I just spent two days at the Wilson Ranch Retreat for our annual Veltman Family gathering. My mother-in-law, Patty, is from Condon Oregon so we trek there each summer for a small parade and fireworks. This year we happened on the same weekend as the Wheeler County Bluegrass Festival in Fossil. It was great and in such a beautiful setting on the lawn of the old court house. The Wilson Ranch looked especially beautiful this year...even after coming for the last six years this one was my favorite for some reason. The wild flowers were beautiful, the hay fields were green and the Barn Swallows had me entranced with their swooping and diving. I did finally get a picture of one close up as it rested on the TV dish and it looked like it had a light peach velvet under belly and midnight blue feathers on his head and wings...I know now why artists find them so intriguing. I have always thought the ranch was beautiful but since my last visit I have taken a nature journal water color class and I met Kaffe Fasset. I look at so many things differently now. I love my pictures and did a little sketching. I would love to gather a group together of fellow artists and rent the big Homestead Room down stairs where we can do artwork at night and walk around the ranch and sketch during the day..a new retreat in the making!.
