The 44th Annual Waterfowl Festival
By Rachelle Siegrist
A Gorgeous sunset from the Bay Bridge
The dense fog covered the mountains, and a misty rain fell as we left early last Wednesday morning, heading for Easton, MD, where we would be showing at the longest running wildlife art show in the U.S., the 44th Annual Waterfowl Festival, this past weekend. Thankfully about an hour into the drive, the fog had disappeared and the rain stopped, and before long, the clouds parted revealing a beautiful, clear blue sky above! All throughout the lovely Shenandoah Valley area the trees were stunningly dressed in their finest fall foliage, setting the stage for a beautiful drive throughout much of the day! Bright and early Thursday morning, we were at the Armory in downtown Easton, once again surrounded by friendly show volunteers and artist friends, as we hung our miniature paintings, in anticipation of the thousands of people that would be viewing our paintings throughout the weekend.
I thought this was a neat shot of the bridge!
Having a couple of free hours that afternoon, we enjoyed a casual lunch at Rusticana Pizza, a local favorite of ours. Then we drove a few minutes out of town, to where a herd of gorgeous Belted Galloway, or as I call them “Oreo” cows and goats, reside. They were as beautiful as ever, nestled in their peaceful pastoral setting, surrounded by golden and red fall foliage. I was delighted to get a few nice reference photos of them for future paintings.
Oh . . . if only I could get closer!
The beautiful cattle above, and one of the adorable goats below
We returned to the show early that evening, nicely dressed and ready for a wonderful time. As always we were quite happy to see many of our collector friends there! Friday was another great day, and we so enjoyed having dinner that evening, with our dear friends, artist David Lanier and his wife Cathy. After another full day Saturday, we enjoyed a most pleasant evening during the artists’ dinner party, which was held at the lovely Easton Clubhouse. As always, the food was delicious and the evening filled with much laughter and conversation. We returned rested and ready for the last day of the show. Sunday morning, I was delighted to be able to take a quick walk outside to enjoy the beautiful fall color adorning the large trees lining the city streets! The numerous, beautiful and wonderful mix of dogs being paraded up and down the streets provided great entertainment as well!
In front of our miniature paintings
Before we knew it, the show had concluded and the weekend came to an end. We were delighted to have had numerous sales, and want to personally thank our existing and new collectors for a wonderful show! There was also great interest in possible dog portrait commissions, and so I’m looking forward to doing numerous dog portraits and commissions throughout the next year! Although the drive home was not the beautiful, sunny day we were blessed with during the trip up, we were happy to safely return home, where we’ll be getting ready for the Plantation Wildlife Arts Festival taking place this upcoming weekend November 21-23, in picturesque Thomasville, GA, these next couple of days.
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Until next time . . .
Rachelle
