Wooly Bully

This guy looks very...satisfied, doesn't he?

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

We Belong Together

More spring flowers as winter continues to linger here in Maine. 

Oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

The Gift

Flowers are the gift that keep on giving...especially if you're a painter. My dear friend, Suzanne, sent me flowers a while back. I so enjoyed them on our kitchen table while they lasted and lasted and I snapped lots of photos for future painting. Here's one. 

oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

Winter Guest

Not only do the birds come for the seeds we put out all winter...the gray squirrels do, too! This guy was sitting right on our living room window sill and wasn't the least bit distracted when I got close to snap his photo. 

Oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

Bee Mine

I painted this last week...while 12-14" of new snow was piling up outside here in Maine. 

 Beautiful, isn't it? 

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"
SOLD

Knowing Look

More of the young roosters...who, by the way, are verrrry happy in their new home amid all the other chicks! 

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Just Fluff

Who knew baby roosters could be so freakin' adorable?! 

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

A Little Lucky

If you've been following my blog for a bit, you know the story of my bro-in-law's  rooster mix-up. (If not, you can read it here) So this is Lucky when he was young...so he's a little Lucky. :o)  It's fun to capture the softness of the feathers on these young guys.

Oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

The Last Rose

This was my daughter's last rose...thus the title. ;o)

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

First Blush

Another of our daughter's get well roses. 

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

It's the Thought

Last week our youngest daughter had her wisdom teeth extracted. Her thoughtful boyfriend came to offer support bearing appropriate gifts...pudding, jello, mac and cheese....and flowers! 

Oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

Weightless

I painted these and the last rooster feathers as part of a Daily Paintworks Challenge. The challenge was to premix colors before beginning a painting. I mixed up enough paint for the two feather paintings I'd planned. Though I like the idea of it, I inevitably mix the wrong colors or too much of them. Not a big deal, but I've had more success mixing as I go. To see the other challenge entries please visit here.

oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Lightness

Some feathers from the lovely roosters. They were shed, not plucked! I'm delighted that this painting will live in the home of my dear friend, Suzanne Berry.

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"
SOLD

Molly

Here's Molly (named after our eldest daughter). She's the newest farm fowl acquired by my bro-in-law.  She's really beautiful! Did I mention...I love painting these!

Oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

The Lone Stranger

Honestly I still haven't figured out if this is a raven, a grackle or a plain ole crow, but I love the posture and silhouette it creates against the background.  And sometimes... ya just gotta have hot pink! It's partner, The Lone Ranger, is here.

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Fifty Shades of Jay

One of the many birds in our yard. I painted this one for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge. Though I have before, I don't typically pre-mix my paint colors. It was fun to try it again. You can read more about it and see all the entries here. 

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Sadie

If you've been following along with the case of the mistaken farm fowl sex (see previous post here), the good news is the two roosters, Lucky and Ezra, have found a wonderful new home not too far from here where they will live long, happy, well cared for lives. And having wanted egg-layers to begin with, my bro-in-law and his wife acquired two new hens! Being females and having our two daughters as his nieces, my b-i-l thought it was fitting to name them after our daughters, Sadie and Molly. Which is hilarious to me since, growing up in our family, our daughters have always bemoaned the fact that we gave them animal names. It seems every new friend or acquaintance we meet has a dog or cat or even a cow named Molly or Sadie! I think they're beautiful names for these beautiful birds...and my girls. :o)

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Lucky Too

I'm really having fun with these chickens! Here's Lucky the rooster again. More to come...

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Brand New

This is Maggie. A friend recently acquired some new calves. She snapped several photos for me and graciously let me paint from them. This one's a little looser than my usual...and I'm pleased with it.

It was a bit of a rough week recovering from 'elixir of life' treatment and an extracted back molar...but I'm feeling better now and anxious to get back to the roosters!

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Out of the Blue

My dear friend and fellow artist, Suzanne Berry, sent me a gigantic bouquet of the most beautiful tulips and irises last week...just out of the blue! Such a wonderful unexpected surprise...she's like that. :o) I snapped lots of photos and plan to paint more from them.

 Oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

Lucky

This is Lucky. He has beautiful warm russet and gold feathers up front and downy dove gray ones behind. Here's the story behind the chickens as relayed to me by my bro-in-law, Scott.

"I'm not sure if you've heard the story but the two very cute, 1-day-old chicks we took home from the Fryeburg Fair have grown up. The fellow who gave them to us gave them a close look in all the important places and told us they were hens (chickens who lay eggs.) After several weeks of raising the chicks, first in the dining room and later in the summer kitchen, it's now apparent that they are both roosters (chickens who crow early in the morning, don't lay eggs and would love to chase hens around.)

