Yesterday was a beautiful day. We have had smoke from the fires in Alberta Canada since last week creating a very gray environment. Finally, the air was clear and the temperature was perfect. The iris in my garden have not looked this good in years. In Denver, the weather conditions definitely determine what the garden is going to look like, or not, in any given year. I have not been outside painting, with the exceptions of my field sketches, yet this spring. And here it is almost June!
All is going well for awhile until about an hour into it. I am enjoying being outside and in the flow. The occasional distraction of my puppy charging the fence barking as people and dogs walk by. THEN, a house a block away and down the street, which has been under construction for the past two years, started using a high power washer to wash the new black brick that this compound was built with. You think, down the street a block, what is the problem? It is the short block, and it is a busy street that slopes up to my house. So this street acts like a megaphone into my property when there is noise going on there. Another monstrosity, being built two doors down, and called THE PRISON by neighbors on the block, has not been half as disruptive as the one further away. It is like a microclimate situation. Living in a neighborhood that has been under constant construction the past 6 years, you would think I would be immune to the noise by now. It is not so. I don't think myself a sensitive type, but I am becoming very reactive to it, which serves no purpose, yet drills into the brain and psyche nonetheless. I had to quit working on the painting, thinking I would set up again today and finish what I could before my afternoon appointment.
No. This painting was not destined to be completed outside. At 4 PM a wicked fast and furious hail storm blew through decimating my iris, among many other plants. Shockingly, the Particular stems I picked were the least damaged. I believe because the tree above provided some shelter. Iris in other parts of the garden were not so lucky. The good news is, that the buds withstood the assault, so not all is lost.
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| As of yesterday, not finished |
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| Iris before I started |
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| Iris after the hail-could be worse! Morning light is red! |
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