Hearing the Rain Bird

Here's a photo of the patio this afternoon. Actually, by the time I took it, the weather had begun to cool down a little. You can see thunder heads behind the tree, especially on the right. I never remember a summer this hot. I looked at the weather report on my telephone this afternoon about 1:00 p.m. and it said the temperature was 95 degrees. In fact, it was so hot, several of the Spanish Village board members decided to allow artists to go home if they wanted to. You can see how "white hot" the patio looks.

I stayed, because my house is right near the Village, and I thought it would be just as hot. And I had spent a fair amount of time talking to several artists and the guy who collects cans, so I wanted to continue working. I'm scheduled to use my friend's printer on Monday to print some of my etchings. I'm looking forward to that, but I still have a great deal of work to do before I'm ready to print.

Actually, today was a day that I wished would never end. I stayed and etched at my table until nearly 8:00 p.m. this evening. I love to use the needle to draw on the asphaltum covered copper. The needle goes down through the wax which provides a certain stability, and I feel it actually drawing into the copper. Anyone with a very light touch might not mark the copper, but I always press hard enough to. Of course, afterwards I etch the plates in etching solution. I've tried just drawing on the plate, but the lines really aren't quite deep enough.

I sat at my table outside, and I tried not to think about the fact that in another six months it will be too cold and too dark to consider doing what I did this evening. I love the long, warm days so much that I feel I must take advantage of every one, before they're gone again. I can't bear to waste them. I stayed so long at the Village, that finally I went inside as it began to get dark. While I was sitting inside, at about 8:00 p.m., I heard the rain bird behind the building go on for about 10 minutes. I've never heard it before, but I'm not sure I've been working inside that late before.