River Relaxation

wes siegrist

I could hear it before I had even closed the van door, the sound of the river flowing really strong and fast. Not the sound Wes particularly wanted to hear, as our intent was to go fly fishing that morning. We didn’t think we had received enough rain to raise the water levels that much, but obviously we did. It was okay though, as Wes fished with his casting rod for awhile instead, and I, well I was just happy for it to not be raining and freezing cold. Moreover I was by the water, my happy place, so I was delighted! While Wes fished I walked about intently searching for wildflowers and was thrilled to find a few. One of the first discoveries was this crab apple tree covered in pink blossoms, which was covered in water droplets and glistened like diamonds. Everywhere I looked was pink flowers and it was beautiful!

crab apple blossom

There were several intricately woven spider webs and they too were covered with thousands of minute water droplets, glistening in the sunlight. Isn’t it amazing how a spider web becomes a thing of such beauty when covered with water droplets or dew?

spider web

There were several lovely purple wild violets tucked amongst little nooks and crannies in the rocks and quite a few of them were blooming.

wild violet

I also came upon this collection of shelf fungi growing on a big, moss covered tree right alongside the river. 

fungi

I find it usually pays off to look closely for the little things, for when you do, you find wee treasures like this snail slowly making its way across the forest floor.

snail

There is something so peaceful and relaxing about being near moving water, or any body of water for that matter. The color of the river was really spectacular, as it appeared like the clear, turquoise waters in the Caribbean. The rocks cliffs on the other side of the river provide a stunning backdrop, and the bright, wee leaves budding out on some of the trees was icing on the cake.

cumberland trail

After awhile, we found this lovely warm spot in the sunshine alongside the river. We laid down an old plastic liner on the wet sand and it made for a perfect picnic spot indeed! The sound of the cascading water was soothing to the ears and the soul. There were several cardinals all about singing their springtime songs, as well as an eastern phoebe who called the entire time we were there.

rachelle siegrist

I was so thankful to be able to put my bare feet in the sand, and after the original shock of the cold went away, it felt great! The high water was causing waves to crest along the sandy shore and it sounded like the beach. Occasionally a wave would come further in covering my toes with icy water, causing me to let out a wee cry of shock . . . LOL! It was a wonderful place for a picnic and I must say I could’ve easily sat there all day, soaking in the warmth of the sun, whilst being serenade by the symphony of running water.

mountain stream

After lunch we walked further up the river a ways, whilst looking for spots to get down to the water so Wes could try a few casts. This spot below was so beautiful, for it was covered in lush, green moss. It was a relaxing time and now we know not to try fly fishing there after it rains, even if we don’t think we got very much. 

In case you read last week’s blog and are wondering how Einstein is doing, well, he’s doing “toadally” wonderful and is usually sitting in one of his many little dirt bowls he made inside the greenhouse. When I peeked in on him awhile ago, he was sitting up a bit, and had just two of his front fingers sticking up in the shape of a “V”. It was quite funny and looked like he was saying “peace out dude” 🙂

moss

SEE OUR PAINTINGS IN PERSON THIS WEEK

Society of Animal Artists Encounters with the Animal Kingdom Exhibition
On display thru April 8, 2023: The Janice Mason Art Museum, Cadiz, KY

Society of Animal Artists 62nd Annual Exhibition Tour 
On display thru April 2, 2023: The Ella Carothers Dunnegan Museum of Art, Bolivar, MO

To see our available miniature paintings as well as some upcoming shows,

visit our WEBSITE  artofwildlife.com     Email us

Until Next Time ~ Rachelle

It’s Toadally Incredible

fowler's toad4

Meet Einstein, our resident Fowler’s Toad. He’s adorable isn’t he? Okay, I know what you’re thinking “why in the world did you name him Einstein?” Well, it’s because he’s absolutely brilliant! He has taken up residency inside the greenhouse where it is usually nice and toasty-warm, with a semi-tropical feeling, rather than being in the yucky, cold weather outside. Smart move indeed I say, and if the greenhouse was big enough, I’d move into it as well and hibernate there until warm weather arrives to stay. I must say however, that I would prefer a much different menu than what he dines on. He’s so cute sitting there in his elevated toad condo, where he has dug a couple of bowl shaped indentions in the dirt, and likes hanging out whilst enjoying the sun. 

