Powerless in a Pandemic

Today is the first day this week that we've had power in my studio. Last Monday a big storm called a "derecho" (Spanish for straight) blasted through and knocked out the power grid to almost half a million here in Iowa, including us. Trees were uprooted and tangled power lines, landed on roofs and cars. We scraped through but it was difficult because power was lost to everyone, from businesses to private homes. That meant places without backup generators (most of us) lost refrigeration, cooking and air conditioning. And there were few places to get food since grocery stores and restaurants nearby all lost power. Most people had to dispose of spoiling food as well so it has been a difficult few days.

The studio power has been off so that blogging, emailing, and other computer-related activity has been nil. Luckily though, painting and drawing don't require electricity, so despite the humidity and discomfort I've been able to do a bit of work when outside cleanup became less of a priority. None of that work is ready to photograph, but here is a work from not long ago, "Canoes at Grays Lake."

Hoff, "Caones at Grays Lake," oil on panel, 2020

The park at Grays Lake has a summer program for kids and one of the activities is canoeing on the lake. The painting came about one morning as I was setting up to paint the lake shore--the park employee happened to park right where I was working and so his truck and trailer of canoes became part of the work. Although this qualifies as a plein air work, I finished it in the studio. It's larger than most at 12x16.