100 chicken fan club

The story begins here.  After some deliberation, I embarked on the quest to paint 100 chickens!   That's 100 different chickens.

Just want to take a moment to think about how many chickens that is.  

a lot


While solo adventures are okay, they are more fun with friends.

And then there's paints.  With 100 chickens, I'm going to need more paints and I figure if enough people have a couple of dollars to spare, it should get me through to the end.  (if not, then we'll think of something else.  But like permaculture, we start with the smallest change first and see where it gets us).


With this purchase, you get access to my 100 Chicken private forum and watch first hand how this



becomes this



and finally



As you can see, I'm still learning to paint.  And that's a big part of this adventure.  Having something meaningful to paint as I learn.  


for more information on how this project started, clickty here.








Don't worry, I'll still post progress here so people can still follow along.  The updates won't be as detailed as in the private forum.

Chicken 1: lens cap

This chicken is the reason it all started.  Orphaned and lonely, it refused to leave my hand for the first few days of life and we ended up watching a lot of youtube videos together.  The chicken responded most of all to art videos.  And this got me thinking... dangerous thing thinking.



And because video has been my most recent method of expression, I made one with me and chook.



The chicken was very helpful with the background texture.  



I'm counting this as part of the series because it's a great reminder that we all start somewhere when learning a new skill.  I can only improve from here.  

Considering how much your little chick was offering to help with your painting, you should have no problem finishing your hundred paintings by 2026.
You must be a mother to have so much patience.

Mike Feddersen wrote:Considering how much your little chick was offering to help with your painting, you should have no problem finishing your hundred paintings by 2026.
You must be a mother to have so much patience.

Painting is more fun with friends.   But hopefully,  I can increase my speed.

Right now, I'm at one painting per week

Here's an example of the story I share in the private forum.

2. Petrichor

The story  of the chicken

Petrichor is about 7 years old at the time of painting.  Back in 2021, when the world first learned the phrase "heat dome" the heat damaged his heart so he's had a nasty whese these last few years and turns a scary shade of blue when he gets too excited.  But he's otherwise very happy and heads the retirement flock.

You can see the retirement flock in last year's garden video.



The thing that makes him so special is that he's the best rooster ever!  Before he was fully grown, he had defeated an eagle and defended his small but growing flock.  There were eagle feathers everywhere but sadly we couldn't keep them because local laws - so we stuffed the feathers at the top of his house as a trophy for him.  He earned it.  That winter, he defeated a pair of ravens that had ganged up on the flock.  And the next spring, he chased off a harris hawk.  

The sky monsters got to know him really well and would go hunting elsewhere when they saw him walking along the yard.

But alas, a few years later a gang of raccoons broke into his house and he got badly injured saving his hens.  The physical recovery wasn't too bad, but the emotional recovery took about 6 months as he could no longer keep all the other cockerels in their place.  So we built the retirement flock for him with the best and oldest girls and a duck.  



He's not a hugging chicken but he is affectionate in his own way.  Very much my favourite.   But don't tell the others.  

The story of the painting

I've got six practice paintings of him.  I love him, but he's difficult to capture.  

In this one, I'm trying different techniques.  Pen and ink, two colours limted palette (burnt siennea and paynes grey), and then playing with different paints to see what I can figure out.



The big one ended up being quite flat, so I experimented again.  

This is also a time when I'm migrating from my starter grade amazonbasic paints to my student grade Cotman and Vangoh paints.  The quality of the paint makes a huge difference as I couldn't get a transparent wash from the amazon paints.  


This one is painted with handmade watercolours.  I love the background but I also feel that it dominates him too much.  





The final painting



Everyone says I should keep the background white and let his feathers fade away into the open space.  I might paint him again later on when my skill improves because he's so incredibly special.



(I'll still be sharing a few photos here but not such in-depth stories.  I'll save my ramblings for the private forum)

Very interesting story of your Hero and your garden, it makes me want to do some weaving of my own.

I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has joined so far.

Thank You

Her name is Big Red and wasn't able to capture her full evil nature.  She's very much the enforcer chicken and makes sure that all the chickens, ducks, and geese know how to behave properly around her.



(for the full story, you'll have to join the private forum)

I'm still getting the hang of photographing the chooks.  But here is Newton

Today, I'm skipping ahead to chicken number 10.



Henny Penny was a wonderful hen and the motivation for much of what I do on the farm.  But alas, all good things come to an end.

Nicole made me a felted henny penny and later, she made a wizzard.  I don't have many photos of henny penny, so I painted the felted version and her new friend.  

It is such a beautiful and cute little painting, and it was such a wonderful surprise to find it in the mail today!!!

It's so hard to photograph the shiny gold details and letters. I LOVE how you even put the gold on Henny Penny's feathers. It's just so perfect, and it totally made my day! ♥