Sleepless in Seattle

Denette and I, along with our husbands, had a wonderful time in the Northwest. Hap and I rode the Ducks with intrepid Captain Flip Dover. We drove through Seattle, then into Lake Union (the Ducks are amphibious landing craft). I keep a sketch journal, so I had to include the houseboat in Sleepless in Seattle. Flip was hilariously informative.

We met up with Denette and Jack and went off to the Olympic Peninsula. That's Denette in the tree. The rain forests are lush, green, mossy, and beautiful. I am trying to psych myself up to paint all that green.  The lower right corner of the above page is Cape Flattery, the most northwestern point of the lower 48. You go through a rain forest to get there. In other words, you hike through awesome beauty with a big punctuation mark at the end. We missed the whale that had just gone by, darn it!

Now I have many great subjects to paint, yet what did I do yesterday? A little white boat. Like I said, psyching myself up for the harder stuff. Besides, I really like the boat.

The Yellow Buoy

Posted by Carmen Beecher

Walkin' in Memphis

We just returned from Memphis, where we had a great time with our family. We went downtown to Beale Street, visited Sun Studio where Elvis did his first recording, and ate at Gus's Fried Chicken. I recorded it all in my sketch journal.

Elvis Statue, Beale Street

Gus's Fried Chicken

We also went to the Natchez Trace Parkway, which we really love. What a beautiful drive that is, very scenic and peaceful. It goes from Nashville to Natchez.

Natchez Trace Parkway

This is my small oil painting of the Natchez Trace. See the traffic? That's one reason I like it.

Posted by Carmen Beecher