I heard that there was an Andrew Wyeth exhibit at the SAM and discovered there were a few more days left before it closed and moved on. Wyeth was my watercolour drybrush inspiration since high school and this exhibit fulfilled a long held dream. It was easy to recruit Blogless Marsha to come along, unlike the time I coerced her into a Barry Manilow concert. She will admit to enjoying that, though.
So started my 36 hour adventure. C dropped me at the Amtrak station at sunrise.
Sitting on the right side while travelling southbound, the scenery is beautiful.
Two and a half hours later I was in the heart of downtown Seattle. The plan was to meet M at 3:00. In the meantime I got in a few miles of urban walking past Starbuck's headquarters, stopping for lunch for an authentic Cubano sandwich and tostones at Cafe Con Leche, geocaching at Outdoor Research's parking lot, then reaching my final destination of Daniel Smith, manufacturers of fine professional watercolours, many made from ground gemstones.
All my overnight items were contained in a full backpack so my purchases were limited. That's a good thing. Really, so many good experiences in a short period of time, there was no need to buy a thing, however, there was probably some drool left on the floor of DS. One of these days I'll spring for their turquoise paint made of stone from Arizona's Sleeping Beauty Turquoise mine.
The best was yet to come. Thanks to Uber I could spend more time at my stops and still meet M for our museum entry time. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wyeth's birth, this retrospective collection contained over 100 paintings. I'd guess a third were watercolour and 2/3's done in his egg tempera method. It was a rare opportunity to get close enough to see the actual brushstrokes.
One of my favourites was Maga's Daughter, a portrait of his wife, named in honour of his mother-in-law.
The exhibit wound through many rooms for an opportunity to see paintings I had only read about, and as I turned each corner, I waited for Christina's World, his most famous painting. Not to be. I found out that it lives permanently at NY's Metropolitan Museum of Art and is not planning on travelling. Not a problem, I was grateful to see what was there knowing it was no small feat to arrange so many painting in one spot from many locations.
I spent the night with M & D, enjoying good food, wine and conversation. On yet another beautiful sunny rain-free morning M indulged my geocaching craving. In her neighbourhood we discovered the "Trollboth cache," one of the best I've seen. Spoiler alert: the cache was cleverly placed inside the mouth at the bottom of the structure.
After a dinner of homemade Mac 'n Cheese I boarded the Amtrak back to our temporary quarters in Bellingham, WA. A relaxing end to a whirlwind 36 hours.
