A better name for this painting might have been Tax Write-Off. Or perhaps Which Came First-the Chicken or the Egg, because although I really enjoyed this painting I also really wanted to get chickens and to paint chickens (that is- to make paintings of chickens, not to actually paint a chicken which would fall more into the performance art field- who was that guy that swung the chicken about and covered himself in feathers?). And so so so conveniently all my chickens, chicken supplies and what coop materials I had to buy (mostly they came from Freecycle and Craigslist free stuff), were all a tax write off. And for a bonus we, hopefully in a month or two, will get a wonderfully colored selection of fresh, free range, organic eggs (not to mention fabulous chores for the boys to do- the fabulous fun of mucking out the chicken coop).
At any rate- please look for the implements of death somewhat hidden in this rather narrative painting. Next chicken Piece will be a Baba yaga style house-but Victorian- with chicken legs, and it will be hatching a fifties style house. If I only paint the legs can I write off the whole chicken?
The coop leader, alpha hen, and most outgoing of our chickens is Bellina (also known as Chickie). She and the others lived in a refrigerator box in my studio while the coop was being built. Bellina was first to discover she could fly up and roost on the edge of the box. For two weeks every time Id go to paint she would watch me critically from her perch. Some people get Dore Ashton as their critic...I get a chicken.
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