Tag Archives: backyard chickens

Bookplates – just for fun (part 2)

7 Replies

So here are my two quick bookplate designs. Unlike Hugo, my preliminary work was limited to one doodle in blue pencil. I then progressed straight into ‘make it up as you go along’, my strongest medium.

bookplate prelimiinary doodle judywatsonart

Wanting to play quite loosely with patches of colour, I used watercolour without any particular structure or organisation. Then I added ink with brush and dip pen, acrylic (to cover up the bits I didn’t like on the wing) and went for it with some lettering. I left it scanning while I started on a second one.

Bookplate2 judywatsonart stage 1

The second one was only black ink and dip pen with lots of splodgy bits. I scanned it before adding more texture, to give myself a way of going back. undo. (Am I the only one who mentally presses Command Z when I miss a turn off in the car? It doesn’t work.)

Bookplate judywatsonart stage 1

Then I took it back to the drawing board and added some very important dots and scratchy bits. (Chickens scratch. It’s symbolic, right?) Then I scanned it again. (undo)

Bookplate judywatsonart stage 2

Then I took it back to the drawing board for some wash, and scanned it a third time. (Actually, I blow-dried it first, and then scanned it and found it was wobbly, and then put it in the book press for 2 hours while I drove to school and back and then scanned it again, but that’s probably too much detail.)

Bookplate judywatsonart stage 3

Then I took it into PhotoShop and added some colour. Although it may have been better in black and white, it was too much fun not to add colour. (This process involved lots of undos.)

Bookplate judywatsonart tonal chookie

Then I went back to my first chicken; all loose and free and doing her own arty-farty, happy thing. And I had to mess with her. Cramp her style.

I desaturated her, taking her back to a sepia tone, then added very limited digital colour. She squawked in protest, but I took no notice. I told her firmly, ‘less is more… sometimes… Not when it comes to eggs, you understand.’ She gave me that bright beady-eyed look and then we sent the bookplates off to print.

The other chicken had been asleep through the whole process.

sepia chicken judywatsonart lores

Department of Education and Training early learning wall friezes

Leave a reply

To prove I’m still here, I’m popping up some single illustrations done for the Department of Education and Training this year. The brief read thus:

The purpose of the four wall friezes is to encourage families to engage in learning activities with their child everyday. On each frieze there will be eight panels – a cover and a panel for each day of the week, with a different illustration of a family member(s) and a child/children engaged in a learning activity related to the theme. For example:

    • Music: dancing/singing, etc.
    • Science: cooking/exploring nature, etc.
    • Maths/numeracy: counting/measuring/block building/puzzles, etc.
    • Imaginative play: dress ups/cubby houses/pretend play/creative play spaces, etc.

The DET are happy for me to post fragments of the artwork I did for them, and you will hopefully come across the full design somewhere; perhaps in your local library.

Not surprisingly there was a dog or a chicken in each illustration… Oh actually, I couldn’t find a hygienic way to get a dog or a chicken onto the kitchen bench for the Maths illustration. Rats.

(…There were no rats in the kitchen either.)

kids play music JudyWatsonArt

A fragment: Music

Tommy from Thunderstorm Dancing enjoyed a new incarnation here. So did some of the other characters.

little spaniel from Imaginative play JudyWatsonArt

A (small) fragment: Imaginative play.

There’s that spaniel again. She keeps popping up.

my boys do cooking Maths JudyWatsonArt

A fragment: maths

My 12 year old got morphed into a 15 year old for this illustration. That was fun. I morphed him back again later. I’m not ready for a 15 year old.

Geeky little girl enjoys science with chicken friend

A fragment: science

Geeky girl gardener enjoys some science play. I like a geeky girl and I like her taste in chickens.

Scratchings

Leave a reply

Yesterday afternoon I locked the girls up to keep them nearby so that I could draw them. After they got over the idea that the paints, palette, brushes and water bowl might be edible, they carried on with their scratching, leaving me to do my own scratchings. Hilda, kept coming back to check though, in case I had just forgotten about the treat I was going to give them.

This altered book thing is a little like op-shopping… you go in hoping to find a little gem, and often, you do find it! In each case here, I drew the chicken first, and then found a few words in the text to compliment the picture. It seems to nearly always be there. Mysterious, happy chance.

