Henny Penny
14" x 11"
oil on panel
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. . .
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
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