The whatever factor...

It is what it is. Here's the deal. Once upon a time, at the house on the edge of the world, we had the summer of no summer. Gray and foggy 24/7. Not unusual. It is usually foggy at the coast in the summer. That's why the whole population of California would wind up in our tiny town during those irritating (and fortunately, infrequent) inland heatwaves. But here, in the valley, with a whole range of hills between us and the ocean, we are having the spring of no spring. Oh, we have an occasional day of 70+ temps, and everyone sighs. At last! Then, back to 61 degrees with a chance of rain. I drove to Berkeley yesterday, and from the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, San Francisco was a smeary gray blur. That was on the way over. Coming back, it was shrouded in its own cloud cover. At 1:30 PM. Today it is even cooler, and my 4 day forecast says rain by Saturday. Oh, well. I just keep diddling away at the pastels, now that Dick Blick has provided me with several new pigments, some new pads of paper, and another can of fixative. The trick to these works is just keep layering, just keep layering. More and more is revealed, and suddenly, they pop. Here is an homage to Mother's Day. I think that's what I will call it.