Saffron Fields Vineyard

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Saffron Fields Vineyard was on our list of beautiful places to stop and paint lavender. The vineyard is located in an idyllic country setting in Yamhill, Oregon. It offers a panoramic view so breathtaking that it was hard to settle down and focus on painting. The vineyard was kind enough to let us set our easels up on their tasting room patio, so we stayed relatively cool during the late afternoon. Since we had to drive back to Eugene, we couldn't partake of their wine - however, we each bought a bottle to bring home. Delicious! It's definitely worth making another trip to Yamhill, just to visit Saffron Fields.

Ravencroft Lavender

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During the Lavender Festival paint out, my plein air buddy, Patti Hanneman McNutt, and I found a beautiful lavender field located in Mulino, Oregon, in the northern part of the Willamette Valley. It was hot, hot, hot that day...over 100 degrees. The intoxicating scent of lavender and the sound of buzzing bees were almost hypnotic. We found a tad bit of shade under the treess and powered through our paintings. It was a dreamy day.

Lavender Time - Second Place!!!

Well, guess what happened! I entered the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival Plein Air Paint Out and placed second in the open division! Who knew? I'm gob-smacked! Completely unexpected, and I didn't quite believe it when I heard...I thought perhaps a mistake had been made. I'm just over the moon about this, and feeling so encouraged to keep on keepin' on. What a delightful surprise.

This week I'll be spending four days at the Oregon Coast paint out. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to do some plein air and meet other Oregon painters. Life is good right now!

Shorty

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Years ago, I collected little clay-like figurines created by Tom Clark, Cairn Studios. Clark's little sculptures are whimsical gnomes and wood spirits and each sports a profusion of leaves and acorns, along with an embedded coin, at the base. As time passes, my interests have changed and I'm more concerned with minimizing than with collecting. Nevertheless,  I'm still fond of these little gnomes - they make me smile whenever I look at them.

This gnome is Shorty. Shorty has strawberries in addition to the ubiquitous leaves and acorns at his base.

Jackson School Lavender Farm

This farm is on Jackson School Road in North Plains, along the Oregon Sunset Corridor. It's one of the farms Patti McNutt, Sarah Peroutka, and I visited during the Lavender Festival Paint Out. We've been having a blast painting lavender! The weather has been hot, hot, hot, but as long as we can find a shady tree we're good.

This little hut was sitting next to the lavender field - not sure what it's used for - it seemed too small to be a shed, but it looked charming sitting in front of those huge trees.