Camping Adventures With The "Humming Belles"!

The weather has been wonderful these past several weeks in the great Pacific Northwest, we have finally been blessed with summer!  Since late August we have gotten in some good camping times starting off with White River, then  to Trask River, onto Kilchis River, and ending up at Whalen Island.

On our latest excursion to Kilchis River the "Humming Belles" asked if they could tag along on our adventure.  Of course we were delighted to have their charming company and they happily made themselves all comfy in our mini-motorhome and off we all went!

When we finally arrived at our destination the little darlings took off and began exploring and found some delightful spots just perfect for having some fairy fun!

 

This was a magical little spot they found where two trees roots were intertwined forming a delightful area for the wee ones to climb over, under and discover wonderful hiding niches!

This was an area they chanced upon that was like a miniature forest, made just for the spirits of fun seeking little fairies.

After a day of exploring and new adventures the "Humming Belles" came trooping out of their newly found "Fairy World Forest" filled with tales of new discoveries and hidden little treasures.

Several of them wanted to help me set up my portable art studio and help me along with my latest illustration.  We had caught three cute little crawdads earlier in the day and they thought I should capture them in a drawing before returning them to their river home.

So here we are, starting a new drawing and wondering how it will progress.

We've gotten off to a nice beginning.  We have our images drawn, shaded in just a bit with colored pencils and beginning to add details.  We all agreed that zentangle inspired designs would work well in this illustration.

They drawing is beginning to take shape, the crawdads are completed and the background design and border are needing to be added.

  Here we are about half way finished with the background and border designs; we are pleased with the direction this piece has taken and are looking forward to it completion.

Finally!  The completed illustration!  We like it!

We titled this piece "Kilchis Krawdads"

We all had loads of fun on this expedition and hope you liked our sharing this time with all of you.

Happy day!
Karen Anne and the "Humming Belles"

Great times camping result in latest drawing!

This latest drawing is titled "Rosa's Flounder". We were down at the Pacific Coast in a campsite on Whalen Island the past few days and had great weather and a wonderful time. On Monday morning the camp host, Rosa, came by and showed me her catch of the day, a beautiful flounder, which inspired this drawing. The best part, however, was when she offered to filet the fish and give it to us for dinner! Cooked up in butter with pepper, season salt and garlic powder it proved to be the best tasting fish I have ever eaten! I remarked that it tasted a bit like delicate shrimp and Rosa said it was probably because flounder feed on sand shrimp. Guess I'll have to get a fishing license for my next trip to Whalen Island!

"Rosa's Flounder" 

 We spent time in the Trask River Campground in Tillamook County on Friday and Saturday and actually caught three crawdads!  We gave them back to the river the next day because three wasn't enough to cook up, boy were they happy to get back into the river!  Here are a few photos from the Trask River Campsite ....

After two days at Trask River we headed on over to Whalen Island, another Tillamook County Campground, where I set up my portable art studio and began work on "Rosa's Flounder".  Here are some of those photos ...

Another great discovery was an easy way to get hot water for washing dishes!  I took along an old roaster, filled it with water and dish soap, heated it up on the campstove and had hot water for washing!  Yes!  An added benefit is the lid keeps out bugs and pine needles.  Then I use a 5 gallon water dispenser to rinse the dishes, really makes cleaning up a breeze!

And, if you ever want the BEST camp stove that heats up water in a jiffy ... get yourself a Stansport!  It is almost as good as my domesticated restaurant gas stove at home!

We have found another Tillamook County camp ground we want to check out, it is called Kilchis River Campground.  If the weather holds up, maybe we can get over there sometime in early September, who knows, maybe we'll catch some crawdads over there???
Would be nice to catch enough for a small spiced crawdad feast with melted garlic butter!

Happy camping!
Karen Anne