travel
Lake Crescent
One of the highlights of this summer was getting to make a quick foray up to the Olympic Peninsula with a dear friend. She was kind enough to share with me one of her treasured places-Lake Crescent. We had quite an adventure getting there (over 10 hours of travel for me) and tent sites can’t be reserved at the camp ground near the lake so when we finally got there after a major road closure, we found that the campground was full. Quick Googling found us another campsite not too far away and we were able to spend the night there and the next day, we woke up and had this view to look forward to. Lake Crescent in all its glory. Worth it!
Slice of Life
Here’s a look at what’s been in my sketchbook and on my table recently.
Final Kolkata Adventures
We spent some time in the South Park Street Cemetary, a historic walled cemetery that housed many British citizens from the colonial era. It was extremely sobering to see the ages listed on many of the large monuments. It was rare to see an age over 40. According to a booklet we got at the office, British citizens who traveled to India lasted about two monsoon seasons before succumbing to tropical diseases.
Our trip to India was remarkable-a land of many contrasts and incredible energy, but I have to admit that it is good to be home!
Sketching in Kolkata
Final UK Sketching adventures
As promised, here is the last of my sketching adventures in the UK, mostly of things I brought back and a little bit of sketching on the way home.
Artist's Eye in Edinburgh
Here is the second to last blog post about my sketching adventures in the U.K. this past August! If you’re getting this on my email newsletter, feel free to click through to the blog to see my previous sketches in Ireland! Updates about my Artist’s Eye on Spokane Book Kickstarter and the shows I’ll be at this holiday season.
Now: SCOTLAND!
Ireland is Gorgeous!
We spent several days roaming about Ireland. I know that the UK experienced a severe drought this summer, but it rained several times while we were there and, as a Spokanite, I hadn’t seen rain in months. It was excellent but confusing.
Megan Sketches in the U.K.
It is the summer of international travel for me! I jaunted off to the UK with my family-Ireland, the UK and Scotland this time!
Leavenworth Weekend
At the end of June, I went off to a weekend in Leavenworth with a group of my college friends to celebrate our 30th birthdays. We stayed in a house twenty minutes out of Leavenworth with a hot tub and a killer view of the mountains.
Sketching in Japan
This is the last of my blog posts about my trip to Japan. We spent the last part of our trip in Kyoto and then Osaka. I'd love to go back. Perhaps I can connect up with Spokane's sister city Nishinomiya!
Artist Adventures in Japan pt 2
We were fortunate to see Mt. Fuji. Normally she is shrouded in mist. I grew up just south of Seattle and a common phrase there, usually uttered in celebratory tones, is, "The mountain is out!" Back there, "the mountain" is always Mt. Rainer. In Japan, "the mountain" is Mt. Fuji. I love the stamp I got at the post office half way up the mountain. It is SO CUTE.
Japan Adventures
So to add to the excitement of finishing my 52 week painting project, at the end of May I took off for Japan with my parents and brother for a little family adventure. We went to Tokyo, Kyoto, Kanazawa, Takayama, and Osaka. I had a great time and I'd love to go back to Japan just for a painting excursion, though I'm feeling very lucky that we just missed the earthquake in Osaka.
Costa Rican Rainforest Adventures
Well, it may not seem to make much sense, starting off a blog called "Artist's Eye on Spokane" with a post about a trip to Costa Rica, but I'm doing it anyway. A test run to make sure that everything is working (Is this on? Can anybody hear me?) and it is the most exciting thing to have happened to me recently. Plus, who doesn't like pictures of exotic places?
So! To start off, I'm Megan Perkins, artist and explorer extraordinaire (Hey, I'm writing this, that means I get to style myself however I like!). Last October I was on my way back to a trip to Hawaii when I did a quick painting of an Alaska Airlines airplane while waiting for my flight to board.
Long story short, when I got home, I put this picture up on social media and Alaska Airlines found it. They shared it on their Instagram account where it became one of the top nine most liked images for 2016. An Alaska Airlines representative emailed me to ask for my address because they'd like to send me something. "Sure," I told them, thinking "Alaska Airlines totebag!"
Guys, it was two round trip tickets to anywhere Alaska flies!!! OH MY GOSH, I was SO excited. Costa Rica stood out for obvious reasons (WARM, TROPICAL, and I've never been there!). I immediately began planning and we left mid-April for 10 days in the (nearly) equatorial country, exploring volcanic national parks, rain forests, rivers, and cloud forests.
There are a lot of exotic looking plants. Some were familiar, house plants where we live. Others, I had no idea what there were!
Let's end with a picture of the beautiful Quetzal. Worshiped as a god by the Aztecs, they are colorful birds with stunningly long tail feathers and slightly mournful call. As a child, I had an A to Z Animal Pop Up Book and, you guessed it, Q was for Quetzal. I never thought I would actually see this magnificent bird in person, but now I can say that I have and what an experience it was.