Here's some of the art that was on display at the Northeast Poultry Congress in Springfield MA USA.
I don't recall the titles,but the artist is Mother Nature.
Her work was elegant,
solid,
delicate,
sweet.
I visited her a few times during the day and did some sketches to get to know her better.
And what is it like to wake up every morning in this outfit?
This fella is proudly owned by a sweet little girl.
I hope he didn't hear people calling him "Devil Boy".
This lady scratched in the sawdust as gracefully as a ballerina.
To look at her, one can easily make the link between chicken and dinosaur.
Were dinosaurs graceful?
And did their souls shine this brightly in their eyes?
This cochin hen was just one voluptuous butt with a head on top.
She seemed to have a healthy self-image. Good girl.
Now here's an example of form and pattern explosively combined.
and lovely eyes as punctuation.
I studied eyes.
Could she see me?
Yes, there is a chicken in there.
This prizewinner's eyes have "happy" and "healthy" written all over them.
All through the day, chickens glanced upward. I couldn't figure out what they were looking at. Perhaps the fluorescent lights were flickering?
Eventually I saw what they saw... Sparrows flitting around high up in the rafters of the arena. All of the chickens were aware of them; most of us humans were not.
As the day drew to a close, some birds settled right down.
But others......
well, turn up your sound for this little video clip.