A warm cold morning

Petrified Forest. Oil on stretched canvas, 10x30
please contact me for price and shipping/delivery info

I spent last night in Holbrook and started my day painting in the Painted Desert. It was about 30 degrees, and the wind was blowing! The weather people had predicted warmth, and so I had dressed for warmth... then put my winter clothes on, on top of my spring ones, and still, I was frozen.

As I was finishing my painting (will post it tomorrow), and starting to pack up, a melodious voice with a lilting accent sounded behind me, disappointed that I was finished. "I wanted to photograph you painting," he said.

And so, I painted a little bit more.

He was from Kenya, and then, suddenly, there were a couple dozen people there, sitting for photographs, looking at my painting and exclaiming, laughing and smiling and talking and complimenting. They were from Kenya, and Malaysia and Indiana. From Taiwan and Ohio and Indonesia. Many of them are painters, studying watercolors, and they took my business cards, and delighted in my Art for Shelter Animals project cards, and they shook my hand and gave me an apple and juice, and then clambered up into two white vans, called out goodbyes and left.

It was a marvelous meeting, and warmed me through and through. I wish I had asked where they were from, and what had brought them together. If any of the group members are reading this, please let us all know!

And speaking of "all," subscribership to my blog is up to more than 50! Many thanks! If you enjoy it, please tell your friends.

And thank you for reading.