The colony

Down in the studio 'the colony' continues to grow. Piles and piles of soft toys that need love and a new lease of life and identity. I am making ceramic faces and also painting canvas faces to add to them. I add interesting finds... such as jewellery and retro fabric/lace to  help 'form' their new identity. I like it. It reminds me of reincarnation. I love the sense of newness and promise I get from forming their new lives. Each one has a character to form.
Some I make from scratch...from favourite clothing the kids have outgrown The pictures below show a creature made for Ella from her old spotty stockings and my favourite polka dot tee-shirt. Such fun. SHHH! I even find myself talking to them as I make them.

More Crazy little bunnies

Our place is being over run by half crazed little bunnies....kind of cute....but not....did some more prints last weekend around crazy bunnies who get too close to the road and the hay baler. Working on these images for the open studio days in November. Plan to enlarge, paint ,collage and frame these images. Tonight, out running, I discovered the local quail population may also be deserving of an artwork focus. Suicidal...running across the road in groups...chased by a stoat. I love living here. The wildlife is amazing.

Reflecting on reflections

The fact my horse does not like reflections (or the 'play of light' on water) has got me thinking more about reflections and how they can play tricks on the eye. I have been taking lots of reflection photos. Here are a few of my favorites. I love how reflections change the way we see the world.....in reverse and mixed up, in layers.

The old and the new!

Recently I have been breeding old fashioned chooks. Silver Spangled hamburgs and Pekins. I did have romantic notions about all the chickens BUT quickly discovered it is not all eggs 'sunny side' up! Statistically half the babies will be roosters. Then you have the dilemma about what to do with them all. I always want to keep them and up till now 'Trade me' has been a great way to move the hens and the roosters on. I haven't really had to face the nitty gritty of a cull. Two days ago I found yet another nest of 19 eggs about to hatch. I can hear you saying "why doesn't she keep track of the eggs?" BUT it is just not that easy! The hamburg breed...(see the black and white ones below) free range and specialise in hiding eggs in tricky places. They roost in trees at night and are the ultimate free spirit of the chook world. Anyway, I decided enough was enough and took the eggs off the poor girl. It was not pleasant. She fussed and made a lot of noise for about 12 hours. She told us all about it loudly. Then, in an endeavour to stem the breeding colony growing further ...I sold the last batch 14 Hamburgs over night. Great I thought! ...downsizing. But, that was not to be the case, as yesterday I rescued 6 battery hens.(See first photo below). They have not seen light nor been able to move much in their tightly packed cages.They are so lacking in muscle tone that they fall over sideways when ever there is rough ground. Many feathers are missing as they get so distressed they peck at each other and themselves. They have had the ends of their beaks taken off so they can't peck and as a result struggle with eating. They are not a pretty picture. This morning they had no idea what to do with food scraps and the worm really bemused them. Tonight I was out there in the dark trying to teach them how to use the perch and go inside the coop. Poor darlings have no idea how to be a chicken. Their combs are pale and floppy. I am shocked that in this day and age we still treat animals like this. I hope I can heal them and give them a good life.