"Autumn Cluck" The story of a painting!

How does a painting begin? Where does it lead? What happens? Well, I can tell you that it doesn't always go where I think it will and the result is quite often a surprise even to me!

This painting began with a sketch from one of my reference photos. (I'm always looking for good chicken photos!) It's a simple sketch and of course I thought that I'd have a simple painting! Weeeellllllllllll...........I started last night. My first issue was the tail feathers in the upper right hand corner.........too dark.......too weird...........wrong color..........wrong angle.........OK, I finally sorted that out and then the shadow in the lower right......too dark......wrong color......hmmmmmmm......Figured out how to make that work and then of course came the background. After I found the right balance of color, it just looked empty!!!!! Keep it simple, I'm thinking...well, it's TOO simple!!!!!  Put in a fence, a building, a line, what????? This morning, since it's Fall and the leaves are falling—I like to hear them crunch when I ride over them on my bike—I thought, maybe I'll work some leaves in. Well, you know, that was just right!!!!!!! So, here it is—Autumn Cluck!
All content of post including photos of artwork ©Melissa Gannon 2014

This is the sketch for the painting.

 "Autumn Cluck" • 8"  8" • Sold • acrylic on 3/4" cradled clayboard