heatwave relief
June 24, 2015
IT IS BARELY PAST the first day of Summer and temperatures here in Southern British Columbia, Canada, are scheduled to climb to 40C (104F) and stay there. It is feared the heat and drought affecting California is heading North, Along with such heat, thunderstorm probabilities rise, and they become fire starters. By August there’ll be what weather reports term ‘local smoke’–a haze hanging over everything–accompanied by the sound of helicopters and planes working to douse flames in affected regions close by.
My favourite month is November. It is both an exciting and contemplative month–exciting because any day, any moment I might step out to feel those fortifying winds suddenly becoming the first snow squall. Contemplative, because the fog rising from the closeby Thompson River mixes with wood stove breathings and the last of the leathery oak leaves falling to join the others, invites thoughts on things ethereal and eternal.
“Logging along Jamieson Creek Road”, watercolour, 20cm x 25cm, (8″ x 10″) Arches Hot Press 140 lb Paper, unsold
As a child, there was nothing more beautiful than what I called ‘purple snow’–that snow which signalled to us that we’d best take only one more turn sledding down Dead Man’s Hill (many years prior, legend had it, a man went down its twists and turns standing on his sled and smacked into a maple–back in the old days, when men apparently went sledding). Purple snow meant dinner. Purple snow meant finally discovering just how cold our digits actually were– thawing under a running cold faucet–pins and needles hot pink cold.
And even now, there is nothing to me more beautiful than purple snow. On this 40C second day of Summer, all I can say is, Lord get us through to November.
weisserwatercolours 
Wow, I love that sun peeping up…. I always want to jump into your paintings and feel the atmosphere, smell the smells….that is quite a skill you have
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So lovely, Lance. I love the light and crispness in your work. It just pulls me right in, and love the snowy scenes especially at this time of year. Have you ever thought about writing a book for beginners? I sure would snap it up. Thanks for sharing your work.
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SO beautiful!
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…oh Sharon, really? 110? oh my shut my mouth. I don’t know anything about heat if that’s the case. Thank you for enjoying my little piece. Please give us a desert delight!
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–oh Rebecca I would love to go for a swim in that scene you so ably painted for us today! And please do take some of this heat, (though trueblue locals here would slap my fingers for saying that–they live for it, hating the winters). Thank you, Rebecca as always.
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….what wonderful images you call up Cynthia, and yes, those Adirondack hills (after moving here I can’t quite bring myself to call them mountains anymore) were wondrous to me in high school (we moved to Granville, NY on the Vt border when I was 15)–and there is nothing here remotely similar in texture or tonality. New England is the land of all things bright and beautiful, with creatures great and small — a breathtakingly joyous place–and, yes, October (my birth month) is the jewel in the crown. Thank you for visiting and reminiscing with me.
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I think you guys must have all our heat as well as your own – we’re still struggling to get to 20 degrees C in the UK. But I love the picture, delicious blues and yellows.
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I’m in the desert so your purple snow is cooling me off in the 110 degree day. What a beautiful and magical painting. You’ve inspired me to draw something cold for next weeks posts.
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Ah, yes…I remember the purple snow of dusk. I lived within a small town, and they used to close one of the streets that went to the highest point, so no cars could use it and we kids could sled there all day long. And I agree about November, though October is also simply glorious in New England….the red, gold and green of foliage in almost watercolor blends and the bright blue sky….apples, pumpkins, sweater weather. Your painting is lovely, and definitely comforting and inspiring as we move into the heat….
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