Brown Red Japanese Bantams

"Brown Red Japanese Bantams"

colored pencil and graphite on cream Stonehenge paper

10 by 12 inches

by Katherine Plumer, © 2013

This was a custom piece, and it is now in Canada!  :-)

Midwinter Mist

Oops, just realized I forgot to post this when I finished it!

"Midwinter Mist"

Buff Laced Polish hen

colored pencil and graphite on gray Stonehenge paper

8 by 11 inches

copyright © 2012 Katherine Plumer

People say not to work for friends.  Fooey on that, I say.  My clients often end up being my friends, if they weren't beforehand.  Every year for the last four years, my friend Dale has commissioned a custom chicken drawing, which he then uses on his Christmas card.  I think this is the coolest thing, and he sure has the most unique cards!  And I have a very cool friend.  :-)

November 1 work in progress

October 24 work in progress

A lack of work-in-progress pics doesn't always indicate a lack of work in progress.  Unfortunately, lately that has been the case, I've hardly had any time.  Not good!  It's feeling like a mad rush to get that danged chicken house finished before winter weather sets in permanently, and before show season start.  I'm just so slow!  I've been spending lots of whole days out there and then I stand back and think "that's all I got done?!"  It's already been rainy, so I'm sincerely hoping that all my nice young cockerels (still down in Wilton) are still going to be in show condition, because the first show is coming up in just a few weeks.  I'm hoping to bring up some of the birds next week so I can show, we'll see how it goes.  I so badly just want the whole thing to be finished!!!  It's getting there, and looking good!

Anyway, I finally am getting in a pretty good day in the studio today and finished up the bird and fence rail.  Next up is the background.  This is shaping up to be quite pretty!  :-)

not yet titled (I need to think of something!  Dale, got any ideas?)
colored pencil and graphite on gray Stonehenge paper
8 by 11 inches
sold, custom

October 12 work in progress

not yet titled (Buff Laced Polish)

colored pencil and graphite on gray Stonehenge paper

8 by 11 inches

sold, custom commission

October 10 work in progress

not yet titled (Buff Laced Polish)
colored pencil and graphite on gray Stonehenge paper
8 by 11 inches
sold, custom commission

"Lady Gouldi-Hen"

A bit of whimsy...

This is a custom piece I did for a friend/client. She got the idea for it years ago when I drew a couple of chickens with the plumage coloration of other types of birds (eagle, hawk). She wanted this hen to have the plumage color of a Gouldian Finch. Definitely used some colors that don't normally find their way into chicken art! ;-)

"Lady Gouldi-Hen"
colored pencil and graphite on white Stonehenge paper
6.25 by 12 inches
sold, custom commission by the blog commenter who goes by "BMc"  :-)

Moving Sale: Chicken Paintings!

Like I said a while back, I have a lot of art that needs to go. And it needs to go for one of two reasons: I will have not have room to store it, or it's no longer the kind of work I am actively creating (therefore not something I take to art shows).

So I'm having a somewhat loosely organized "I'm moving and can't take it with me" sale. Today's featured art consists of chicken paintings!

These are all 6x6 inches, original paintings, acrylic on masonite. The backgrounds are all shades of metallic gold, which look REALLY pretty in some nice lighting! Each painting has a string on the back from which you can hang it, or if you'd rather prop it up somewhere or frame it, you can just remove the string!

They are $40 each. Shipping in the US is $7 for up to two paintings, or $10 for up to five paintings. If you want something shipped outside the US, I need to know what you want and where you are so I can calculate it! CA residents pay 7.75% sales tax. PayPal preferred (katherineplumer @ gmail.com, remove spaces), checks and money orders and cash are also fine. Proceeds will help offset moving expenses and the construction of new chicken coops!

Oh! The giant typed copyright text is NOT on the original paintings, that's just for my web images!

Interested? Comment, email, call, etc. :-)

Red Pyle Old English Game rooster


Black Minorca hen


Wheaten Aseel rooster


Mille Fleur Belgian D'Uccle Bantam rooster


Buff Brahma rooster


Brown Red Old English Game Bantam hen


Buff Laced Polish rooster


Black Sumatra rooster


Mille Fleur Belgian D'Uccle Bantam rooster (head)


Black Tailed White Japanese Bantam rooster


Brown Red Sumatra rooster


Red Pyle Rosecomb Bantam hen


Lemon Blue Modern Game Bantam hen


Black Rosecomb Bantam hen:


Blue Ameraucana rooster


Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock Bantam rooster


Wheaten Aseel hen


White Crested Black Polish rooster


Partridge Wyandotte Bantam rooster


Blue Orpington Bantam rooster


Dark Brahma rooster

"Sentinel" game fowl drawing

"Sentinel"
(Racey Mug Game Fowl)
9.5 by 13 inches
colored pencil and graphite on tan Stonehenge paper
sold (custom commission)

The background may look "simple" but there are about a dozen layers of color there!

July 12 work in progress

June 29 work in progress

These late-night photos I take are terrible! But you get the gist of it!

