Back in June the family and I visited Parkwood Farm in Upper Dicker, East Sussex for Open Farm Sunday. This fantastic country-wide event takes place in June each year where participating farms list their event on the LEAF Open Farm Sunday webpage, allowing the public to find a farm near them and book their spot for a tour.
We had a great day out at Parkwood Farm, a large family run dairy farm who work in partnership with dairy products producer Arla. The visit consisted of a tractor tour of the whole farm, a guided tour of the cows and barns, including a talk on feed, cows, a talk from the vet and also the hoof cleaner. We also unexpectedly walked away with some cheese and cold milk drinks! I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone at Parkwood – they were so welcoming to us and really informative.
Whenever I’m out and about I often take photos of scenes that inspire to me to paint and the friesian cows were stunning.
Here are a few of my photos from the trip – we were blessed with beautiful weather.
Back in the studio, I chose one of the snaps to make a painting. Here is ‘In the Yard’, 16 x 12 inches oil on canvas board.
I’m delighted to say that the painting sold almost as soon as I’d shown it online! If you want to see more of paintings like this, please do drop me a line. I mostly paint figurative work but being a Sussex artist, the landscape and surroundings often inspire me. I’ve previously worked on both bird and equestrian pieces, which you can see here. I’ve known of artists before working on many a cow painting. I think there’s something so calming about them, that makes them such a delight to paint.
Check out the Open Farm Sunday website for an event near you.