Robin Arnold Art

It's cold outside--30 something--sunny and breezy. I'm sitting in the coop (again) on a "bale" of pine shavings with the back door open so the sun will warm the inside of the coop. I let our young chickens outside in the chicken yard a little while ago, but they don't want to stay out--they get too cold. One by one they come in and jump up on my legs. They are growing so fast that I only have room for one on each knee. Patches of sunlight streaming in through the open back door warm the shavings on the floor and all 5 babies lie down in front of me. They have their wings and legs stretched out to soak in the sun. Debi has her butt in Harriet's face; Amelia has her eyes closed. They jostle and step on top of each other to get the best spot to sun. They are a happy pile of babies--it's had to tell where one leaves off and another starts. And now, Debi has moved off and is taking a dust bath in the shavings. I may have to use the heat lamp tonight if it g

I  finished this carving! This hunk of bark sat on my bench for a few months before I ever touched it with a carving knife. I kept waiting for it to speak to me but apparently this piece  was mute. I thought it looked like some kind of bird but I was hesitant to start. Eventually, I decided to carve  an owl. I was happy with the results but then I was afraid to paint it for fear I would ruin my carving so it sat for several more months. With Christmas looming I decided I had to finish this piece so I could put it in my Etsy shop. Since great-horned owls have a lot of brown on them I thought  leaving most of the owl unpainted would be a good idea but I still needed to  accent the feathers or the carving would look pretty blah. Enter the wood burner. I bought this a year ago as a birthday gift to my spouse but I think I've used it more than she has. It made the owl pop without mucking it up with paint. For more details check it out in my Etsy shop at: https://www.etsy.com/lis

The last few days have been gorgeous in Ohio; so gorgeous that the bullfrogs are lined up all along the bank of the pond enjoying the sun. They know that soon they'll be buried in the muck until spring so they're taking advantage of this bonus weather. I sketched this little guy near the back of the house along with his snaky friend. The drink is swamp juice, a replacement for orange juice in northwest Ohio. The frogs weren't the only ones basking in the sun. This is Susie and Harriet, two of our 8 week old hens we bought from a hatchery in Polk, OH. Susie, on the left, is a Barred Rock and Harriet is a Golden Laced Wyandotte.

Sketching and painting from my photos hasn't been going well lately so after disgustedly  throwing another one in the waste basket I decided to try sketching without any reference material. I figure I'm almost 60 years old so there should there be something floating around in my head that I can pull out. The first one I sketched was this Teddy bear sitting on a rug drinking a beer and eating snacks.  I went to bed thoroughly  bummed out after spending the evening trying to sketch an animal from one of my photos . While I was swearing  I would never try this crazy stuff again I picked up my sketchpad to do who knows what. I had no reference photo and I wasn't interested in drawing a blob of fur from one of our two dogs who were already curled up in a ball and fast asleep. In around 15 minutes I had drawn this very simple Teddy bear and the following morning I added the watercolor which really made it pop. Is it perfect?...not by a long shot. Teddy looks lik