Livestock

This past Saturday I went to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair armed with a small sketchbook, a grey marker and a black pen.  It's been about a year since I tried drawing anything from life like this.  You always see art students there with their sketchbooks and I'm a little envious of them since they're drawing all day, every day while they're in school so they're already in the zone.  It took me a while to warm up but I'm happy with what I did.  I wanted to just relax and draw gesturally.


It's quite a spectacle being around so many large animals!  I was little freaked out being so close to such HUGE cows, like they're right THERE, no fencing.  Not like I was worried about being attacked by one but they're so BIG and HEAVY it's quite a sight when they suddenly decide to lay down or stand up.  Besides the cows there were the usual mix of sheep, goats, pigs and horses.  We missed the horses, again, this year since they're kept in a separate building and we always forget about them until we've already left.

It's also pretty neat seeing a whole industry that I know nothing about.  In the Exhibitors area there are a few hundred stalls selling horse and farm paraphernalia.  Saddles, crops, machinery, jumping posts.  I don't even know what half the stuff is called or what it's for.  There's also people selling local food and merchandise.  It's like a comic con for horsey people.