Excerpts from An Edom Hills Almanac: A Year of Painting Outside

August 4, 2024

I painted from 6-7:30 pm. It’s 81 degrees, birds are singing and crickets are chirping. We are in a measurable drought. Wind 2mph. 66% humidity. The dew point is 69 degrees. Air pressure rising. New moon. 19 miles visibility. Heard a dove, cardinal, saw a goldfinch, barn swallow and mockingbird. This was my first painting outside, and I’m going to attempt to do a whole year of painting outside to track the weather and changes. 

August 13, 2024

I woke up to paint the sunrise. The dog is out with me and wants to play. I can hear crickets and a catbird. The sun is starting to come out in full. Beautiful day, 65 degrees and partly sunny. 2 mph wind 75% humidity. Waxing gibbous moon 59% illumination. Perseid meteor shower happening. Trying out some new paints and brushes; last week of summer vacation for kids. It rained four inches last week, so everything is now green! I’m getting used to painting outside with my watercolors. 

August 19, 2024

Last evening of summer break for the kids. They planned a picnic on the hill and invited me to it when I was finished painting. The air is cooler today and there was a beautiful sunset. I painted from 7-8:30 pm. It is 69 degrees, and the air quality index is 32 (good). We can hear crickets and a rooster. A hawk almost attacked one of our chickens while I was painting—I heard a commotion in the coop and saw it fly away. The chickens were ruffled but okay. 7 mph winds, .1” of rain in the past 24 hrs, 72% humidity, perfectly clear view with 16 mi visibility. Full moon rising tonight! 100% illumination.