I love a decorated door.

Inspired by gypsy caravans, Outsider or Detour Art and Charleston Farmhouse in equal measure I have been meaning to paint up our chicken coop doors since they were installed. Last weekend, while the man of the house was camping, it was the perfect opportunity for the boys and I to tackle this delectable task.

Day One

I had originally intended to paint these doors myself, and to do gypsy style scroll decorations around the chicken cameos. I was rather apprehensive of doing it justice. (Careful, decorative embellishments are not my strong point). But after seeing how well the kids’ work on the chicken gate turned out, I decided that the same pseudo-pointillist technique would look a lot better and that the boys would do a much better job than I could.

I roughed out a cameo shape, mixed up some paint for them to use, and let them go for it. They loved it.

blank canvas (almost)

Notice the different styles, apparent even this early in the proceedings. Boy One is neat, precise and thoughtful about his work, taking after his father and paternal grandfather. Boy Two is a lot looser and messier, taking after his mother and maternal grandfather! (A natural Fauve perhaps?) Interesting stuff. I love it that they have differing styles.

Pointillism stage complete

The boys decided that one would do mostly warm colours on the door with cool colours on the border, and the other would do the reverse.

The boys then painted their favourite chickens in silhouette

For better or worse, I decided that a higher contrast was needed with the background, so I painted in the dark areas. This was the end of Day One.

Day Two

Final stages – I held the chicken while each boy painted its portrait! (Arty’s hair looking a bit feral here!)

After signatures were added, the boys wanted to put the chickens’ names on their portraits. Each chose a different style.

Hugo chose a flag emblem for Vita’s name, and used a fancy serif letter form. Vita looks like she is wearing a superhero mask…. or else a villain’s mask. Perhaps the latter. Hugo says definitely superhero!!

Arty chose a simple oval plaque for Emily’s name. It suits her eggy shape I think.

Detail of Fauvist Vita

Detail of Impressionist Emily :-)

View of the chicken coop through the garden

Room for much more decoration here. I feel we are only just getting started!