Nature Sketching 3: Riverdale Farm

Saturday was the third sketching class and this time we went to Riverdale Farm.  I've lived in the GTA for over 30 years and it was my first visit.  Rather fun.  Our guest this week was a Veterinarian and our subject was gesture sketching using the farm animals.  Rather like life drawing classes were the model changes poses quickly.  Some of the animals moved quickly.  Others held their pose for several minutes or would come back to a similar place as they ate.

The vet had diagrams of how arm and leg bones in humans align with the similar limbs in dogs and horses.  I was surprised to learn that what I had thought was the knee in animals is really the equivalent of my ankle!  No wonder it bends in a strange direction.

The horse's body stayed relatively still as he ate some hay.  His front end moved a lot but he kept coming back to a similar pose.  The cow was curled up for a while until the other one came over and butted in on her space.  The goats, chickens and pigs didn't seem to understand the concept of staying still so they were fun to try and capture.