Image

‘Charming’ felt tip, watercolour and gouache on vintage book page.
This is Vita, who is a Light Sussex Bantam, and thoroughly charming.

For sale on Etsy here.

'I have quite lost my appetite' felt tip, gouache and watercolour on vintage book page. This is Vita again. Vita is ALWAYS hungry.

‘I have quite lost my appetite’ felt tip, gouache and watercolour on vintage book page.
This is Vita again. Vita is ALWAYS hungry.

For sale on Etsy here.  (sold)

'Phoebe leaned forward' felt tip, watercolour and gouache on vintage book page. This is Hilda really. Phoebe is her stage name :-) Here she is demonstrating the Pekin 'forward tilt' which is a sign of good breeding and general loveliness on the show bench. Hilda rocks the 'forward tilt'.

‘Phoebe leaned forward’ felt tip, watercolour and gouache on vintage book page.
This is Hilda really. Phoebe is her stage name :-) Here she is demonstrating the Pekin ‘forward tilt’ which is a sign of good breeding and general loveliness on the show bench. Hilda rocks the ‘forward tilt’. She is a black birchen Pekin.

For Sale on Etsy here. (sold)

I did another of Storm, but it needs a little further tidying up… or saving… so I’ll leave it off for now.

The book, by the way, is Georgette Heyer’s ‘SYLVESTER or THE WICKED UNCLE’ 1957. The mind boggles.

This is Emily

3 Replies
The official portrait of Emily Watson

The official photographic portrait of Emily Watson

You may have seen her portrait , painted by Arthur on the coop doors. If you did, I’m sure you asked yourself ‘Who is this Emily really? What is she like? Where is she going in life and does she have dreams like mine?’ Now is your chance to find out.

Breed
Pekin

Official Pekin colour
Wheaten

Nickname
Em

Answers when spoken to
Rarely

Comes when called
Always last to arrive

Look
Raddled / discombobulated

Favourite accessory
bustle

Colour analysis by Bella
Soft Autumn. This means that
• She would look cute in a vintage floral apron
• She looks great with browns and soft leafy green colours (This is pretty handy if you are a free range chicken.)
• She could look good in a leopard print bathing suit if she wanted to wear one. She hasn’t indicated that she wants to wear one.

Emily's personal colour swatch book (yes, I am kidding)

soft autumn colour swatch book (I am lucky to have this. It also matches another chicken who may need to be accessorised, and more importantly my house!)

Favourite food 
Smoked salmon (Okay, so she’s only tried it once, but she grabbed a large chunk and sprinted across the yard to get away from the others.)

Running style
She really can’t sprint. She’s adept at the hurried waddle (a pace yet to be recognised by an Olympic sporting event).

Likes
• complaining loudly if not let out to free range by 8am
• making a big fuss if somebody tries to catch her
• being stroked whilst sitting on somebody’s hand with her fluffy feet dangling
• going broody
• laying a small, peachy-white egg every few days

Emily colour added after ink

Pet person
Arthur

Pecking Order Ranking
Third from the top… via chance (she would make a terrible top hen!)

Unusual facts
• If smelling salts were still in vogue, Emily would carry them in a slightly ragged reticule with some of the beading falling off.
• If Emily became top hen, the whole flock would be carrying smelling salts and reticules.

Emily half profile looking discomfited

I think this captures the startled expression better than the official portrait

Emily front face

‘What is going on? Why am I up here? What are you doing? Where are my smelling salts?’

Disclaimer

I know nothing of personal colour analysis. Please do not try to colour analyse your chicken at home if you are sending her to an important function. Employ a trained stylist to help you with her outfit. She will thank you for it one day…. maybe.

And seriously, getting your own colours done properly is a fun and worthwhile thing, even if you choose not to use the information. At least you will know what colours, fabrics and patterns do and don’t suit you so that you can make informed shopping decisions. (In my case, informed op-shopping decisions…)

Decorated Door Delight

18 Replies

photo 3-2

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)

blank canvas (almost)Boy power!

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

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

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 1.

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
Day Two - I held the chicken while each boy painted its portrait!

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.

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

Detail of Fauvist Vita

Detail of Fauvist Vita

Detail of Impressionist Emily :-)

Detail of Impressionist Emily :-)

View of the chicken coop through the garden

View of the chicken coop through the garden

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