Early tomorrow morning I'll be heading off to the lovely town of Merriwa to teach some art workshops. Like most artists I need to supplement my income with any sort of teaching work that comes my way. This one will be lots of fun as I have 2 groups of senior citizens for a couple of short workshops of 2 and 3 hours.
Inspired by our pet rooster, Roger the KFC, it occurred to me to create an art lesson based on drawing/painting a chook. For many elderly people keeping a flock of hens in the backyard to provide eggs and meat was something they did themselves or grew up with. In the 8 months since Roger chose our back yard as his territory I've learned what charming and delightful pets chooks can be. I can completely relate to why people who've kept domesticated chickens are so fond of them. We've found Roger to be a lovely and entertaining fellow, his only downside being his operatic ambitions that he wants to start exercising from 4am in the morning. Reluctantly, after the neighbours organised a lynch mob, I had to apply a permanent velcro collar to his neck. The consequence being he can only make very sad spluttering squawks of acceptably low decibels.
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This is the type of chicken picture I'll be guiding the students to make in class |
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the real KFC Roger, at home in our back yard |