This is another gouache painting that I made this week. I had no specific plan other than to irreverently remove the black ink layer from a small prepared scratchboard, apply gouache paint to the board and later scrape into the paint!

It wasn't until after I saw the painting from afar that I realized it was about the massive wildfires burning in Western Canada and in the northwestern part of Ontario, the province I live in. Even though in the south, in Toronto, we've had an unusually rainy summer, the fires are with us in the smoke in the air that smells of the burning.

The effects of human caused global warming are here now and are revealing themselves ever more dramatically as the years go by. The face I've painted reflects the flames burning forests, plants, animals and houses and the feelings of the person watching this happen.

Fire, Gouache Painting, 5" x 7"
© Lily S. May, 2021

*You can also see some of my work at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/artsofmay/ *