Great Aunt Daisy kept Guineas. This was back in the 1970s, and up until this spring, most everything I knew about domesticated fowl- I learned from her guineas. The finer points of guinea behavior I picked up more recently from watching the “Jurassic Park” movies with my son.
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Why do I have holes in so many of my pants? Right near the knees, my blue j
eans gap open. I’m sure the neighbors wonder if I’m trying to be in style with the local teenagers or if I save up old jeans to wear the barnyard. But the truth is, it is a nasty rooster who is ruining my wardrobe.
He’s a big white fellow who waits until my arms are full or I have turned my back. Then he puffs out his chest and jumps at my legs with his claws fully extended. I usually give him a swift kick or shove him away.
Most farmers would have turned him into soup long ago. But the problem is my daughter loves this bird. She raised him from egg to adulthood. And he was such a sweet fluff ball after he hatched from the incubator! How is it he became such a passive-aggressive rooster? We’ve had other roosters and none of them have attacked the hand that feeds them.
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I had lots of visitors today in the Buggy Barn at Lehman’s while working on the Hitching Post Mural. Once I am done with the horse portion of this mural I will paint a Lehman’s sign and a hitching post. My hope is that people will stand by the Hitching Post to take pictures and that is just what happened today! Stan, Sandy, Paul and Brenda from Zanesville, Ohio have already been in the store twice to see the progress on the mural and they even asked if I would take their photo. Don’t they look great?? What fun this was for me and I think they were enjoying it too! They said they’d be back when I was finished for another picture.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sue Steiner
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This is ‘big’ equine art as in 7.5 feet tall to the tip of the back horse’s ears! I am getting the sense of the statement Roy and Rex will make as people enter into Lehman’s and the Buggy Barn. They are big, bold and powerful looking! And kind. If anyone knows drafts, they know these big horses are very often very gentle and sweet-natured. I am enjoying hearing the stories from the ‘English’ or non Amish people in the store who remember having work horses on either their grandparents farm or their own farm growing up. I know that world seems far removed from most of the kids in our society now so I am glad to have a part in keeping those memories alive.
I also am enjoying hearing how original art touches people. I am hearing people tell of how they enjoy creating themselves and they appreciate seeing something others create that is original and hand-painted. As you can see in the one photo I freehand sketched the rough draft of the harness on the wall with chalk and then refine and define with the paint as I go along. I freehand drew the horses on the wall with chalk too in the very beginning which is quite different than drawing on paper because when I drew on the wall I could not see the whole picture. What I did was measure out marks where I thought the tip of the ears should go to, or the crest of the neck or the point of the shoulder to give me some parameters to work within. I made out quite an elaborate draft with points and measurements before I started to get the right porortions but really once I got to drawing it became easier to use my eyes and not the measuring stick! I would NOT make a very good carpenter because I draw much better than I measure!
If the talk of original art and creating things of beauty is of interest to you, mark your calenders for Sat. July 12 so you can come to the Kidron store and see myself and other local artists at work at Lehman’s Local Artisan Festival. I plan on bringing my equine and amish themed art in watercolors, acrylics and pastels. We also will have other artists demonstrating their art such as potters, rug hookers, fiber artists, wood carvers, painters and musicians. Check back often or visit www.kidronarts.com for individual artist’s profiles. To see previous work in progress blog posts click on my name under the title of this entry. To see more of my artwork go to www.suesteiner.com
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I am the artist painting the life sized mural of the team of Belgian Amish work horses at Lehman’s in the ‘Buggy Barn’. These last two days ’Roy and Rex’ took some major steps forward. I worked on getting more definition and depth on the horses yesterday and then today, I began painting on the harness. Saddles, bridles and harnesses are referred to as ‘tack’ so today the horses got tacked up! The team will be painted with a full harness so this will be a long process but very important! Already I can see how impressive these horses will look hitched up and ready to go!
