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| Ice Pigeon: just one of the gorgeous impractical creatures in the poultry show--a pigeon with feathered feet. I saw this one being judged and having #1 marked on her tag. |
Last week I packed up a lean sketching kit: sketchbook, watercolour and graphite pencils, and a brush pen, and spent the day sketching at the Royal. I planned my visit for one of the two days featuring the poultry show which is my favourite event at the fair. All those lovely birds, captive and at eye level, make perfect drawing subjects! Of course, the rest of the fair is great too and one day isn't nearly enough time to see and draw it all. Once again there were many fellow sketchers (even the high school kids are now taking advantage of this opportunity).
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| Brown Swiss dairy cow |
This sweet-faced calf was bellowing for her stable mates who were off being groomed somewhere.
Her complacent expression belies her agitation. I drew anyway.
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| Piglets! |
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| Beltsville Small White male turkey |
This grotesque, but magnificent turkey was strutting constantly and "gobble, gobbling" to the screaming delight of the taunting hoardes of school children.
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| Nestling pigeons |
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African Brown Goose "old male" category
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| Call Ducks |
The call ducks are unflappable despite the cacophony all around them.
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| Toulouse Grey geese |
The bonus: this year there were many Ontario cheese makers at the fair selling their goods at
less than retail price. I came home with an armful of cheeses from
Monforte, the Upper Canada Cheese Company, and Woolwich dairy--partly
offsetting the price of my admission.
