JACK DANIEL’S PARADISE

A TENNESSEE TRIP AND A NEW PAINTING



HAVING FUN AT "THE JACK"



Lynchburg, Tennessee is American heartland. More than a lovely village, it is a composite of all that makes the South and particularly Tennessee so exciting and colorful. On this lovely Saturday of the annual Jack Daniel’s World Championship International Barbecue Competition, I arrived with a camera, sketch pad and good pencil to begin one of my new art projects: capturing all these people, flags, bands, dancers, ancient buildings and barbecue and transferring them “my way” onto a canvass.

This isn’t just another barbecue festival. It’s what old-timers named “The Jack,” the world’s most revered competition of its kind and global in every sense of the word. This event brings people in from the four corners of the earth.

The blessings I received were many. First, I met David Hazelwood, who along with wife Claudia owns Parish Patch Farm and Inn where I lodged comfortably during my visit. This is where I want to live, I thought. Beautiful, bucolic, peaceful and loaded with beautiful living things. If you visit Middle Tennessee, treat yourself to a few days and nights at Parish Patch. Like the old song celebrates, it’s “almost heaven.” www.parishpatch.com. .

They say time flies when you’re having fun and I have to get back to the easel. There are so many scenes to paint. “The Jack” is really challenging, but I love to dream about what this painting can be when finished.

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