I have seen a photo of a rooster on Flickr and loved it, so paint it I must.
The photo was taken by: Mark Peters Photography (https:flic.fr/p/oYeUfM).
He takes beautiful pictures.
It is getting quite chilly outside and our poor chickens are still molting, they are looking a little rough. Some of them must be feeling the chill since their feathers are growing in a little patchy. I must admit to having the occasional laugh at their expense, they look like they have run through a fan.
I have seen a photo of a rooster on Flickr and loved it, so paint it I must. The photo was taken by: Mark Peters Photography (https:flic.fr/p/oYeUfM). He takes beautiful pictures.
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The title of this painting describes what happened here yesterday. Mark was in the garage when he heard a chicken making a fuss. The reason it was making a fuss was a fox was grabbing a hold of it. But lucky for the chicken it is in the middle of molting season and the feathers just fell out of it so the fox did not have a good grip. Mark chased the fox away and the chickens were locked up for their own safety. Its been about five years since we had a problem with a fox but they can easily kill many chickens. They usually kill all the chickens then one at a time take them away. We did not loose any birds yesterday but free range comes at a price. I think its time to fence them in for their own safety.
If the cows were not at the barn when it was milking time when we were kids one of us would have to go looking for them. Often you could call to them and they would start walking towards us. But sometimes the taste of the grass was just to devine and they would wait until you could almost touch them before they would acknowledge you. Watching you approach and eating until the last possible second. This is the view I remember all to well. Cows are just like any of us, determined to do what we want when we want to do it. Got to love them.
I was in the mood to paint something in a warm tone. We had such an incredible summer and fall has started off so beautiful. I wanted to reflect the glow of the fall colours that are just beginning to appear. The colours are stunning but short lived, so any extension of them is a good thing.
The title of this painting says alot about the crowing habits of our roosters. They crow all day long, not just morning. That means if you leave your windows open you risk being awakened at 4am, thats how our boys operate, always on the job. We have two roosters. The boys will crow back and forth to each other, trying to show the other guy who's boss and to impress their group of lovely ladies.
I painted this one while greenhouse sitting in July. It was a challenge to paint using acrylics, which are quick to dry in a hot greenhouse. Not the ideal enviroment but I made the most of it and kept my mister bottle working overtime.
What a fantastic summer we are having, it just keeps coming. I will take every warm sunny day and appreciate all of it, since the season will change soon enough. Its surprising how much colour there is in the black feathers of birds when the sun hits them just right. My sister is the one who has always grown all the chickens on the farm. She has about five varieties right now. Some are small with feathers growing down their legs all the way to the ground, giving them the appearence of wearing feather cover-alls. Some are pure black and fluffy while others are thinner with tufts of feathers growing out the sides of their faces.These are Ameraucana's, they lay blue green eggs of a good size considering they are rather a slim little chicken. When they were younger they would hang out together and run from location to location, never walk. We have always called them the black crow gang.
The small rooster in the painting is a Banty, although they are of small size, they make up for it with attitude. Another impressionist cow painting. I grew up on a small dairy farm and have always thought cows are sweet beautiful creatures. They will always be one of my favorite subjects to paint.
I will show you the progression in painting this cow. |
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