. . . heard tornado sirens

Heavy Equipment IV, mixed media on canvas, 13 x 13"

yesterday evening . . . four or five of them . . . but it was barely raining and although the sky had that eerie greenish tinge, it didn't look too serious where I was. The TV weather people were spreading their orgasm-induced hysteria so I kept watch out the windows and made ready to dash to the basement if it seemed necessary. For some reason, tornadoes don't scare me much (but give me a good ice storm and the necessity of driving in it, and I'm a nut job.) Thunderstorms are fascinating; I love to sit on my back porch and watch them. Since my studio is in the basement, it would not be a big inconvenience to have to take shelter. Everything eventually calmed down, but my sleep was interrupted at about 1:30 a.m. by my wind chimes sounding like demented cathedral bells, the kids' swing flying around wildly, the cushions on the chairs tossed about, etc. Just the leading edge of another system coming through, straight winds in excess of 60 mph. Oh, okay.

Another day, another painting. This one is from a photograph taken by one of my flickr contacts, Tristango. What a wonderful source of inspiration. Stop by and check it out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/claude-g/.