Teresa N. Fischer: November 2013

Friday, November 22, 2013

Small Works, Principle Gallery

Proud Mama

11" x 14"

oil on panel

Henny Penny

14" x 11"

oil on panel

Circus Dog

16" x 12"

oil on panel
SOLD

Principle Gallery

Small Work Show

opens

December 7th, 2013.

I am honored to be featured among

Michael Lynn Adoms, Jorge Alberto, Rett Ashby,

Mia Bergeron, Candice Bohannon, Ryan Brown, Casey Childs,

Scott Conary, Elizabeth Floyd, Kelli Folsom,

Felicia Forte, Douglas Fryer, Greg Gandy,

Lisa Gloria, Tanya Harsch, Tara Keefe, Jeremy Mann,

Brian Martin, Lisa Noonis, Larry Preston, Cindy Procious,

Paula Rubino, Robert Stark, and Terry Strickland.

For for information visit

www.principlegallery.com

208 King Street

Alexandria, VA

703-739-9326

Henny Penny

Henny Penny

14" x 11"

oil on panel

HenCam

Children love chickens.

They are puffy soft when they are chicks,

and very humorous when they are grown up.

For a while we lived next door to some chickens.

I will never forget when our daughter,

who was maybe 1 1/2 years of age

discovered that chickens, well, that they poop.

For some reason she couldn't believe it.

That was her favorite funny line for a few years,

guaranteed to get a belly laugh out of her.

I started to think about pull toys.

They were created for small children

so they could walk their little animal friends.

Then I wondered. . .

Would people walk real chickens on leashes?

That is the next step to the pull toy.

Walking the real thing right. . .

Chicken walks on leash in Austalia.

Yes, yes there are people who walk chickens on a leash.

Pictured above is a chicken from Sydney, Australia who is walked.

This chicken also looks simular to my Henny Penny.

I also found an article at Blue Egg Blue Egg

that tells you how to train

your chicken and what kind of harness to use.

The toy featured in my painting is the

1958 Fisher Price Cackling Hen No. 120.

When you pull her along her wings flap and she cackles.

Mine is missing her pull string.

I really like the idea of painting these toys as a portrait.

The same way one would paint a portrait of a person,

cropped to the shoulders, trying to capture their personality.

In the case of these toys, showing their wear and tear and age.

Moo

oil on linen

One other time I painted a toy portrait

in this way. Above is Moo from 2011.

Henny Penny

14" x 11"

oil on panel

Henny Penny

detail

Henny Penny

will be showing at

Principle Gallery

Small Works Show

Opening December 7th, 2013

208 King Street

Alexandria, VA

703-739-0528

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Circus Dog

16" x 12"

oil on panel
SOLD

Growing up we had a lot of animals around.

A pet dog Frank, a kind of grumpy Irish Setter,

and barn cats who I think would have done anything

for food that wasn't mice or dry cat food.

I was so intrigued about circuses,

especially circus dogs and circus horses.

I gave up on Frank learning tricks.

We later got a little dog named Buttons.

She was very smart and learned many tricks.

SO fun. She would sit up, beg,

roll over, and play dead. I felt especially proud when

I taught her to jump through a hula-hoop.

I would have her perform for my parents in the living room,

with me pretending to be in the circus.

It was great!

Hey Rube Circus

This is what the Ringling Circus Museum

has to say about the history of circus dogs:

"Performing dogs were often strays or purchased from the pound, because these mixed breed dogs were usually very intelligent and learned tricks quickly. The dogs traveled in special accommodations. Wagons 99 and 98 were designed specifically for the dogs, with each animal having its own space in the wagon. In between performances, the dogs were kept in outdoor kennels."