fowler's toad

Wes first spotted him about a week ago, and I was excited to go look for him. He’s usually in his favorite dirt bowl and doesn’t mind at all us coming in and hanging out with him for while during the afternoons. It feels amazing inside the greenhouse too, like I’ve stepped off a plane that just landed in the tropics, after taking off in the the North Pole seconds earlier! Upon removing a few layers, I sit on an upside down bucket close to Einstein, and commence to asking him about how his day is going. It’s obvious however, that it’s going quite well, since he has a look of utter contentment, as if he is one with the world. Each time a cloud moves, revealing the sun, his beautiful eyes narrow a little and I can tell he’s thinking “Ah . . . that feels so good!” I can only wholeheartedly agree, as I’m thinking the same thing too! 

fowler's toad2

One afternoon we decided to try feeding him a mealworm. He immediately perked up and sat upright on his front legs, whilst watching the mealworm intently as it inched closer. Suddenly with the speed of lightning, out shot his pink tongue, grabbing the worm. However, since he immediately spit it out, I’m thinking he didn’t care for it too much. You can see in the photo above the look of utter disgust and his tongue sticking out a wee bit, as if he’s saying “Yuck“. The next afternoon when we we went into the greenhouse and I sat down near him, he immediately perked up once again and looked over towards us. So we decided to try feeding him an earthworm this time. Within seconds of Wes putting the worm there, his incredible tongue shot out with lightning speed and grabbed it, and his eyes sunk down in his head as he swallowed his snack. Afterwards he sat there looking quite happy and content in his little dirt bowl. So my guess is that he much prefers earthworms to mealworms. Hmm . . . a toad with a picky palette I’d say.

fowler's toad3

Another day when we went into the greenhouse, I didn’t see him at first and was disappointed thinking he wasn’t there. But upon closer inspection, I could see part of his head and eyes barely showing. It was actually hot in there, so he had obviously buried himself beneath the dirt clods, to be a bit cooler. Einstein has gorgeous eyes, even Shakespeare wrote about the incredible beauty of their eyes. Thankfully he doesn’t seem to mind me getting close enough to really see them well. As you can probably tell, Wes and I have enjoyed getting to hang out with him most afternoons, it’s been the highlight of some cold, yucky days. And the feeling of the warmth inside the greenhouse, well it has been absolutely amazing!

fowler's toad5

Here’s a short video I made of Einstein and his incredibly fast tongue, and uploaded to our YouTube channel. It’s in slow motion first and then real time, just to show the speed at which he can eat . . . Enjoy! And if you do enjoy it, please remember to “Like” and “Share” the video…Thanks  🙂

IN THE STUDIO

And speaking of toads, that is exactly what I painted this past week. It makes me laugh every time I look at it, and I titled it “Portrait of a Grumpy Toad” as it looks like he is very unhappy for whatever reason. This 1½ inch miniature watercolor is being shipped to an upcoming miniature art show The Art of Miniature XXXI  at The Snow Goose Gallery located in Bethlehem, PA. The show will run May 7 to June 10, 2023.

painting of fowler's toad by Rachelle Siegrist

SEE OUR PAINTINGS IN PERSON THIS WEEK

Society of Animal Artists Encounters with the Animal Kingdom Exhibition
February 22 – April 8, 2023: The Janice Mason Art Museum, Cadiz, KY

Society of Animal Artists 62nd Annual Exhibition Tour 
On display thru April 2, 2023: The Ella Carothers Dunnegan Museum of Art, Bolivar, MO

To see our available miniature paintings as well as some upcoming shows,

visit our WEBSITE  artofwildlife.com     Email us

Until Next Time ~ Rachelle

What Was That BIG Crash in the Woods?

amaryllis blossom

We have a flower blooming, and I can’t express how delighted I am to see the large, bright, peppermint striped petals! Wes overwintered it in the greenhouse and that way we get to enjoy its gorgeous blossoms a little early. We had it on the screened porch, but with the return of cold temperatures. . . Ugh. . . we moved it into the dining room. I can see it better there anyway. It was a house warming gift from our dear friend Diane, and the small, lone bulb came in the mail, complete with a pot, dirt and instructions on how to properly plant it. We had Amaryllis whilst living in Townsend, but had to leave them behind when we moved, so we were delighted to receive this one. We planted it and enjoyed one blossom last winter, then Wes repotted it in a larger pot and overwintered it in the greenhouse, and it has repaid us for our care with multiple large blossoms this year! Four buds have opened thus far, with four more yet to open! Plus it’s sprouting two new plants from the original, so Id’ say it must be pretty happy.

