Sacramento Adventure

Crazy weather. I hear it is 82 in Portland ME where my great niece Darcie is studying to be an RN, and snowing in Portland, Ore, where I know no one any more. In our bay area rain is predicted for the next five days after a particularly dry winter.

We need it, but not in one big splash. My tulips bloomed a month early and I think my iris will be a month late. The daffs got schitzy; half bloomed in early February and the other half are opening this week. We underestimated the deluge accompanying us on our trip to Sacramento last weekend. My friend Beth negotiated the puddles in her snazzy blue Toyota to get us safely to Morella's tranquil stucco and tile home in Folsom where we were spoiled for two days while taking Sandy's watercolor class on Aquaboard. Even Morella got lost in the storm. Folsom has certainly grown up in the last two years since I have been there, as has Morella's garden. The shopping centers are incredible. as well.

Such continuous sheets of rain remind me of the northwest or summer storm in Montana, though I am reading a book about trekking Siberia (The Long Walk) and I am led to believe Northern California is not unique in freakish storms.

Aquaboard will never be my medium of choice but it was fun to learn, and the class was delightful. On Aquaboard, versus paper, the painter can make mistakes and then just wash them off. That is a plus. The negative is that the magic is not there; paint does not blend nor easily granulate. The colors are opaque like oil. I miss the transparency. When a painting is complete it must be spray varnished three times which gives it a glossy finish. Great for tropical flowers. I chose to do a sunflower grouping on one, which is pretty ugly, and rendering of my friend Little Stacey's boots on the other. The boots have sentimental meaning; Stace was a fire captain and these are her professional boots. Both boots and girl are retired now, but both are overflowing with memories. The painting is almost finished but not varnished as yet.