Whenever the mercury climbs above 90 degrees, I’m ready to head up to our little cabin in the mountains. Even though our home is at 2300 feet, it still gets plenty warm here.
This week was the first really hot one of the year and I’m finding the older I get, the longer it takes to get acclimated to the heat. While owning a ‘vacation home’ is likely the dream of most people, it comes with its own set of issues. Too many to go into here, but my point is, that ‘dream’ has become more trouble than it’s worth for the time we have to spend there so we’ve put the cabin up for sale.
Echo Lake
However, letting go is hard. It’s more than some walls and a roof. The Echo cabin represents an entire era, generations of memories seeped in rich history of my dad, my brother . . . an entire lifestyle that is indigenous to living at Echo Lake.
Even when the cabin sells though, we’ll be able to hold onto those feelings and memories and cherish them.
I’ve taken scores of photos of the lake, the resort and cabin, and written the fascinating story how it all got started, but I thought it’d be fun to do a little cabin ‘portrait’ for Mom.
True, it’s not much to look at. Mom always describes it as “one step above camping” which it is. We do have indoor plumbing and electricity, something the 150 cabins around the lake do not have. We are right off of Echo Road, yet have a lot of privacy, save for the wildlife and an occasional hiker who’s missed the trail.
I chose to use watercolors again, my latest passion. I colored in the drawing from above, let it dry and then added some ink details.
It fascinates me how you can draw a simple sketch, add a layer or two of watercolor, and it comes out pretty cute.
Oh, in case you’re wondering if we actually see bears up there . . .
. . . we saw this guy two years ago, right by our car. (This was taken thru the window while I was standing INside the cabin.)
What a difference between this little guy and the buck I drew a few months ago!
But that’s the beauty of watercolor, there’s charm in its simplicity – even prior to the ink detailing of the foliage.
While I am knee-deep in pet paintings – gratefully so – it’s fun to paint a house (or cabin) ‘portrait’. Mainly because it’s an exercise in simplicity for me. I tend to get lost in the details of projects and I feared drawing and painting homes would take me straight down that road. But I’m finding that by keeping the painting simple and loose, there is a nice feel to it. And I love including one or two special features – a kitty or dog or . . .
. . . an old sign hanging on a tree trunk.
At some point I’ll add a saying or phrase to it but I haven’t come up with the right one yet. Perhaps it’ll come to me when we get up to the cabin to get it ready to sell.
For now I’m just enjoying the little portrait that’s serving as a reminder of a lifetime of carefree summers.
Do you have a ‘vacation’ home or a place you go to every summer? Maybe you went somewhere as a child? I’d love to hear!
Colleen
Oh it looks lovely so relaxing exactly where I would like to be right now, sitting on the chair with my knitting.