Through the process of raising these young roosters, we soon learned that they ate about twice as much feed as the hens. Surprise, they also produce about twice as much chicken poop - and of course, no eggs. So yesterday, we carted three 30 gallon garbage cans of very ripe rooster bedding out from the summer kitchen rooster coop to the compost pile behind the barn and replaced it with a nice layer of shavings, hay and leaves. The boys are grooving on their new digs. 

When we thought they were hens, they were named Erza and Lucy. When they were youngster chickens, we handled them every day so as to make them less nervous with human contact. Now that it's obvious they are roosters, they are re-named Ezra and Lucky. But they are still very social and watched the coop cleaning with interested eyes on a temporary perch above the coop. Lucky really grooved on a backrub from me, believe it or not.  The boys are very handsome and Dawn snapped photos all day long. At last count, she said she had taken about 200 images.

As much as we like them, the roosters will need to go in the next couple of months, so we are looking for a good home for Ezra and Lucky. We know we can send them to some of our friends, but we fear they will end up as dinner sooner rather than later. We are hoping to find a barnyard home since we think these guys have good potential for a free range flock. If you know of any pals who might be interested, please let us know."

The good news is we think we've found a perfect home nearby.

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Henny

This  begins a series I'm very excited about. Oh, I may toss in another subject here and there, but right now I'm all about these farm foul! My brother-in-law and his wife have hens and roosters...so, thanks to my sis-in-law, I have LOADS of new images to work from! There's more to the story that I'll fill you in on as we go. 

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Lone Ranger

I'm really having fun including this beautiful piece of twisted driftwood we have attached to the deck off our bedroom. The birds love perching on it, waiting their turn at the feeder. And I really loved the silhouette of this bird!

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Winter's Blush

I love this view from our bedroom window...it's where the sun and moon rise. I painted this as my submission to the Daily Paintworks 'Paint the Snow' challenge. You can see the other submissions here.

Oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

Belle

It's been fun trying to capture all the subtle color in these white flowers. 

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

The Journey

Sold!...to the man who grew the flower, snapped the photo, inspired the title and penned the verse.

The Journey
by Bruce McMillan    (Click on his name to see some of Bruce's art)
Each day slides in now,
depth in the folds to enjoy,
blooms not forever.

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"
SOLD

Hope is the Whisper

I love words, I'm a collector of quotes. I've been looking for ways to include this passion in my paintings. I did a fun series a while back with fortune cookies including some of my favorite quotes. Recently I received a beautiful card from a dear friend with these words as the beginning lines. Knowing I also have an affinity for feathers, she included this one from her daughter's wedding bouquet. Perhaps we'll be seeing more powerful words in my art...

Oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

On the Lookout

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Just Chillin'

Another of our sweet guests. I can't get enough of them!

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Waiting My Turn

We have a beautiful long twisted piece of driftwood attached outside on our deck. We tie bags of suet and seeds up and down it for the birds. So many different varieties come to feed there. This chickadee was waiting his turn...probably for a woodpecker to finish his meal. 

Oil on panel,6" x 6" SOLD

Room to Grow

Here's another amaryllis painting  from my friend Bruce's image. The painting is a bit more delicate than the scan captured I think. You can check out Bruce's beautiful watercolor versions of his amaryllis here.

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Winter White

A friend of mine has recently been snapping the most beautiful images of his white amaryllis in the snow and painting from them. He graciously offered me some images to work from. This is the first painting I did. I'll post the second tomorrow. To view Bruce's amaryllis watercolor sketch series, please visit here and scroll down a few paintings for his interpretations.

Oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

Happy Hour

This was from a summer visit to a favorite outdoor tapas bar overlooking the ocean. The beverage was some sort of luscious fresh plum drink. I wasn't completely sure I loved it the first time...so I had two. ;o)

Oil on panel, 6" x 6", $100 + $10 domestic shipping

 
or contact brenda@brendaferguson.com

Most Talkative

I thoroughly enjoyed painting this guy with his ruffled feathers.  The title came from it being "Senior Superlative" time and our youngest is a high school senior. She was absolutely thrilled and delighted to be voted...wait for it...Class Clown! Yup. Not in a disruptive way, she's just really funny! :o)

I've submitted this guy to this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge, painting summer in winter. And right now, it's 42 degrees in Maine this morning and so I am...off to the ocean!

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"

SOLD