Blue Ridge Thanksgiving

We met up with most of Stephen's family for Thanksgiving last week in Buchanan, Virginia, a quiet, artsy, rural town in western Virginia. The James River flows by one side of the town, and the town is flanked by both the Blue Ridge and the Appalachian Mountains-- a beautiful place. It was a wonderful time of family fun, hiking, game playing, laughter, and catching up with each other- a perfect Thanksgiving.

The last day we were there, Jonathan and I went up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, pulled off at the first scenic overlook, and sat on the sidewalk absorbing the view and talking about his life in seminary, while I sketched the view.

After we went back to the James River Inn where we were staying, I did another painting loosely based on my plein air sketch.

The evening before we left, I took our three dogs out for a walk along the river and was treated to a gorgeous sunset with pink and purples and golds coloring sky and river and leaving a glow on everything else. I had neither my camera nor my sketchbook with me, so I did my best to commit the scene to memory, and then I painted it when we got back to the inn. I want to do more painting from memory, both as an art exercise and a memory exercise.