June 20 work in progress

Here's something new that I started recently:


not yet titled
9 by 13.5 inches
colored pencil and graphite on tan Stonehenge paper
sold, commission

Rosecomb drawing finished

"Prima Donna"
(Black Rosecomb hen)
5 x 7 inches
colored pencil and graphite on tan Stonehenge paper
sold (custom commission)

If you've been wondering, no this is not a portrait of any of my birds. I wish mine would pose like that at shows instead of taking naps! I did know this bird though. She belonged to a friend (and competitor) and always beat my birds. A memorable experience was one show where my Lemon Blue (that Lemon Blue was awesome!) female darn near beat this Black female. I took Reserve of Breed with mine if I recall correctly, and maybe that's just as well. I don't think Bob, bless him, would have taken the beating too well. ;-)

Anyway, this piece was commissioned by this bird's co-owner, Conor. (The bird is no longer alive, she died years ago.) The main goal of the project was actually to produce a kick-ass business card for Conor, with a portrait being a "maybe some day down the road" kind of thing. Well, may as well kill two birds with one stone, right? I convinced him to get the portrait done now, and that way I can make a business card out of it. Definitely the right choice, and he gets a nice framed drawing to boot!

The final piece of this project was to design a business card. I do all my own graphics stuff (cards, website, etc) but don't do much of it for other people. I generally refer those jobs elsewhere, but since this one involved my drawing, I wanted to see it all the way through. In other words, since it uses my art, I wanted full control over how it would be used. Nothing worse than having someone else bugger up my stuff, right? Here it is, and yes this is posted with permission. Conor knows his info is going on my blog. :-)


This drawing is very much in the style of the ones I did for the Standard. Oh hey, the Standard. It's printed. It's out. Lots of friends of mine have seen it. They say good things about it. I have not yet seen it, I have not yet held it in my hands, therefore I do not yet believe in its existence. I do not intend to buy one, I am feeling a bit entitled and thinking that the APA really ought to give me one. Right? [la dee da, and then I went off on a big rant about something I might get in trouble for ranting about, so I deleted it, but I'll just summarize with this parting thought: I should have been asked to proof it. Or I should have asked to be able to proof it. Hindsight, live and learn, etc. *Sigh*]

March 14 work in progress

finished the chicken drawing!

"Leading Them Home"
(Columbian Wyandotte hen, mixed variety chicks)
colored pencil and graphite on warm white Stonehenge paper
© 2010
8 x 11 inches
sold

Did I already say that the iMac is back? The iMac is back. I spent most of the rainy weekend doing website work, which is TEDIOUS to the max. But I'm happy with what I'm doing, it'll look swell if I ever manage to finish.

I think we got about 1.75 inches of rain over the weekend, which is pretty impressive. Thus begins mud season! I had to wade out through the corral on Sunday and shovel out the drainage ditches that go to the creek. They were blocked with sodden masses of of grass and blackberry vines. Amazing how much it helps drainage when the ditches are clear! ;-)

Winter Gold

I know, I know, it's springtime now, but that's the title of the piece I just finished. I'm pretty darn thrilled with this one. :-)


"Winter Gold" (Golden Phoenix)
8 x 11 inches
colored pencil and graphite on white Stonehenge paper
sold, commission

March 18 work in progress

First of all, American Idol... I am aghast.

In other news, I finished painting today!! (Happy dance!!!) I still need to varnish them, but the subject matter is all painted, woo hoo!!! I did rearrange the order a little. There had ended up being some unintentional groupings of bird colors and I did not like that. I will scan them individually and post them all next week.


Next up: Chicken drawing! Dog scrim! And there's a knife on the way that I'm going to scrim on spec. Not the one I mentioned a few weeks ago, that apparently didn't pan out.

March 16 work in progress

I have not had much time for anything other than PAINTING CHICKENS. So don't misinterpret the lack of WIP photos. Busy busy! Two more days to go (plus varnishing, signing, labeling, and packing).

March 11 work in progress

The paintings are coming along a good pace, but I have six more full (and by that I mean VERY FULL) days of painting ahead of me. Sigh. I really prefer drawing and engraving. It was the speed factor that made me decide to do paintings for the gallery show. They're pretty cute though, I must say! :-)

My favorite paintbrush has seen better days. I have a huge collection of paint brushes. I use about 5 of them consistently. I can see that I'm going to be in the market for a replacement. Hopefully it'll get me through the rest of the chicken paintings though!

And I finally got some time this evening to work on the drawing. The greenish areas in the tail... that's how black feathers start out. Looks weird huh!


not yet titled (Golden Phoenix)
8 x 11 inches
colored pencil and graphite on white Stonehenge paper
sold, commission

Cripes I gotta go to bed! Sooooo much to do tomorrow.

February 27 work in progress

It can mean three things when I drop off the bloggy world for a couple of days. One possibility is I'm gone. The second is I'm totally slacking off and doing nothing. The third is I'm über busy.

It's been option number three lately, so lest you think I've been a slacker I'll just correct you on that now. No!! I'm just not posting much of what I'm working on.

Here's the one I can show you (this is obviously an in-progress thing):

not yet titled
Golden Phoenix
8 x 11 inches
colored pencil and graphite on white Stonehenge paper
sold

I am making very good progress on the 50-50 paintings, but have decided to hold off on posting them until all are done. I can't wait to see them all on display! Just fyi, it's the 50-50 show at the 20th Street Gallery in Sacramento. April 8 through May 30.

I am also working (feverishly, I might add) on another little engraving. This one (1 x 3/4 inch) is half the size of the tiger but is shaping up to take twice the hours. Smaller dots, more detail. Dang skippy. This is nuts. And I LOVE IT. I'll show you when it's done if it turns out like I am hoping it will.

Busy busy busy.