It's going to be an interesting couple of months... Last Friday I went for training as a "Lister" for the 2010 census. It's temporary work (I hope) to help tide things over and I'm happy and lucky to have been chosen. It will probably mean a lot less painting - but I'm going to keep to a schedule of painting in the evenings. Likely they'll be smaller works like the one posted here. I hope to be able to work four ten hour days so that I can be working on the outdoor mural job two days a week. The clients are not in a hurry, but I want to finish before hot weather, and in Georgia we see the 90's by mid June.
In addition to my Black Bird series, I've got a thing for little chicks. I think it stems from having raised several of those poor little dyed Easter chicks as a child. My dad used to bring a few home each year much to my mother's distress. That was in the days before folks were aware of how awful things were for the baby chickens. Ours were relatively lucky, as my siblings and I knew how to care for them. I still remember how they looked as they feathered out with those outrageous pink, blue or green pastel tips on their feathers.
I've been gathering up references and working on a few of these here and there - and last night I completely reworked this one. I changed the background color and the shading of the down feathers further away from reality and more toward the lavender, periwinkle, and russet colors that felt right. I just love the huge feet of baby chicks. They look a bit like children wearing their parents' shoes - or, in this case, feet.
This little painting is 8 x 10, acrylic on gessoed panel. I'll be posting it for sale on buypatrice.
Cute Kitten Picked On By Baby Chicks - The most amazing bloopers are here
And then, just for fun, I found this video of chicks and a kitten. All too small to know they could be enemies... It reminds me of the time I ordered six dozen chicks from chicken breeder catalogs - and fifty of them turned out to be roosters... So much for "random selection."
And for irony: Here are a few more of my favorite chicks: And if you like that one, try this one.
12 comments:
I love this painting especially the colorful and playful background. I didn't know you were painting a mural... how cool is that!
Hi Sheila - I was still editing this post when you commented. I do lots of mural work (usually)... You can see some of it as my September Studio blog.
And thanks!
What a cute little painting and I love that chick and kitten video!
I really loved the murals I saw on your other site. They looked really amazing. Love the chick, too, and so seasonal.
Poor little kitty just wanted to play! Those chicks are just so mean. Heh, heh! The painting actually looks like a Plover or a Killdeer chick. Good work.
As for the Dixie Chicks - Go Natalie! My own personal favorite video of theirs is this one. Natalie Maines taught us what real patriotism is.
Thank you Zen.
Roy - You got it on both counts. It's a Plover chick - and yes, the irony of real patriotism. The best - the absolute most wonderful Star Spangled Banner is that of the "traitor" Chicks. They are my heroines.
And yes - that is the best video ever.
Your bird paintings a terrific. I like this one as much as the crow. I also looked at your murals (probably should have checked them out before but neglected to) and man!!...those are great!! You've added so much to the spaces where you painted the murals. Terrific scenes. I thought the boy's room with the tractor was great and the landscapes perfect.
WOW A mural? I would love to see the final work.
Love your feather series. In this one the background is beautiful.
I am loving your art.
Good luck with the new job. Temporary or not every little bit helps. Chick is cute, love the background colors.
This is sweet. I have a series of photos I took of some of my kittens with a parakeet some prospective adopters had, and they wanted to see if the kittens would be ok with a bird. From everything I had read, I learned that if you introduced them while the kittens were between 3-5 weeks of age, they would just think of them as a companion. They ended up not getting a kitten, but it was a fun photo session and I learned alot (especially when they visited a second time and my adult cats intercepted the cage and they knew the bird was prey...
God, I forgot how cute kittens are when they're that little...tottering around all unstable...
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