Summer vacation is basically nature’s way of saying “Go forth and create art!” So naturally, the only sensible thing to do is pack paint supplies and pretend you’re not sweating through your shirt. What do you actually need to paint masterpieces in the great outdoors? Just some simple art tools and the delusion that you won’t spill watercolors all over your lap.

Behold! My beloved art bag—the tiny vessel that somehow holds a travel brush, a modest watercolor paint box, a sketchbook for doodling my failures, AND a silk scarf. That scarf serves dual purposes: it makes me look artistically sophisticated and doubles as a mask when I need to hide from other hikers questioning my life choices.

So there I was at #Toronto #downtown, perched on the shore of #Ontario lake, racing against an impending #downpour because apparently I make terrible weather-based decisions. The park was eerily quiet—that perfectly calm, slightly ominous feeling right before a storm hits, with only a few boats gently creaking and swaying on the waves, as if they, too, were nervously waiting for nature’s tantrum to begin.

I could literally smell the ozone (which sounds more dramatic than it actually is), so I wisely abandoned ship and sprinted away just before the rain started its assault. But plot twist: I totally captured the pre-storm atmosphere in my painting—see those actual raindrops? I didn’t accidentally get water on the paper; those are intentional artistic choices. I absolutely love summer storms, even when they’re chasing me away like an angry mob.

#Ontario #Kawarta #lakes—This watercolor was painted directly on a boat during a warm summer evening while my husband was fishing approximately one foot away from me in the same tiny boat. The artistic process is truly romantic, except for when you realize you’re both taking up maximum space and someone’s going to accidentally knock over the paint water.

My mission: capture the soft, dreamy evening hues of a charming little cottage on the shore, surrounded by lush green leaves and moody monochrome stones. The lake and those two birches on the high shore? They took me straight back to #Belarus, my motherland—minus the actual traveling part, which is the real dream during #lockdown.

Bon voyage, you absolute legends! Until our next adventure. Now go forth and create some art before something terrible happens on the weather front!

All paintings belong to the author and are protected by the international law of “I made this and you can’t copy it.” No image is to be copied without permission. Seriously, don’t do it.