Scratchin' and a Preenin'

Drawing Silkie chickens almost never gets tiring, because of the incredible variation in their tone and texture, which makes for interesting and challenging rendering, especially when drawing from life.

Drawing Runner Ducks, on the other hand, also never gets tiring, but for entirely different reasons. They're always moving, and their bills and necks provide difficult shapes to draw (especially when they're moving!).

Duck Quack... er... QUICK Draw

Today's Scratches are of the ducks...

The Silkies of Painted Acres

Here are some scratches, er, sketches, of the Silkies we have running around on "Painted Acres" (it's what we like to call our little property out here in "Spotsyltucky."

Here's today's scratch-- one of our Runner Ducks, "Snow White" ("Snowy" usually) and "Oreo," our top rooster (thinks he's "cock of the walk"):

21 May 2014 Kiddie Pool!

 Splashing about the kiddie pool bath...

More scratching, of course...

Holly, our very poofy Buff Silkie, and the ducks, almost living to type:

An Idea, Hatched.

So I've got 15 chickens. And four ducks.
So I have to free range them everyday.
And I'm an artist. I should make it a habit to sketch more...
HEY, why don't I sketch them while they're free ranging, socializing, dust bathing, etc.?
AND SO, AN IDEA WAS HATCHED!
I would do a regular posting of my "Chicken Scratches," the daily sketches I do of my chickens and ducks, as we go through life together, winging it and putting it all on my bill...

My very first "chicken scratch," a life sketch attempt of our pullets while they were dust bathing...

A watercolor of a silkie for my wife on our 12th anniversary...

Did I mention we have duck? They're "runner" ducks. They stand upright and run rather than waddle.

 "Buddy," one of two of our Silkie roosters... (I should do a color sketch of him. He's buff and black and gold...quite a handsome dude).

"Pepper" and "Rainbow" 

Runner Ducks can sit funny as well as lie down like regular ducks... the chicken sketch is of "Penny," our little hatchling of six weeks ago, a Delaware.