No. 421: Where Did Our Summer Go?

Geneva-on-the-Lake, July 2018, ink and watercolor by Tom Wills, from an Amanda Davis photo

You can learn about the framing, at the end of this blog.

September is a funny month that cannot get comfortable with itself. A Virgo should know.

The month takes us from searing heat and stifling humidity to chilly mornings and rainy nights.
These are the days that shut off the life to leaves yet send lawns into overdrive.
People run the last gas out of their boats, pack up their campers, send the kids back to (hot then cold) schools.
On the weekends they sun themselves on patio furniture that will soon spend eight months locked in a shed.

And the fair shuts down.
Labor Day weekend or thereabouts is the last gasp for county fairs and amusement parks as their summer help heads back to classrooms.
The rides are taken down and trucked to warmer climates.
But some of the bigger, permanent ones shelter in place.

Erieview Park Ferris Wheel, built in 1956, now lives at Firehouse Winery in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, where people can thrill to summer night rides. But those every day rides become weekend fun only in September, so get there soon.

Fascinating facts about this true Ferris Wheel can be found at the winery's web site here.  http://www.oldfirehousewinery.com/wheel.shtml

This painting is from an original photo taken there in July 2018, in the full swing of summer, by a mom who especially enjoys this place with her young daughter. She asked if I could paint it for Christmas for her girl's room. We'll try to keep it a surprise, OK?
You can follow the painting's assembly in these images. 

Clearly we got a head start on this while the sun still sets early.
I always take a week off late in September to do all of the summer chores I neglected, to clean up lingering messes and start tying things down. In between using a big brush to stain a shed and a deck, I used smaller ones and brighter colors to recreate the wheel in sunset.

Much of this piece is ink. I painted the sunset and the shoreline, then inked over it.

Then, I painted over the ink with some purples and blues and browns. Lastly I added a few twinkling lights on the big wheel.

"Geneva-on-the-Lake, July 2018," as we are calling this piece, was completed on the eve of my 57th birthday. So it's a little special to me.  I can't share my cake with you here, but I will share this.
Happy fall, all.

About the framing:

Amanda wanted a custom color to match a bedroom. She really didn't want a natural wood tone, so I wound up giving a repurposed frame several coats: A primer,  coats of metallic silver, and coats of metallic dark gray. In the light this thing shines and sparkles through the layers. It worked!