Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Illustration Friday: Shades

Prismacolor colored pencil on pastel paper, 5" x 7"

Charlotte and May love how the mandarin orange tree shades them 

on a sunny afternoon.

This drawing could use a little tweaking, but since I'm working the rest of the week, I wanted to get it posted. I almost always work from actual objects, but since chickens don't sit still for very long, I worked from some photographs this time. May (the golden one) is actually the bigger of the two girls, but she was letting Charlotte upstage her when I was taking pictures.

Speaking of shades and chickens, I was watching one of my guilty-pleasure shows, "Storage Wars", this weekend, and learned that chicken sunglasses actually exist! So, I went online to try and find some photos to share with you, and found a great blog with a wonderful post about that very episode. The photos are hysterical.

Owning chickens provides a pretty constant source of entertainment. The other day, I heard them chattering loudly in their "upset" voices. My husband went out to check on them, and saw nothing unusual. He decided to check their nesting box for eggs while he was outside, and when he opened the little door, the neighbor's cat was sitting on the eggs!

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26 comments:

  1. dosankodebbieMarch 20, 2012 at 8:02 PM

    Fascinating post! I mean, learning about chicken glasses was cool too, but I was even more impressed that you recognize a chicken's "upset" voice. Ahhh, at the moment my life is much too separated from other living creatures. I did just paint an etegami of pill bugs (when they appear in our bathtub it means spring is not far behind), but how am I suppose to know when they are happy and when they are upset?

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  2. van dykeMarch 20, 2012 at 8:15 PM

    Very nice illustration! Love this!

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  3. Elizabeth Rose StantonMarch 20, 2012 at 10:16 PM

    Such pretty, pretty girls!!! :)

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  4. LuTiMarch 21, 2012 at 2:18 AM

    nice drawing, nice story!

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  5. LuTiMarch 21, 2012 at 2:18 AM

    nice drawing, nice story!

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  6. UnknownMarch 21, 2012 at 3:13 AM

    Its' very beautifully done! I love the way you did the background, it's so painterly! Nice work!

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  7. Roland PrinslerMarch 21, 2012 at 3:46 AM

    Great, warm light. Phantastic atmosphere. Very nice illustration!

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  8. marilynMarch 21, 2012 at 3:53 AM

    The 'girls' are gorgeous. And one never understands the communication that exists between animal and man until they live wih them.

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  9. Amanda DilworthMarch 21, 2012 at 5:10 AM

    Wow! I love this illustration Sarah. Charlotte and May are beautiful, the coloured paper you have used gives the whole illustration a wonderful sunny glow, great shading too :)

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  10. Ces AdorioMarch 21, 2012 at 3:06 PM

    Oh the feathers are most excellent. Your illustration does needs tweaking is far better than most finished illustrations I see around.

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  11. UnknownMarch 21, 2012 at 7:07 PM

    Beautifully illustrated! We have chickens very similar to these and yes they are all individual characters... :)

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  12. CarolineMarch 21, 2012 at 7:45 PM

    The illustration glows - it's lovely!

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  13. AngelMarch 21, 2012 at 8:40 PM

    So very calming and beautiful. I love your chicken friends. Really pretty illustration.

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  14. paintinggnomeMarch 21, 2012 at 9:00 PM

    Your girls are beautiful. I love the texture on Charlotte. I know what you mean by chicken adventures. My brother-in-law's family has chickens, and things have never been the same since. The eggs are the best part.

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  15. NightenGailMarch 21, 2012 at 10:30 PM

    I love the detail work on all the feathers!

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  16. Cathy HoltomMarch 22, 2012 at 3:09 AM

    Lovely, the chickens themselves illustrate 'shades' too!

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  17. Linda HensleyMarch 22, 2012 at 7:14 AM

    Lovely drawing! Nice colors. I've never heard of sunglasses for chickens, but somewhere in my early memories I think I saw chickens with blinders on. Fascinating :)

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  18. Curious ArtMarch 22, 2012 at 9:47 AM

    Such a warm, radiant, summery drawing... the girls are highly photo-(& graphi-)genic! May their eggs be safe from cat-sitting henceforth!

    That chicken-spex article was such a hoot. (Or should I say cluck?) I must scour my farming ephemera to see if I can find more on the subject!

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  19. Creations By MitMarch 22, 2012 at 12:46 PM

    Really nicely done! Great detail in the feathers!

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  20. UnknownMarch 22, 2012 at 4:55 PM

    Beautiful illustration. Reminds me of old Chinese paintings. Wonderful.

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  21. AnonymousMarch 22, 2012 at 5:01 PM

    Oh you tell tell these birds have personality to spare! Wonderful illustration and great story, too.

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  22. ShirleyMarch 22, 2012 at 11:38 PM

    Oh Sarah, your illustration is so full of warmth, beautiful execution and wonderful composition. May and Charlotte are lucky ducks (chickens!) : ) Beautiful piece!

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  23. Kaoru MuramatsuMarch 23, 2012 at 6:48 AM

    Beautiful ! I love their faces , the spread of branches and the background that color shades off. It was good that the cat was found.

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  24. Mardi SpethMarch 23, 2012 at 10:51 AM

    Another beauty, Sarah! So much detail - it must've taken quite awhile to complete this. I enjoyed your chicken blog too; meeting your girls. My closest encounter with farm birds was with roosters in Key West where they roam the streets freely. They were a crack-up and so interesting to look at.

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  25. Melissa MackieMarch 27, 2012 at 12:31 PM

    Lovely Sarah... Your so clever with how you illustrated the plymouth rocks feathers.I can see a book for children about your girls.

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  26. Nicky LinzeyMarch 29, 2012 at 7:37 AM

    You can tell these girls are well looked after, how plump and beautiful they are.

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