Wes & Rachelle Siegrist

"Tiny Treasures of the Natural World"

Monthly Newsletters

MINIATURE PAINTINGS: African Birds Birds of Prey Butterflies Florals Gamebirds Landscapes Mammals Portraits Reptiles Songbirds Larger\|Older Reproductions HIGHLIGHTS: Biography Exhibits Statements Resumes Galleries Publications Newsletters History Awards Framing Sitemap CONTACT: Order Testimonials siegrist@artofwildlife.com	Wes's parents and seven other friends joined us for Christmas dinner this year and we had a grand time in our basement. Wes and Mary snuck upstairs to fix computer problems while George and Rachelle entertained the gang in the basement playing the piano and guitar. The pool table was also well used that night!
	News Highlights: * New awards have been added to our listings and business ended up being the best yet in our 20 year history! Thanks again everyone! * Shows: Quite a few shows are currently pending juries so keep checking the schedule for recent updates.
	Rachelle with Wes's mom, Jean, inside the historic Sam Houston Schoolhouse.	Standing beside the Elijah Oliver cabin in Cades Cove during a short hike inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
	Interesting Updates: * Wes is trying to learn how to use the new laptop and all the business software. We're excited to now be able to keep in touch more while we're on the road. * Wes is still working off and on with some of the miniature projects mentioned last month. * On the easels: Rachelle is painting an old rusty boat while Wes is about to finish an alligator. Yes, we're both anticipating our upcoming trip south to sunny Florida!
	Rachelle helps out the neighbors while they are away by moving the ducks from their pond to their safe house inside the garage each night. She has more fun letting them out in the mornings when they splash and play in the pond!	Rachelle inside one of the historic cabins at the Heritage Center Museum here in Townsend. They hosted quite a Christmas celebration for all the members which included live music and cozy fires inside the cabins.
	Our Recent Memory Makers: • The weather has been unusually warm for December so we managed to complete several yard and garden projects that were put off in the fall due to our busy schedule. Thankfully we're also getting more rain than normal which is still so badly needed. Parts of TN are nearly 20 inches below average! •Parties!!! Wow, it seems like several times each week we had a party at our place, a friend's or a neighbor's home. We have an absolutely delightful group of people living around us here in Townsend and count our blessings daily that we're able to share in their lives. We're hoping to start squeezing in hikes several times each month now that our schedule is settling back into the usual routine.
	A view of one of our new flower beds and the corner of our garden. The tiles will contain our herbs.	A back view of the garden showing part of the new hotbox, a flower bed and our asparagus and raspberry patches. The hardest part of the whole project was raising the large timbers out of the dirt so we could place bricks under them to get the garden closer to level on our "side of the hill" backyard.
	Critter Encounters: * Yard Bird List: 95. The Carolina wrens are so pleased with the new brush piles and old garden boards/ wire that we placed in the back yard. Several of them would hop all around Wes as he worked tearing apart the old garden and flower beds. They are such cute and inquisitive creatures!
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