Two Pullets

Two Red Pullets
Acrylic on canvas. 12" x 16".

The exasperating painter's block continues... another extended period of not painting, followed by a longer period of fiddling with paintings, but not completing anything. I had started this over a year ago then set it aside. The young, awkward pullets have since matured into sleek, plump hens.

The Rhode Island Reds next door are always getting into some sort of mischief. As young pullets they were looking like cartoon characters- dinosaur legs, skinny necks, craning their necks around. These ladies were on top of a dog house, trying to look through a window of the house next to it.

The background went through numerous changes, starting with detailed vertical siding and window frames, then that was replaced by a forest of alder trees, then a stormy sky... all of which proved to be too busy or distracting.  I ended up with so much paint loaded on the surface that there was no canvas texture left. I opted to cover everything up with a lighter colored layer of brush strokes, as I have been wanting to include more visual texture going forward. At first it was a little disturbing to cover up all the painstaking details I had labored over, but I really like this much better now.
Sometimes less is more.