 |
| 4/15/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Sailor pen, Canson XL 140 lb. paper |
Did my blog post title get your attention? It got mine when
I saw it as the subject line of an e-mail I received today.
On a few occasions, I’ve seen goats “mowing” hilly,
overgrown properties within the city, but they’ve always been too far from the
street to sketch. My friend Tony let me know that a herd of goats was busily at
work near I-5 in the Roosevelt neighborhood, in case I was interested in
sketching them. Who could resist a lead like that? I dashed right out.
 |
| 4/15/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Sailor pen, Canson XL 140 lb. paper |
The goats, managed by Rent-a-Ruminant,
had quite an audience when I arrived at the property just off the Northeast 65th
Street freeway exit. People of all ages were peering through the chain link
fencing, snapping pictures of the ruminants as they grazed on long grasses, weeds
and blackberry bushes. The land slopes up abruptly there, and I could see how
humans with power mowers would have difficulty clearing the area, but it was no
problem for these hungry goats. A human team member helped them out with a weed
whacker.
 |
| 4/15/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink |
Capturing a large number of goats grazing on the slope in
one composition was difficult. After a while, I gave up on that and moved over
to a flatter part of the property, where nearly half the herd (I counted a
total of 38) was chewing their cud or simply dozing. These resting ruminants
gave this city girl a rare opportunity to sketch details of their strange horizontally
slotted eyes and wispy beards. Sure, I’ve sketched goats at the Puyallup Fair and Woodland Park Zoo, but somehow these urban goats seemed more laid
back. After all, they get hired to eat, rest and repeat – not a bad way to earn
a living.
 |
| 4/15/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink |
 |
| 4/15/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink |
 |
| Rent-a-Ruminant employees on duty. |
one composition was difficult. After a while, I gave up on that and moved over
to a flatter part of the property, where nearly half the herd (I counted a
total of 38) was chewing their cud or simply dozing. These resting ruminants
gave this city girl a rare opportunity to sketch details of their strange horizontally
slotted eyes and wispy beards. Sure, I’ve sketched goats at the Puyallup Fair and Woodland Park Zoo, but somehow these urban goats seemed more laid
back. After all, they get hired to eat, rest and repeat – not a bad way to earn
a living. 
Good sketches and amusingly written account!
ReplyDelete--Kate
Fun blog posts, TIna. Great sketches too. I went to sketch Easter farm animals at a mall today. Total failure. Blog post soon :-)
ReplyDeleteCheers --- Larry
I have the most beautiful picture of two neonate doelings sleeping in a box together. I am hoping to get it done well and entered in the state fair art show here. We raise Nubians and had five doelings this year (a set of quads were born and two died by the time we found them; we didn't even sex the dead ones - too heart-breaking to lose them in the first place). We have a kind of hobby farm at the moment, and are up-sizing to a "real" farm this year.
ReplyDeleteYes, your title really caught my eye!