Writing about snow at the end of July during a hot summer in California’s Central Valley, and many regions across the country, may seem out of place.

But imagine looking out your window seeing huge wet snow flakes landing on the roof across the street, clinging to red maple leaves still on the tree in front of that roof.

My husband and I had a second floor one-bedroom apartment in a four-plex in an older neighborhood in Cincinnati in 1965. In the middle of the day, snow started falling unexpectedly (to me), and soon produced the image described above.

The black tree—almost bare of red leaves—was striking

against the white snow accumulating on the roof. It was all I could see sitting in our living room.

Two years before I had seen a well-known artist demonstrate his watercolor painting technique for producing scenes for greeting cards. He painted on pellon, a non-woven interface material I used in sewing. I had a stash of pellon.

This was a perfect opportunity to try out what I had seen. Painting on pellon produced a watery, dreamy effect that captured the mood of the afternoon.

Maybe I should try painting on pellon again soon.