Hot Springs: Is it always hot?

It's another 100 degree day here. The minute I step outdoors, my glasses fog up completely...maybe that's symbolic of my life.

I'm nearly finished with my work here. I'm going to show the Superintendent and her committee my paintings on Friday morning, at which time they'll select the piece they want for the museum. Again, it's been a delight to serve here at Hot Springs National Park. However, I do wish it had not been so, well, hot. If the weather had been a little cooler, I would have painted outdoors more, which is my preference. In this case, I've been taking photographs, returning to the house to print the photos, and painting from the pictures. I really do feel like there's an extra energy in a painting when it's produced en plein aire, but it is what it is. I have produced a mixture of water landscapes and architectural pieces. Most of the real park consists of those beautiful, Victorian bathhouses. My, are they interesting ..... and old. They still contain the original locker rooms, porcelain tubs, steel showers, porcelain sitz baths and steam boxes. I think about how hot those buildings must have been in those days, with the steam of the water filling every nook and cranny, rotting the timbers. The Victorians had a higher tolerance for weather than we did...