Squirrels in Summer

We've had the most blistering heat for weeks and weeks here. So we've been pretty much confined to the indoors as of late which I suppose is just as well. Less time outside means getting a little bit more time for work.This piece was a private commission. The buyer was particularly fond of an older painting of mine, "Cherry-picking Mice," so we created a design very similar to that one. It's intended to be the first of four small seasonal paintings. How appropriate to paint a summer scene in the summer! It seems I'm usually painting Christmas scenes in the spring and summer scenes in the winter, for once I'm painting 'in season.'