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'm still plugging away with my watercolors and I have a couple to share that are at least recognizable. On September 8th we went to Meyer's Hatchery in Polk, OH. to pick up six tiny chicks. They are the cutest things ever and Gena and I have been spending as much time as possible with them so they will not only be good egg layers but also good friends.  The new additions to our family are Maggie, Debi(both named after high school classmates), Amelia, Susy(named after my junior high German teacher), Harriet and Cuddles. This painting was my third attempt and although it has a lot of flaws I'm happy with it. I painted this from one of my photos....no way I can sketch constantly moving chicks! Amelia, as in Amelia Earhart,  is the yellow chick and was so named because she was trying to fly since she was a day old. Amelia is a Blue Ameracana, which is considered a rare breed. Susie is a Barred Rock and although she was named after my German teacher, her name also pays tri...

 We finally had a family of Canada geese show up yesterday! The adults, unlike most, seem to be ok with me standing close enough to get some nice photos. What really struck me about the 8 goslings was the amount of fighting going on between them. The fighting was not playful bantering and I had an awful feeling one or two could be killed. This morning when they showed up there were only 7 goslings. There is no way to know for sure what happened to one of the goslings but I do wonder if one of its siblings killed it. We've had a lot of geese on our property and I have never seen goslings fight this viciously.