The Rhonda Thompson Story

A local artist brings nature to life

Story by Radhika Madana Mohan
Photos by Rhonda Thompson

It's the wee hours of the morning. The rest of the world is asleep. But Rhonda Locke-Thompson's day is already beginning. She checks her email while having her coffee, and with that, she's off to a day's work.

"Drawing flows off the end of my pencil with such ease. It's the closest thing to life possible for me."

Growing up on a farm on Waterman Hill just outside of Canton, Thompson has been surrounded by wildlife and farm animals all her life. "I grew up on a small farm raising a few milking cows that we milked by hand, several chickens, and at times, pigs."

It's her life in the great outdoors that has fueled her strong appreciation for Mother Nature.  Having had her first pony before turning a year old, she learned to ride as she learned to walk. "His name was Lightening. He was a dark palomino with a white mane and tail," Thompson says. "Under his thick mane, he had a long white streak that looked like a lightening bolt."

Around that time, she began picking up a pen and simply doodling what she thought looked most like a horse or a deer. As she got older, she sketched more and got better at it. "Practice and determination," Thompson says.

She remembers when she was young, both her parents could draw. "My mother loved to doodle women's faces, characters with lipstick and earrings, necklaces. I remember my father could draw naked women. I think he started that when he was in the army. But, they never used their skills. I didn’t want that. I dreamt of using my talent, my gift, one day," Thompson says.

She says it was her family who inspired her to keep drawing and the numerous requests for her paintings from people. "I gave my art away for years as gifts, for birthdays, weddings, and mainly Christmas time. People began asking me to paint something for them so they could give it to someone in their family as a gift, and they are still coming today with special orders and commissioned projects."

Besides her love for horses, Thompson's love for wildlife came from her hunting trips with her father. "Pap was an avid hunter; I would follow him and learned to work a gun and even find my way through the woods. This made me see wildlife and landscapes in a different way," Thompson says. 

"I can immortalize the love and bond that they (people) had with that animal with a portrait."

Thompson credits her natural instincts and love for horses and the wildlife to her Mohawk blood lineage. "My great-great-grandfather on my mother’s side was raised on the St. Regis Reservation. I think a lot of my natural instincts and love with horses comes from that past. It’s in my blood."

She expresses her love for drawing which allowed her imagination to run wild. "Drawing flows off the end of my pencil with such ease. It's the closest thing to life possible for me." She says she finds drawing as natural as breathing, “almost like writing a sentence.”

After raising three children on her own, an experience she describes to have made her stronger, she remarried long after in 1999. "Scott Thompson (husband) never had horses growing up, but was raised like me on a farm as well, with dairy cows, so he was very familiar with farming and the hard labor that went with it like haying and cleaning the barn," Thompson says.

The C-R Little Farm was established shortly after the two were married.  The name was inspired by nicknames the husband-wife duo had growing up. "Scott’s nick name was 'Cuff,' given to him by one of his aunt's, and mine was Rompin. Due to the fact I was always romping the roads on one of the horses, either alone or with a friend," Thompson says. Being only a few acres and starting small, it was only natural to add "Little Farm" to its name. "We started with as few as three horses, but have had as many as twenty-nine at a time!" Thompson exclaims.

What makes C-R Little Farm so unique is that it does far more than selling horses. They barter, or trade, for non-food items. In the past, they have supplied their woodshed with firewood from bartering our stock for firewood, built our hay shed with lumber  that was traded for one of our baby horses, and even traded horses for computers that both Rhonda and her daughter use daily.  "Sometimes instead of selling for cash, it's easier to exchange for items that we need and can’t afford to buy otherwise, which helps others out as well," Thompson says. "If they are willing to sell it in the first place because they don't need it, and would rather trade it for something they can enjoy—it works for both parties. Isn't that how they used to do it in the olden days as well? They traded pork and beef to their neighbors and other folks for vegetables, bread, eggs or chicken. Every farmer bartered with their neighbors and your neighbors always helped the other one out in times when they could use an extra hand to get the job done.  Maybe if we all looked at our neighbors differently and gave a helping hand to someone else when needed, it would be a better world."

In 2000, she started another business, the Tack Shop. It began as a place for her artwork. "My husband talked me into selling my artwork, rather than giving it as gifts all the time. 'Why not make money from it,' he asked," Thompson says.

C-R Creations and More features Thompson’s paintings and drawings. "It's hard to list everything you offer in one name," Thompson says, explaining the reason for the "and more."

The Tack Shop fully opened it doors built at the Thompson's home selling horse supplies. And it has grown since it moved to town late last year. "I’m now not only selling horse supplies, but I also carry Muck and Wolverine boots. Most, if not all, of my supplies and tack are cheaper than the bigger stores as I am the sole employee running the store," Thompson says. "Horses are not a cheap hobby, but it doesn’t have to be expensive if you are a thrifty shopper."

However, due to their hectic lives and being torn between managing the farm and the store, the Thompson’s were forced to downsize the farm. Rhonda takes time off her schedule to avoid burning out on Sunday and Monday, for family and relaxing time. "My services are overwhelming to some people. I offer horses for sale, horse tack and special gift items," Thompson says. She also does a lot of custom orders such as personalized journals, and extravagant full-sized murals for the home. She explains how people have her paint their beloved animals that have passed. "I can immortalize the love and bond that they (people) had with that animal with a portrait," Thompson says.

"I had people tell me, when they saw it, that it was so lifelike that you felt you could reach out and touch the hairs on it, and the wet of its nose and eyes was so real as well that it looked like it could even blink."

Commenting on selling horse, she says, "I try to match people to certain horses by what they are looking for and what the horses need in a person as well. Call me a match-maker for horses and people."

Last year, she started painting with woodcarver Robert Baker. "It was really by chance. I heard of him just by word of mouth. He came to me with a partridge he had carved that needed someone to paint the bird life-like with its large-spanned tail feathers. I had never painted such a large detailed bird before, but was willing to tackle the challenge." Baker, impressed by her work, sold their collaboration throughout the region. Her other side-projects include canvas and saw blades paintings. She also makes custom signs for farms and stables.

One of her personal favorites that she pained is a large rock with an old miner. "When I saw the rock, it was such a magnificent size that it almost spoke to me and told me it needed a special picture." She came up with a sepia-toned miner kneeling at a river bank panning gold. She even hid a horses head within the painting. "People don’t know its there till they are told that there is a hidden picture in it. Some still have to have it pointed out to them," Thompson proudly says.

"Buck at Midnight" is another painting she considers a favorite that she still has a few prints at her store. The original is owned by her nephew. "I had people tell me, when they saw it, that it was so lifelike that you felt you could reach out and touch the hairs on it, and the wet of its nose and eyes was so real as well that it looked like it could even blink."

Thompson has certainly come a long way with horses, paintings, and her passion for wildlife. She fantasizes about someday making enough money form her work to build a custom log cabin, and be able to take vacations with her horses and to leave her children and grandchildren with something to remember. "Not only something to remember me by, but also a foundation of dreams for them to fill for their own," Thompson says.

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