An artist I paint with every week has been on a roll painting places she'd love to be for the AARP calendar content. That gave me the idea for this one, which is a warm up for a portrait I'm doing of a friend's lake cottage. This has been one of my favorite places to spend time, ever since college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, which is not far away.

I'm still working on this right now to bring the lower left quadrant into balance with the rest but have to get over to Loveland this afternoon to "Paint the Town." Started my 16 x 20" acrylic of the Pizazz store this morning about 8:45 am. The weather was beautiful: sun shining but cool in the shade where I was standing enjoying the sound of the fountain splashing behind me.

Tonight is the opening of EXPOSED: Top 100 Secret Artists of 2008 at 811 Race St. in downtown Cincinnati. I was thrilled to be chosen and am looking forward to catching up with friends at this party on a hot summer night in June. No damage from the storm last night and lucky to still have power as I know some don't.