Winter sleighing

Dashing through the snow was something Margit knew

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Her paintings may look like they came from an old-timey Christmas postcard, but Margit had firsthand experience with traveling by sleigh or cutter during the winter—after all, she was born in the 1800s. (If she had grown up in the time of flying cars, would she have depicted them?)

Margit had stories of both her dad Tarkjel and her husband Palmer using literal horsepower to transport people when the roads weren’t passable by car. At right, Palmer wears a horse-hide coat while waiting to pick up passengers for a sleigh ride. The location is Margit’s parents’ farm, around 1930.

  • ID = 60-12 “Winter sleighing”
  • Detail = 16×20 (original owners Frieda & Ron Nowland)

Baby it’s cold outside

Compare these two cutter scenes — and ask yourself: how would you paint a small sleigh in action without coming across as “quaint” to someone who’s never needed this type of transportation on a cold winter day?

68-49 “Soft snow & sleigh” (16×20) –???

63-29 “Winter Frost Cutter” (18×30) –??