Finally, after 5 years of saying I’d like to try it I did a “night” painting. From 10-12midnight I stood under a yard light and painted the attached study of a shed on the site. There is a floodlight on the corner of the shed that gave some illumination to the scene. It was in front of this shed on the gravel driveway under the shade of this big tree that Maynard Dixon painted some of his later year paintings. The temperature was perfect and the light never changed. Couldn’t tell what my colors looked like so depended on a study of values. At first when I would hear a twig snap behind me I was startled into fantasies about what could be creeping up behind me. But interestingly enough, the night time traffic on a nearby road began to be a comforting rhythm to me. Like waves in the ocean.

Susan Bingham painted some great florals from life at the studio with us. One day we were talking about her grand vision for the Maynard Dixon site and I suggested that she come up with some good ghost stories in its background to draw visitors. She replied, “As a matter of fact . . .” She showed us a stone Maynard had begun carving as his headstone. He had carved “MD HIS PLACE” on it. You could only see “MD”. Most of “HIS PLACE” was buried in the dirt. The next day or two, at Barb’s suggestion, we dug out the rest of the stone and provided another tourist attraction at the site. Attached photo shows Susan, me, and Barb at the stone.

The beginning of the week at Mt. Carmel was a pleasant temperature. But about Wednesday afternoon the heat began to descend. At one moment while all three of us were painting in the Maynard Dixon studio one of us spoke up and observed:” I don’t know if I am having a hot flash or it’s just warm in here!” This is a sketch of a cow’s skull hanging in the studio and these are photos of Barb and Roxane working in the studio. My work station shows a blue cloud formation on the painting to the left. Thank heavens the nights were cool.

I sat by an irrigation ditch on the Dixon home site and sketched while listening to the slow gurgle of the water. When I woke up this morning into my head had poured a possible story line for a children’s book I have been working on. Funny how flashes of insight come unexpectedly. Sitting by the ditch reminded me of my early days on a farm. Playing with my sisters and friends in the local irrigation ditch. While I was sitting there I sent my sister, Deon, a text to follow through with a weekly call we have. (It had to be text because my phone wasn’t getting reception in Mt. Carmel.) Her reply text said: “Let’s you and me meet up by a stream of water under a tree and sip some tea and talk about life under the moon.” She did not know I was sitting by a stream sipping my herbal concentrate, always contemplating life, albeit under the sun, lol.