Dutch Masters

Here's a painting recently completed at a farm in Kingston, New Hampshire. The farm had lots of willing painting subjects such as sheep, pigs and chickens, lots of chickens.

The chickens were free-range chickens.   The feathered ladies and I had quite the conversation as they gathered around my easel while I painted their homestead.  At times I looked down at them and they looked up at me... heads cocked staring with those little beady eyes, then looked away with a scratch, scratch here and a scratch, scratch there; and I with my paint brush in hand, a daub, daub here and a daub, daub there.  We all seem to be in good humor among the pleasantries of a farm that day.



I've been thinking about my day there.  So this week I was drawing, with pencils... at home... in my bedroom..at my desk..in my sketchbook from photos taken at the Kingston farm.




First the piggies...

Then the chickens.

I had to chuckle when I finished this drawing.  In an instant I saw a resemblance to Rembrandt's, Dutch Masters: uniformity in dress, focus on portraiture in a group setting.  My husband suggested putting hats on the ladies.  Cluck, cluck,,, no, no, we all thought.