Another Day, Another Chicken

Another Day Another Chicken, a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

This morning I went up to the studio at Porter Mill. I spent most of the time putting things away and hanging some art on the walls. By the time I was finished, it was really hot up in the studio, but I didn't want to leave without making art. So I decided to give the chicken drawing another quick try. (I have been inspired by some mighty fine chickens that I saw during a recent walk at Long Hill, and decided I wanted to draw them. See last night's post for my first try.) I want to play with the textures and patterns that I saw when I looked at those amazing little chickens the other day. I have a vague image in my mind's eye, but so far can't get it down on paper. Well, I have been wondering whether what I need to do is a collage or applique, and in fact, this morning I started looking through my collage materials. But I knew I didn't have time for that this morning, so I decided to just try a quick sketch of a chicken to see what would happen. I got out a sketch pad and what I thought was a black sharpie, and began to draw. Well, the sharpie turned out to be blue, but I couldn't find a black pen, so I kept going. I drew this bird from my imagination and memory, in one go without looking at any reference materials. Even though my sketch is not exactly anatomically correct (proportions are off, for one thing), I was more playful with the lines and textures, and in that sense, I liked this drawing better. Tonight I transferred the image into my computer and through the magic of iPhoto, transformed it into black and white. I also plan to turn this little drawing into a digital woodcut in Painter, and if that works, I will post that tomorrow. Eventually I plan to try a version of this idea as a collage or fabric art project. . . .