Well, today is my birthday, so I figured it would be a great day to start my blog! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I believe I will enjoy composing it, offering to you, a look inside our lives as miniature artists. We live in very eastern TN, in the smoky mountains. It’s beautiful here year round, offering different types of beauty throughout the year. At this time the spring green leaves are darkening and various flowers are blooming in our yard. Wes & I both enjoy gardening & our yard is finally starting to really show it, as we’ve only lived here for seven years. One of my personal favorite flowers are peonies. I start filling our home with them as soon as they are open, as they are so beautiful & have a nice fragrance, albeit faint. I photographed one grouping of them and did a miniature painting of it titled “My Peonies”. It was a beautiful color scheme to work with and had an “old world” look to it that I loved. Below are two photos, the first being of some of the peonies in our front yard. The second is of my miniature painting measuring 2.75 x 2.75 inches and shown with a US Penny for scale.
We’ve had a new miniature addition to our extended family this past month, as my brother, Marshall, and his wife Alicia, had their first baby. Tyler Jackson is his name, with Jackson being my beloved grandpa’s name. As you can imagine this has brought a breath of new life and much excitement to our family. My parents are happy to finally be grandparents and are enjoying their new role quite well! I will be very happy to get to see and hold him in person. It’s amazing how quickly he is growing and changing, an amazing miracle indeed! Below is my favorite photo of little Tyler and a miniature sized drawing I did of him for my Moms birthday. Yes, she loved it!
At present I’m working on a miniature portrait of a young girl in an old western style dress. She has beautiful warm lighting on her, so the scene lends itself nicely for a painting that is filled with wonderful color and fun to render. Two commissions are also being started for a gentleman in England, and Wes is working on a miniature painting of a vulture. One, if not both of the miniature paintings should be completed by my next post, so perhaps I will include one. We’re planning a hike to a waterfall this next week for my annual birthday hike, so I will have photos and enlightening stories from that I’m sure, for my next post. ~ Rachelle
Under the Magnifying Glass 
Wes and Rachelle,
Enjoyed reading your blog and seeing the photos and your wonderful art work.