Picnic in Mississippi

Half the fun of going on a picnic is driving there in nice car on a pleasant day, and so that's what this diorama is all about. A 1957 Studebaker Silver Hawk certainly qualifies as a nice car, and in this case the happy couple are in the town of Natchez, on the banks of the Mississippi River, in the state of Mississippi.

The background for this little diorama is a photo my wife Pam took while
we were on holidays in the USA in 2011, and it's the grounds of an historic
plantation in Natchez. She also provided the inspiration for the dio as
well, as she is an artist, and her latest exhibition is part of a group exhibition
entitled "31 Days". For it, each of half a dozen artists produced 31 paintings
in 31 days, and Pam chose as her theme the grey, ethereal hanging Spanish
moss that droops from the Southern Live Oak trees both here at the plantation
and throughout the Southern States of the USA. So while she did some
incredible paintings of Spanish moss, I parked a car underneath some and
laid out a simple picnic for two.

I've always liked Studebakers, particularly the models of the second half
of the 1950s, such as this 1957 Silver Hawk. The diecast model itself is
 by Solido, and it's a good example of how a cheap $10 model can sometimes
become a real favourite in a collection where many other models can cost
five or 10 times as much. I just like the colours and its lines.