Summer colors

What started out as a very cool and lengthy spring has now blasted into an inferno of a summer. Summer is my favorite season, but the heat for most of the country is nothing to joke about. Living next to one of the Great Lakes cools the air a little.

My daughter brought me this huge pot of colorful flowers, this is a painting of just one section of this lively mix. I wanted to paint it loose and used a large brush to give it an abstract, impressionistic feel. I don't know if that happened but it was fun to paint.

Yesterday, my daughter took her beloved budgie to the vet. She was 15 years old, her mate died last March. It was very sad to see what old age does to the avian world is not far from what happens to everyone and everything. My daughter was 13 when we got Scully and Mulder, and I feel very differently now about caging beautiful birds. They did have a lot of spunk and I believe a lot more intelligent that they are given credit. Will miss them both.