"Erling, an Icelandic pony"

"Erling" oil on 11x14 board

Kai-Liis is an Artist with a love of animals special ones she is the proud owner of Erling and Birker Icelandic ponies and a donkey for company called Casper.  Her boys are housed at the moment in their winter quarters at Onice.

Erling and Birkir came from Iceland together at the ages of 5 &6, & they've always been at the same stable (owned by 2 artists!).  So now they're together at my farm, with mini-donkey Casper.  Birkir is the talkative one, when he sees me approaching with a carrot.  Erling will look, then stand back & wait.  He's a bit more feisty than Birkir, but they're both in their twenties now, but you wouldn't know it! Erling used to be shown & compete - & I gather he did pretty well. I have a couple of lovely photos of him tolting!"  Kai-Liis

Kai-Lee is an artist and her work can be seen here:http://www.kai-liis.com/

Loose Tulips!

Tulips, oil on 8x10 board

Warning step back  when looking at this picture! Squinting is Better!

Another week of freezing cold temperatures ! I didn't realize how much I missed colour ! I did have a lovely pot of Azaleas bright pinky red which are sort of struggling to keep going, they were good to look at and cheered up the Parlour a lot.

But somehow I didn't think about painting them, looking through photo's I found some tulips a small crowd of them different colours, they looked bright and cheery I used 8 x 10 board and got down to painting in a loose style, trying to see the different colours in each one, my suggestion is not to look at it too close as the subject looks all over the place. 

I just had fun with a lot of paint on the pallet to see how it turned out! and here it is,

It took about a couple of hours. I guess you could say it looked like I was going to catch a train and had to finish it in a hurry!

Hey it's all  good practice.

Babs

"The Two of Us"

"The Two of Us" Oil on 11x14 board

Onice  Farm.  https://www.facebook.com/OnIceHorseFarm

A few weeks ago the ponies were moved to different fields so they were all excited with the change but, these two decided to pay us a visit to check out if there might have been a treat. They stayed near by for a while John was able to get a shot as they waited looking a little contemplative, one of their Favourite snacks is black sun flower seeds, apparently very good for them better than carrots or apples. Luckily Wendy one of the owners had something for them. There is nothing sadder than a horse waiting for a treat!

P.S.  Treats for horses:   always ask an owner if you can give a treat  We were told that black sun flower seeds are good for the horses hair and they enjoy them a lot.
 
Babs

Here's Looking at You!

"Here's Looking at You!" oil on 11x14 board

A start to 2014

This picture is an experiment for a really good close up of An Icelandic pony in winter. The purpose was giving me the opportunity to work on horses eyes and dabble in working on their thick fur in the winter. They almost have a look of a cave man drawing.

Knowing a little about the Iceland ponies they are lucky their top coat is water proof and a thick underlay of soft fur protects them from severe winter weather, even so I will be relieved when the weather gets a little warmer.

I must admit right now being well below zero degrees and today a bone numbing freezing cold minus 26 degrees which has triggered Ice quakes over  the last few day's I have been thinking a lot about all animals outside in this weather.

This year we sure are having one heck of a winter!

The original photo was taken at Onice Horse Farm:

https://www.facebook.com/OnIceHorseFarm

Friday January 3rd

Babs

Fenja

"Fenja" oil on 11x14 board

Fenja is a special Icelandic pony at Onice Farm

She is 26 years old, a Mom, Grandmother and Great-grandmother. She was the first pony at Onice farm. A special horse for the family.

I chose to paint her mainly because of the challenge, a lovely colour on a background of snow, certainly a good time of year, almost Christmas like.

Fenja gave me a few problems concentrating on her top coat of the season. The fur tended to vary with reflections from the snow and then a lot of snow covering her coat a real challenge to work on and make it look  real. Quite a few brushes were tried with not very much success,but, eventually at a distance the picture seemed to work!              

Babs

A Morning at Onice Farm

Keeping an eye on us!

The painting by Babs we delivered

We had a great experience on Saturday morning, we met up with Brian,Wendy and Sydney at Onice Farm to deliver some paintings, we had an invitation for coffee and  being it was a cold morning that was welcome and gave us a little time to get to know our new friends .

Afterwords we were taken to see the rest of the family about 11 very furry horses in a paddock near the house. We were thrilled to have such close contact to pet them and get to know their Icelandic names. John was able to take a few shots while I took advantage of some close petting, they have their winter coats on so the snow just stayed on their fur they are very inquisitive and enjoyed the attention !  We had the time to to see the rest of the herd in their winter quarters all came to greet us again they were eager to see who we were and if there were some treats in the offing.

Our tour of the stables and Arena was stunning. We could see how much these horses mean to this family, they know each horse by name amazing to us, as there are so many in the herd.

There is a video here so you can see the herd in action

All in all a good way to start the festivities. Thanks Guys we learned a lot and enjoyed every moment.
Now we have to get some of that winter clothing, Maybe Santa will get us for Christmas?


Onice farm is on Facebook here:

Onice Horse Farm