Ron Dante's Inferno

It was hotter than hades in Fallbrook yesterday so in a contrarian show of devil may care lunacy, the Blast jumped in the old wagon in search of an even hotter clime. Palm Springs, CA, temperature about 115 degrees in the shade.

Actually had to meet my friend Steve Stoops from Stevens Fine Art in Phoenix, who was loaning the Fallbrook Art Center some beautiful prints for the second Transferring Ink Print Show. Had prearranged the meet and drop off in the broiler that is Palm Springs. We thought that we would spend the day picking the shops up and down the desert corridor.

Most of the shops were still closed for the summer heat and wednesday was not the right day but we made the best of it and managed to score a nice drawing. We ate at a neat little Thai place, Smile and shopped in the mostly modern shops, more Steve's bailiwick than my own.

The Palm Springs Museum is having a great Birger Sandzen exhibition, with many pieces on loan from Lindsborg, Kansas. It is titled Colors of the West, The Paintings of Birger Sandzen. Sandzen (1871-1954) was a Swedish artist, trained in France, whose strong palette of pinks and purples, and vibrant fauvist landscapes are worth a small fortune with collectors.

It is a magnificent show.  If you are in the area don't miss it.  Steve had previously sold some of the paintings on display at the exhibition.

There were several other shows running concurrently that were also worth checking out, a beautiful Van Gogh painting of oranges that is worth the price of admission, and a nice collection of Palm Springs area and western paintings.

Instead of coming up over the mountain in the heat, I  took the 10 and stopped at Hadley's to buy a pound of medjools and a date shake.  Noticed that I was on 0 and coasted into the gas station in Rainbow on fumes. Saved.


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I saw a first last night. I was lying down on the couch when I heard an owl hooting. I snuck out to the car to get my camera and there were two owls rapping together on the telephone wire. Couldn't get a shot, the moon was still too far to the north for an available light source so I give you instead these pics of the owl on the wire I captured a few years ago.