Last Friday, September the 4th, would have been my dad’s 102th birthday. He lived a long life, 93 years, and I miss him. We would sit at his table in Molalla and discuss everything from politics to the Bible, sometimes with a bit of passion, but it never damaged our relationship, though some may have wondered.

Saturday was a perfect example of “the best laid plans….” When we left New Seasons I had to turn the wheel sharply to the right, we heard an odd sound and then the sound of something dragging. On closer inspection I found that a piece of cowling had come loose, most likely the result of some rough roads, probably a curb hit or scraped. Les Schawb was just a couple blocks away. We left the car as they thought they could do a repair, then when they called we found that the right front tire was also damaged, so it got replaced – Schawb did not even charge anything for the cowling, another instance that supports why we use them.

We had planned to go out to Newberg to see Alexis and Joe and to return their keys, well that did not happen. The good news was that we invited them to Sunday Lunch and had a wonderful time at chez nous.

On one of our walks along the river we found this interesting fruit from a tree. Though Tricia at first glance thought it looked like a raspberry with a cocktail toothpick, which it does. Do any of you know what kind of tree it is from? I could look it up but this seems more interesting.

This has been my art stance most of the week.

When I first started painting 34ish years ago I chose acrylics instead of oils because of the solvent smells associated with oil paints. Up until two years ago, I resisted oil, even though there are plenty of odor-free solvents and mediums available, because oil is so slow to dry. In my style for all those years I liked that something I painted would dry in minutes or at least hours, and the thought of paint that could take days to dry just seemed unattractive. Well things do change, I really like oils, and the fact that you can start a panting, come back the next day, day after that, etc, is actually quite nice.

I have worked on this impasto style painting for a bit at a time over the last week or so. Impasto is a style of very thick paint, which I apply with a pallet knife instead of a brush. The thick paint will actually take weeks to completely dry, I sure have changed.

It is no wonder that so many artists over the years have been captivated by the south of France and the olive trees, they are the most interesting trees to sketch and paint.

I hope your week has gone well, that you are embracing the changing of seasons, and of course sketching or painting along the way. Thank you as always for following it means a lot.