Crazy chicken

So I wasn't getting much inspiration happening, because I only had small blocks of time available. My inspiration tends to vacate, the minute its expected to perform on demand. So knowing this, I told myself to loosen up and go with whatever came to mind, anyway.

So of course, what else, but chickens? No reference photo, just my experience with watching them. The medium was watercolour paints, used with a very fine brush at first. I was kind of "doodling" as one does with a fine tip pen, than painting blocks of colour. Save perhaps, washing a little of the background with a larger brush.

I left it for a while. Over a week I'm sure. It was okay, but it didn't leave me with an urge to transform it. But then another block of time arrived, and instead of avoiding any creativity at all, I decided to go with whatever showed up again.

I liked the free-form of doodling, when I had no idea what I wanted to achieve. So out came my inktense pencils, to go over the original watercolour, brush strokes again.

I was kind of inspired by peacock feathers with the diamond shapes in the background, but it wasn't meant to be "feathers". Just ornamentation. No idea why. This was mindless doodling, remember.

When I applied the final stokes and washed them with water, I actually felt quite depressed. I don't know why. Perhaps I was expecting something to wow me. Or perhaps I expected something more from the marks I put onto paper? I kind of told myself, I must not be very good at art, after all.

It wasn't until I was uploading the photos from my camera though, I realised what an original treatment of a chicken, it was. And that was the purpose of the exercise, in my tiny blocks of time. When my inspiration wasn't showing up, I wasn't sticking with the regular rules. At least not in the treatment side of things. But I think my expectations of wanting to be wowed by the process, remained the same.

Sometimes I need to try "whatever", making attempts instead of avoiding the process of creating. Giving myself plenty of permission to go "crazy" if that's what's happening at the other end of the medium. So this is my crazy chicken, with a flow of energy I don't entirely understand.

Cockatoo - new medium

I've been carefully working on an old piece, as I'm not entirely sure how to treat it. I'm not even using the reference photo any more. I figured I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain, by continuing to experiment.

This is the original Cockatoo picture, I worked in watercolour pencil. The white of the Cockatoo, was difficult to contrast colours with, to make them stand out. I wasn't happy with the yellow-orange, dominating the picture, with nothing to bring harmony.

When I received my new 72 piece, Inktense pencil set, however, I started to rework the picture and develop something different.

I haven't really altered much of the top half - that's still watercolour pencil (mostly), but the lower section I used the Inktense pencils. These are permanent, so unlike watercolour pencils, I cannot remove colour after it dries. It forces me to apply little changes, rather than big ones that could potentially ruin the piece.

I'm bringing more green/blue into the yellow and even in the blooms, for shadow effect. These were the harmonising colours I needed, to tie the piece together.

I'm using "Chilli Red" and "Mauve" as the primary, bloom colours, which contrasts vividly against the white of the Cockatoos.

The plan is to gradually work through the middle and up to the top. It may take me another year or two, to finish, lol. I like being able to put it down, completely forget about it and then revisit when I have the time again. I have it on display in a living area, so I can walk past and see what catches my eye - in a good way or bad.