SMUD in your eye

With triple-digit temps searing the air and cool-down efforts fully under way, chances are your electric bill is pretty hot, too. If you pay your SMUD bill in person at the 6301 S Street customer-service center, visit the on-site gallery and enjoy its air conditioning while you check out Carrie Markel’s paintings and mixed-media works, displayed until July 28. In “Summer Visions,” an idyllic look out the window, a kid cools under his hose-made waterfall while, inside, a Time magazine cover offers an intriguing teaser: “Coming Together to Save the Earth.” In the watercolor collage “Resurrection,” a windowsill works as a frame within a frame, encompassing a distant stormy sky dropping its load. Nearby, rows of sunflowers stand at attention. But you have to look closer, or you’ll miss the flower faces—surprising and full of emotion. For more information, call (916) 566-3992.