Peering out the living room window recently one morning, I saw what I thought was a lone turkey walking across the gravel driveway. Suddenly I noticed that there were two large, dark birds and upon looking through the binoculars I saw they were actually Canada geese. We have never had the geese in our yard before, so I quickly grabbed the camera and took a few photos of them off in the distance. As I watched, the pair slowly walked across the drive and headed down the trail on the other side, obviously having walked along the other path to get to the drive. They meandered along the trail through the woods and eventually made their way over to the neighbor’s yard. They continued walking towards the back, then suddenly took off, flying overhead and heading back in the direction of the pond on the other side, where I heard them splash down. I had to laugh as I thought they obviously just wanted to go for a leisurely stroll through the woods and perhaps do a little sight seeing. Nonetheless, we got to add Canada geese to our yard list.

canada geese

Upon editing the photo of them for the blog, I noticed that you can see mommy squirrel’s nesting cavity in the lower left corner, which I thought was pretty special. 

cute squirrel photo

Like so many of you, we have had some wild weather this winter! The most recent storm moving through our area this past week, brought torrential downpours and tropical storm force winds. The winds lasted all day long and into the night, so we stayed out of the woods that day and instead stood in the yard close to the cabin and watched the wind bending the trees in unison as if they were all in a yoga class together. I saw two dead trees go down and Wes happened to see a couple more later on. Right after supper that evening, we lost power, so for entertainment that night we sat on the couch and streamed YouTube on the laptop. We could hear the winds continuously howling away outside, sounding like a roaring ocean. At one point I heard a tremendous crash that seemed to jar the ground and house, and said “Oh no . . . that sounded like a big tree!” Well upon walking through the woods the next morning, we saw that it was a very big tree indeed and sadly one of the living oak trees, and furthermore, it fell directly over the walking trail.

wes siegrist

That’s a wee Wes in the middle to show the size comparison 

oak tree

Even though we have lots of trees, I must admit I felt as if I had lost a dear friend, as I love all of our trees and really hated to see a live one go down. It is what it is though and will make the critters happy in the future. Wes is finally feeling better after being quite sick with what he believes to be a sinus infection, so he has been working on cutting up the downed trees. We will be leaving most of this one after cutting a section out, so we can easily walk our trail once again.

I was thrilled to enjoy a couple of days of sunshine and milder temps this past week, filling me with the hope that I’ve nearly made it through winter. However, the cold returned and once again it’s gray and rainy outside, and the woods look like they’ve been swallowed up in fog. What is it with all the fog here this winter anyway? I don’t know, but like many of you, I am so ready for spring. 

oak tree fallen

IN THE STUDIO

I finished my wee painting of “Mommy Squirrel” peering out from the warmth and safety of her nesting hole in the tree. This was such a fun and sweet painting to do, and I so enjoyed painting her! The painting measures 11/2 inches and will be going to one of our miniature shows this spring. 

squirrel painting

In case you’ve ever wondered how to frame miniature artwork in one of these traditional style gold frames, I made a video showing the entire process step-by-step, and you can watch it below. Be sure to like and share if you enjoyed it and found it helpful. Visit our YouTube channel @rachelleandwes to see numerous other informative and fun videos. 

SEE OUR PAINTINGS IN PERSON THIS WEEK

Society of Animal Artists Encounters with the Animal Kingdom Exhibition
February 22 – April 8, 2023: The Janice Mason Art Museum, Cadiz, KY

Our touring exhibition EXQUISITE MINIATURES is now on display at the MUSE (Douglas Family Art Centre) in Kenora, ON, Canada. It will be on display there thru March 15, 2023. For more info,  visit their website The MUSE

Society of Animal Artists 62nd Annual Exhibition Tour 
On display thru April 2, 2023: The Ella Carothers Dunnegan Museum of Art, Bolivar, MO

To see our available miniature paintings as well as some upcoming shows,

visit our WEBSITE  artofwildlife.com     Email us

Until Next Time ~ Rachelle