Nesting Instinct

"Nesting Instinct"

10" x10"

Stretched Canvas

Fall is my nesting time.  The kids go off to school and I finally have a chance to put right everything in the house that got "put wrong" all summer!  I find great peace in the sudden solitude (although in a few days I will be missing their sweet voices and messy ways -- okay, maybe not the messy ways...) and I love to see everything in it's place finally.  Maybe a little latent OCD?  Sure, but why fight a good thing...heh,heh!  More importantly, I got my studio in total zen condition, so I am ready to crank on the paintings.  Too bad it is maybe too much of a tabula rasa -- like a big, blank white canvas, a clean studio can be a little daunting!  Here we go....

One of the Girls

"Bockers"

8 x 10

Stretched Canvas

Look for me on Etsy soon!

I painted this picture from a photo of one of my son, Spencer's, "girls" -- a trio a Buff Orpington chickens that he loved from chick to hen.  In this picture, she was standing partially under a tree, so the shadow of it fell over her shoulder.  My first impulse was to remove the shadow and just paint her golden, but I kind of liked the way her feathers looked jewel-toned in that area.

Spencer still misses his "chucks", but until we move out of "clipboard village", there will be no livestock.  Heck, we can't even put out a pot of flowers unless it is "approved".  And yet, you can have a freaking huge ugly, trampoline in your backyard....but I digress...

Interestingly, when a friend saw this picture she was sure to note that I was still painting food.  It took me a minute, but then...  Don't tell Spencer, okay?