In the Garden

Backyard Poultry

"Chicken Tractor"

Can you guess what’s inside this unusual structure in the garden? Yes—of course—chickens! Inside portable runs (covered with sheets for shade) the chickens till up the soil without being able to gobble up the rest of the garden plants. They act like they’re at the amusement park! The only difficulty was getting the runs in there—you should have watched us maneuver them in between the garden rows, with chickens inside!

Scratch Away!

Here are the chickens inside their palace. They turn over, aerate, weed, and fertilize the soil for the gardener while searching for the insects and earthworms they love. On the downside, these early outings taught my flock to love the garden; now they always make a beeline for it when I let them free-range!

Striking Gold

Now we see, even when confined the chickens would rather eat plants than dirt! From underneath the run covering, Puzzle and the hens discovered those lovely bean leaves were within reach. By the end of the day, all the leaves within six inches of the wire were gone. Oh well, maybe it will get those eggs coming sooner!!

Puzzle Grows Up

Backyard Poultry

A Beautiful Rooster

Well, I had better get back to the chickens, since that rooster is growing faster than you can imagine! In this photo, at 10 weeks of age, the white barring is really coming out beautifully. Tail feathers are just starting to grow, and the small comb is still pink.

Protector of the Flock

We were in for a surprise on the morning Puzzle turned 13 weeks old: a squawky er-er-er-er-er! resounded from the henhouse! The rooster was a real crower (up to 6 or 8 times at once, all through the day!). Puzzle also took on the duty of watching over the flock and was always first at the wire to “protect” its hens from intruding fingers with a hard peck!

Watch That Beak!

Here, 15-week-old Puzzle looks proud to be the king of the flock. The bright red comb is almost full size now, and that beak is very sharp—I was cut more than once! Scratch was Puzzle’s favorite treat; I always like the repeated cluck-cluck-cluck the rooster made to call the hens over when we threw some in!

Autumn Pastorale 5

Artist's Gallery

Finishing Touches

What do you think of the white I added to the pond and sky? It transformed the scene into a windy day, with clouds blowing and water rippling. I think I went a little overboard with waves, but it is a neat effect. Also, by brightening up the closer trees even more, I lost a few nice shadows. But overall, this is a lovely picture of a beautiful fall day, especially as we watch the leaves fall this autumn, three years later!

Autumn Pastorale 4

Artist's Gallery

Trees Take Shape

Now the autumn colors are really blossoming. I worked golden yellow, bright red, and emerald green highlights into the forest, with sepia brown for the shadows. I sharpened up the buildings a lot too. Also notice the cows, fence, and birdhouses; they’re harder than they look! This is actually my favorite stage of the painting, with the brilliant colors and perfect mirror reflection. But I thought the scene needed a little more activity, so I went on and messed with it a bit more.

Autumn Pastorale 3

Artist's Gallery

Texturing the Hillside

Not much has changed here, but I wanted to show how I wrinkled up the grassy hill. I used all different shades of green, blue, and yellow to get the effect of sunny hills and shadowed recesses. This is the most dramatic stage of the painting for the grass, as the colors become more blended together later on. I especially like the shading on the area to the right of the black barn. The canvasses are going to be hung about an inch apart like this when they’re finished.

Autumn Pastorale 2

Artist's Gallery

Defining Scenery

Now it’s time to sketch in the farm spread, forest, and preliminary shadows on the hill. As I did the scenery, I painted it upside down, and a little lighter, in the pond at the same time (this is the easiest way to do reflections). The trees don’t look very natural at this point, as I was concentrating on placement and used very dark shades of color. In fact, I’ve been told that the farmhouse trees are all floating off the ground—which they actually are!

Autumn Pastorale 1

Artist's Gallery

Setting the Scene

I loved painting with acrylics, and, soon enough, plunged into a big project! These two 18” by 24” canvases will be painted side by side with (hopefully) a picturesque farm scene. So here’s the base coat. This layer not only establishes the hue range and shadow areas of the grass and pond, but also sort of seals the canvas so future paint goes on smoothly and brightly. I applied most of the paint with a fine sponge.

Tropical Dreams

Artist's Gallery

Tropical Dreams

Here is my first acrylic painting. It was actually a kit, so all I had to do was follow the directions like a paint-by-number. It was a great study of light and shadows, though, and taught me a lot about acrylics. Here is a poem I wrote about the picture later on:

The sun shines warm on glowing fruit,
Even the shadows echo the light
From pineapple fronds and curly scales
That vividly shimmer yellow-white.
While, hidden in shadow, the tropical hues
Of papaya and kiwi are vibrant with green;
The mango and kumquats, golden and orange,
Finish off this radiant scene.