Last spring, a friend sent me a surprise gift: a pile of chicken art, which she bought as part of a box lot of canvases with the intention of painting over them. She did just that with most of them but saved the chickens, as they were “so darned cute, we couldn’t sacrifice them”.
Unfortunately there was no information on the artists. The two smaller ones were painted on wood and signed ‘Dinah’ while only two of the six larger canvases were signed ‘C. McLeod’ on the back. My friend tried to find the original sales post but couldn’t, so their origins were a mystery. But not for long. The internet is a wonderful thing sometimes. It only took a few minutes to find that both artists live just a couple of hours away from me. Dinah, whose last name is Giffin, is known for painting on salvaged wood. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any recent information and her last gallery show was dated 2014.
The other painter turned out to be Catherine McLeod. I fired off an email with some photos of the art asking if she indeed painted them and if so, would she be part of this series When Art Meets Chickens.
It wasn’t long before I received a reply: “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe my little flock of rejects went on to a new life. I thought they would be painted over and the canvas used for a new painting. The ones you ended up with are some that I just didn’t like when I finished or partially finished, and just wasn’t ‘feeling’ them for some reason, hence the reject status. I’ve had a chance to look at your blog and I love it. I would be happy if you want to add me and some of my painted flock.”
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do a full interview with Catherine. Although she paints a wide variety of subjects my favourites are the chickens. I thought I would add some of her more recent series of rooster paintings, which are definitely a notch above the ‘rejects’ I inherited. Clearly, practice makes perfect.
Catherine’s Bio: I graduated from the Design & Illustration Program at the Victoria College of Art and am an acrylic painter living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. I find endless inspiration while rambling through forests, wandering along beaches, or sometimes just good old daydreaming. Music is often my muse.
I believe paintings have magic and can carry a mood, emotion, or wish to the viewer.
Many thanks to Catherine for sharing her art, used with permission. Check out more of her work on her Instagram page.
Bitchin' Chickens 
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