Rain, rain, rain

I so enjoyed the kids in Juvenile Hall today.  Instead of the usual sketchbook work in the boys' recreational art group I brought in pre-made masks and a new set of acrylic paints.  With Halloween so close I thought they might enjoy painting masks.  They jumped all over it! Acrylic paint is a new medium for most of them so I did a few short demos on how to mix paint with a palette knife, how to distinguish between tints, shades and tones, how the paint dries, how to take care of the brushes, etc. Only one boy finished his mask so the rest of us will be working on the same project again next Monday.  I'm giving canvas panels to anyone who is ready to move on so we'll all have plenty to do.

Even more exciting than that, today was the first series of storms for the new rainy season.  I heard a few sprinkles late last night; an hour later it was a true deluge which stopped and started all the way to dawn.  Another storm came through later in the day and more rain is forecasted both this week and next week.  Here in northern California that means The Rainy Season Is Here!  And it's my favorite season of the entire year. There hasn't been a single drop of rain since May so we're dried out and ready.  At least I am!