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| The Hen oil on panel 7" x 9" |
I'm not usually one to do paintings of animals, although this year I've posted a few. In all cases I was memorializing for myself animals I'd gotten to know. The rabbits posted earlier lived outside the studio and became quite friendly or at least not too concerned about my presence. But one by one they disappeared, victims of hawks and coyotes. This hen was an urban chicken that lived on our street but belonged to no one. When we first met her she was nearly blind, often bumping into objects. She roosted in bushes across the street from us and we would watch in anticipation as she would head home in the evening because she dawdled a lot in the street and didn't seem to see cars until they were right on her. During hot weather we began giving her watermelon which became her second favorite food. Melon has lots of vitamin A and her poor vision was due to lack of that, so gradually her vision was back to normal. Eventually she decided to end her commute and began to roost in shrubs in front of our house. We started giving her meal worms which she went nuts over. This once bedraggled hen was looking beautiful. But a troop of raccoons began marauding through the neighborhood and she was taken by them one night.
