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	Rachelle and Amy started a water fight with the guys at the base of the waterfall. Our neighbor, David, is also in the shot...the guys lost with David and Steve dripping wet!
	Enjoying the ice cream at the Mayfield Dairy Tour in Athens, TN. We best not comment on how many cones Rachelle's Dad consumed (his favorite: the strawberry cheesecake).	Apparently the bunny ears is a family thing passed down through the generations.
	News Highlights: * Commissions: At one point we had 17 on the list this spring so please be patient with us. We're working a few days each week on these paintings and should have most of them finished over the next two months. * We've been contacted about potential inclusion in a new children's book on art and we'll post more details later. * New venues have been added into some of our museum exhibitions and new shows have also joined the roster on the exhibit schedule.
	Rachelle and Hayley feed the horses in Cades Cove after Hayley discovered she had some horse treats in her pocket leftover from the last time she fed her own horse, Rena.	Poor Hayley suffered through Wes as her Aquarium partner. He read all the signs and took a thousand photos! Here he's boring her stiff with additional aquatic tidbits of information from the aquarium guidebook.
	Interesting Updates: * July 7th marks our 17th wedding anniversary! July 11th will be our 6th anniversary here in TN so we'll be updating the house and yard photos on the website. * On the easels: Wes is currently working on a miniature painting of a Red-tailed Hawk while Rachelle is working on commissioned landscape and also a cottontail rabbit.
	Our picnic spot was a bridge over the stream. We went with five other friends so there was plenty of food and drinks.
	Our Recent Memory Makers: •Rachelle's parents and sister spent a week with us last month and some of our activities included: Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, The Lost Sea Caverns, The Mayfield Dairy Tour, The Cheese Factory and seeing Pirates of the Carribean III. We've also been taking in the weekly "Sunset Series Concerts" at our local Heritage Center Museum. The outside setting is so beautiful listening to the variety of musicians play with the gorgeous Smoky Mountains in the background. In addition we especially enjoyed the 50's and 60's music at the Jukebox Junction theatre show in Pigeon Forge! •We've received enough rain lately to make the plants look green but we're still almost 10 inches below normal. This month marks the start of our mouth watering garden tomatoes. We've already been eating the squash, lettuce, spinach and herbs as well as potatoes. •The guys are still ahead of the ladies in our neighborhood canasta cards games and the ladies have insisted that this month the men make all the food. Wes will be baking a cake for the next game...chocolate of course! •We did three hikes this past month. A short one with Rachelle's folks on the Bote Mountain Trail and then the 8 mile Rich Mountain Loop Trail to celebrate Rachelle's birthday. The entire day of hiking on the 8 mile loop we had the trail all to ourselves! Warblers were everywhere and we spotted three bears. The largest one was actually on the trail with us so we had to patiently wait just a dozen feet away for him to move on so we could continue our hike. We hiked with five other friends up to Ladderback Falls near our home. We stopped on a bridge at the 4.1 mile mark to have a picnic lunch. After a fun water fight at the base of the falls we all headed back down the trail to home.
	Wes standing beside one of the streams common in the Great Smoky Mountains during our recent hike with friends.
	Rachelle poses with one of the many flame azaleas that were blooming during our hike on the Rich Mountain trail.	One of three bears we encountered on the Rich Mountain Trail and yes, although exciting, this one was a bit too close for comfort. He insisted the trail belonged to him!
	Critter Encounters: * Yard Bird List: 93. * Wes now has an elite force of trained rabbit gardeners ranging in size from adults to tiny babies. They are doing a fabulous job manicuring the paths and flower beds. There's still a bit of disagreement between them and Wes over which flowers should be cut to the ground and which ones left entirely alone (Wes is outnumbered).
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