I just got back from a 2-day
Nature Journaling and Watercolor Sketching workshop in Saluda, North Carolina. I'd never heard of Saluda before, but supposedly it is somewhat of an artist colony. Definitely not as big or as famous as Santa Fe, New Mexico, but cute and quirky in its own right.
Our workshop was taught by Jeannine Reese, a very talented watercolorist who loved to talk (and talk and talk). We did a few little painting exercises - not as many as I would have liked, but the weather was gorgeous and it was nice to get outside into the sun. These are snippets of some of the plants that were around the studio where we had our class.
Bruce and I stayed at the Saluda Mountain Lodge during the workshop. The lodge was really more like a motel, but it had wonderful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains from the back patio of the property. One night the owners made a bonfire for all the guests and gave us stuff to make s'mores. That's one thing I'll have to say about Saluda - they sure had good food. For breakfast each day, we ate "downtown" at a little cafe that served bacon, eggs, and grits - very southern. For dinner, we went to the Green River Barbecue. I had the 3-rib platter with sweet potato fries, fried corn on the cob, and hush puppies. Guess it was a good thing I burned all those calories hiking in Kentucky beforehand.
Just a few miles from Saluda was the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site. We stopped there for a few hours on our way into town. It was significantly cheaper (free) than touring the Biltmore Estate in Asheville ($59!!!!). Carl Sandburg was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, but his wife was a world-renowned breeder of goats. Judging by the number of people, I'd say the goat barn was much more popular than the library.
