint has been applied to the surface. I don't want to end up with a bunch of wet oil paintings when I have people wandering through my studio. That's just asking for messy, oil paint disaster. Knowing that my days of oil painting will be interrupted is enough to make me feel desperate and slightly panicked. I am so much in the groove of the painting process right now that I dread the idea of this interruption, no matter how needed it is. I guess that is what you might call a painting addiction.


I leave you with a photo of one of the newest oil paintings. It may not be finished yet. I am still thinking about it. It measures 24 x 30 x 2.5 inches and I have titled it "The Elements." So far, it has met with mixed reviews.