Best of the Barnyard 1

Artist's Gallery

Underpainting

If I asked you to guess one subject I would choose to paint, that I've not touched yet, what would it be? If you guessed chickens, you're right! Chicken Lover + Artist = Poultry Painter. Or, in the words of one of my friends at my art class, I am the "Rembrandt of the Barnyard"! Well, as it turned out, spending hours observing my hens did not seem to improve my poultry painting abilities much.

When I finally decided to tackle chickens, I decided to do my two favorite hens from my first flock: Buckeye and Midnight. I proceeded to follow them around with a camera taking fifty pictures each, and a few of every other hen in my flock "for reference" on the tough spots. Okay, it is kind of hard to get a chicken to pose in that perfect position you want! You can see actual photos of both of them here and here. Above is a watery painted sketch of the scene I wanted. Notice on the brown hen how my shading is already off: the shadows on the wing are much darker than the leg . . . we'll have to see about that one.