My GREAT Day at the Farm!

Ottawa Urban Sketchers report on the day at the Experimental Farm

I have just finished a blog post on the Ottawa UrbanSketchers blog "What a Great Day at the Farm" that includes photos and sketches from some of the artists that attended. To see more of their work, visit our Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1708303006086325/

I love cows and horses. It's a lifelong love of mine since I was a young girl and spent many hours at the Pollard's farm on First Line West in Mississauga many, many, many years ago.

Lots of sketchers stopped to sketch the Clydesdales and I definitely wanted to sketch them too but they were really frisky and active, it being early in the morning, so I headed over to the dairy barn to start sketching.

I am told that a young girl has named this cow "Penelope"

"Penelope" was actually my second sketch in the dairy barn. The cow that I had started to sketch was standing then decided to lay down after a few minutes. This happens - it's to be expected.

After the dairy barn, I went over to the small animal barn and found the animals quite active and  stimulated by all of the visitors, like this mother goat with her two kids that I videotaped.


The advice that I would give to folks who have never sketched farm animals is to find some sleeping animals to start. Something that I did as well in the small animal barn. I found this lovely little group snoozing ever so peacefully.

Sleeping sheep

I sketched the sheep in a different style (actually got carried away with the hay). I love experimenting.


I was about half way in on the sketch below when I thought to myself that I had bit off way more than I could chew. Time was running out. The sun was moving across the farm and changing the lighting rapidly.

Sketching from a shady spot on the farm

Last sketch of the day - the Clydsedale