The Barron-Coles Wedding, The Canal, Seattle

For the Barron-Coles wedding, I was privileged to return to one of the very first venues at which I have created a live painting. The Canal overlooks the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, a.k.a. the Ballard Locks, on the ship canal connecting Lakes Washington and Union with Puget Sound. It's the site of the infamous, nearly perennial battles between the Washington State Department of Fisheries and and certain lox-eating California sea lions. The view is entrancing, especially for lovers of yachts and other maritime comings and goings. But because the event venue is a stone's throw downstream from the actual locks that raise and lower vessels between lake and sea level, the crowds of tourists which gawk there are kept at a distance. There is actually a sense of privacy where we were perched. And this was a family gathering.