Fantasy Farms Plein Air

What:     Plein air paint-out
When:    Saturday, March 4, 2017
Time:     9 AM to 1 PM
Where:  Fantasy Farms Animal Preserve, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 

We have quite an exciting adventure planned  for this coming Saturday. Kevin Arthur has arranged for us to go to Fantasy Farms Animal Preserve in Ponte Vedra. Fantasy Farms is not generally open to the public. We will meet in the back parking lot of Christ the Redeemer Church in on S. Roscoe Blvd. in Ponte Vedra Beach.

When you get to the far back parking lot there is a small pathway that leads off into the secluded and well-hidden animal preserve.

We hope for better weather than we had for the Fountain of Youth! But for those of you who woke up on that raw, chilly morning and decided to roll over and stay in bed you will get one more chance  to paint peacocks, even if fewer of  them than the Fountain of Youth had.

But there are other birds as well contained in cages. Some are quite vocal though, and one of them said "hello" to me with such a human voice that I actually replied to it before I realized it was a bird and not a person. Several others not only said hello but gave me wolf whistles - a first time in 40 years!

 There are other animals besides birds too, like these llamas.

 Also goats, and donkeys. Plenty of animals to choose from if you choose to paint one. It's also a car museum!

If it should prove to be a very warm day there is plenty of shade there, so everyone should be comfortable. Let;s have a great turnout this month.

Here's what they said in First Coast Magazine...

About 120 animals live at Fantasy Farms, a 2-acre animal sanctuary tucked away off Roscoe Boulevard in Ponte Vedra Beach. It is an exotic place, home to many creatures from around the world, including lemurs, macaws, roosters, peacocks, wallabies, a Genet (small animal that resembles a wild cat) and a Capuchin monkey. For years it was a privately owned secret, open only to invited guests. The mission is education, regarding the care of animals and birds, President Frank Barker says. Most are rescues, formerly pets of people who couldn’t adequately care for them. 

But it’s not just an animal sanctuary, with creatures housed in pens, cages and wandering the grounds, as the peacocks do. It is also a car museum, featuring one-of-a-kind automobiles, including a Rolls Royce once owned by fried chicken magnate Colonel Sanders, actor Don Johnson’s Porsche from Miami Vice and a 1954 Foxtrot MG. Fantasy Farms founder Louie Williams, a successful interior designer, travels the country looking for unique artifacts for his clients, and collects cars that capture his fancy, operations manager Ramon Jimenez says. With the animals and cars surrounded by lush vegetation, it’s a magical oasis for visitors.