The Traveling Chicken - Poolside

Here's the result of a fun project that Jill Polsby invited me to join.  Jill is a fellow artist whose blog I follow.  She and I have never actually met but like so many other fellow artist bloggers, I feel like I know her.  I think that someday we will meet in person because she lives only about an hour away.  I was happy that she thought of me to participate in this project.

This small ceramic chicken was purchased in England by Azra to use in one of her paintings.  She decided to offer it to other artists to paint and The Traveling Chicken was born.  This chicken has her own blog so you can keep up with her travels and see each artist's ideas for a painting using this ceramic dynamo.  You can sign up as a follower if you are on blogger or sign up to get e-mail updates as this world traveler is immortalized in each new city (or country).  I am the fourth artist to participate in this venture and I must say it was a lot of fun.

This was painted on 140# hot press Lanaquarelle.  The reason I picked this paper was because I had a few pieces left on a watercolor pad and it was the size I wanted to use - not the best reason to chose a paper.  I don't have anything against Lanaquarelle, I really don't like working on any 140# hot press paper.  It's very different than a cold press or rough paper because the paint sits on the surface more and when additional glazes of color are added, the previous layers are easily lifted which is frustrating to me because I like to use lots of layers of color and build up my darks.  It's also hard to get smooth washes on this paper.  The hot press paper that I really love is the Arches 300# hot press.  Wow! That is a wonderful paper.  It's the thickness of the paper that seems to make the difference.  It has a soft surface and the paint seems to settle into the paper better and it gives a beautiful end result to the painting.  Waterford's 200# hot press also seems to have that softer surface that allows the paint to settle better.

Anyway, this was a nice side project to get the artistic ideas flowing.  Thanks Jill.

The Traveling Chicken - Pool Side
Image Size - 6.5" x 9.5"
Watercolor