June Hedge a Gram

The work on my book, Happy Hens, for the fall of 2001 is moving along nicely. Doing the finished paintings is my favorite part of the year - since I create a new book a year the progress on the book is like the seasons.

The world around me has had a lot of surprises for me and my husband, Joe. We decided to go to a poultry show - our first. I subscribe to Poultry Press and Show Bird Journal and I became curious about all the different breeds of chickens, especially since I've kept three as pets. For a year I've enjoyed the company of Pansy and Bluebell who are Silver Laced Wyandottes. You can see one of them in this fall's book, Hedgie's Surprise. I also have Dahlia who is a Delaware, a fairly unusual breed. I bought her from a boy who raises "heritage" breeds which are chickens that trace their parents to colonial times. When we went to the poultry show, we looked carefully at the Silkies, and bought two from the Coulters, a couple who have a beautiful dairy farm that's been in their family since the 1800's. A Silkie is an unusual chicken because its body feathers look like long silky fur. Their tails look like a giant puff of fluff. They have a top knot that looks like a fur hat, and their cheeks are blue. When we brought our Silkie hen Daisy home, she had a hard time adjusting and squawked terribly. Then, we were dismayed to find my big hens wouldn't let her alone. We made an emergency call to the Coulters, and luckily, they were willing to give us her sister (we named her Chrysanthemum - Chrissy for short). Now both Silkies are as happy as can be. They've learned to love mealie worm treats and they give us little white eggs. We're keeping the Silkies separately from the big birds and everyone's happy.

At night the chickens "go to bed" when twilight comes. They go into the hen house and up onto their perches. I go down at sunset and take down the America flag and the Marine Corps flag and then I lock them in tightly as can be. Last night, I was so glad that I took the time to lock them in, because as we returned home a great huge bear was sauntering across our road, right next to our house. Since we were in the car we just watched him for 10 minutes. He saw us, but he didn't care at all. We have black bears in the Berkshires of Massachusetts and they are seen frequently. This bear was really big, much bigger than the Newfoundland dog that lives near by. His fur was the deepest blue-black and absorbed the light like velvet. His muzzle and fur around his eyes was nut-brown. He sat down like a teddy bear, and then he walked slowly away, making a big racket as the underbrush snapped under his weight. I think he had investigated our chicken house.

Authors and illustrators have been fascinated by bears, I think, because they are so majestic and smart. Also like humans they can stand on their hind legs, which is a more human-like stance than say, an otter. All these things make the bear easy to appear human like in an illustration. I had a great time forming the character of Berlioz the Bear for just those reasons.

I hope as summer approaches you will have a chance to be where there are trees and wild animals. Whether it's a park or the wild woods, it makes my imagination go. How about you? So far this spring, we've seen a fox, a beaver, a bald eagle and the huge bear. What will be next?

By for now,

Love,