Brotherly Love

"Brotherly Love"
20x24 oil on canvas

When things get too stressful here on the farm, Pa and I like to get away to... well, another farm.

Shaker Village near Lexington, Kentucky is a quaint village of beautiful old buildings built by the Shakers in the early 1800s.  

The setting is rural and peaceful with tall trees, wildflowers, and trails along a creek.

We like to go for their annual antique show in June. Booths are set up under billowing white tents and filled with lovely old pieces, both large and small.

Shaker Village has a good restaurant that often serves produce that was grown in the garden right outside the window. I loved how they planted these varigated rows of lettuce!

There's a barnyard filled with chickens, sheep, oxen and this big fellow!

That was where I spied the inspiration for my painting... two goats sound asleep, one using the other's back to rest his head. Unfortunately, I only had my iphone to take their picture... but it worked and I had fun painting them!

:The Stairs at Shakertown"
16x20 oil on canvas

Several years ago on another trip there, I snapped a photo of the stairs in the restaurant and painted that too. Shakertown is a pleasant place to visit and it seems a good resource for subject matter to paint!