If you go to http://countrylife.lehmans.com/author/suesteiner/ you can see the progression of the mural from blank wall to the current post in reverse order. I will post updates on the mural every couple days so stop back often!
Also mark your calenders for Sat. July 12, 2008. Lehman’s will be having an Art Festival featuring myself and other local artists. I will be bringing equine and amish art to show and sell. To see some of my artwork visit www.amish-art.com
Thanks for stopping by!
Sue Steiner
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I have a strange dance that I’m doing most days in my kitchen. It’s a step, slide, step, slide, turn around, lift over, step slide. If I stand still too long, I get chewed on - either on my knee or calf, through my pant leg.And why, do you ask, am I doing this strange dance? Because of little critters in my kitchen!
On Valentine’s Day this year, my husband Norm brought home a newborn kid for me to care for. His mother was a youngster herself and didn’t know how to care for him, much less have enough milk to feed him. As I held him and warmed him in my arms, I got to thinking - if YOU were given a newborn goat or sheep, could YOU care for it properly?
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Things are moving along on the matched team of belgian horse mural I am painting in the ‘Buggy Barn’ at Lehman’s in the Kidron store. I am still working on the base and ‘blocking in’ and defining muscles and the bone structure of the horses. My hope is this will be a place that the visitors coming into the store stop to have their picture taken. Lehman’s gets visitors from all around the world and even though the Amish sights are common place here in Kidron it is a unique experience for many people. In the last photo you can see the beginnings of the collar and harness for the horses. The harness used is quite elaborate so I have a lot of detail still to do in this area. The horses learn what job is expected depending on the tack they are wearing. In the field and on the farm these animals play a very important role. One of the things I most enjoy is seeing the partnership between animal and people. In the spring during plowing and planting season the farmers are often seen resting their team at the ends of the rows. Slow and steady is what gets the work done. It is quite a different mind set than what is often seen in our world today. The horses also thrive on the routine and when treated with respect enjoy their job. I know with my own horses they enjoy the stimulation and challenge of training and being ridden and in return, as a good horse person, I provide them the care they need. To see more work in progress pics click on my name above under the title of this post and you can see the progression of this mural and others I have painted at Lehman’s. Thanks for stopping by!
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Today was a productive day in the Buggy Barn. Roy and Rex, our matched team of belgian Amish workhorses are begining to take shape! The store was busy with lots of visiors into the Buggy Barn. Everyone was energized and in a good mood in part I am sure to the spring like weather we had today. The man who sells homemade ice cream in the parking lot across the street opened for business today signaling spring is on the way! Another favorite spring sight of mine around the Kidron area is seeing the beautiful work horses, like those in the mural, plowing the fields. I do hope when the mural is finished people will take their picture standing beside the horses and get a sense of how big, strong and steady these animals are! Speaking of draft horses you may want to mark for July 5th to see the Horse Progress Days in Mt.Hope on July 5th. Draft horse people stop by and see how I did on the mural!
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The transformation has begun! I began work in the Buggy Barn on Lehman’s life sized hitching post mural. The mural will consist of a Lehman’s sign, a hitching post and a team of Belgian horses. I am getting the background, sky and horses roughed in at this point. To give you an idea on the size, the horses will stand 17 hands or 68 inches at the withers or shoulders. This is about the size of an actual Belgian horse. Hands are the way in which horses are measured and goes back to when people would measure a horse counting the width of their hands from the ground to the withers. One hand width equals 4 inches. An average riding horse measures 15.2 to 16 hands while draft breeds are often 17 hands and above. Draft breeds also are considerably heavier. So these guys are BIG!
I enjoyed talking to some customers at the store visiting from N. Carolina who have draft horses. I even got to see some photos of their spotted draft colt who is already bigger than a riding horse!
While I was putting in the chalk outline of the horse I asked a couple Amish men who were in the store if they thought I got the height and size right. They said it felt just about right as they made the motion to throw a harness on a horse. This is the kind of stuff that makes this a really fun project! Thanks for stopping by!
