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Proud Arabian Mare in progress

Well, I guess you could say I took a bit of time off from blogging. I sorta felt the need to be away for a while. Some weeks are just like that. You need to get away and break routine. There hasn't been much happening in the studio to be honest. I'm working steadily on visiting commissions and posting the photos and outcomes as fast as I can up on the official studio Facebook page. It's been easy to post quick sentences there. (Here is the link if you'd like to check it out: The Art Of Jenn Danza)

In between the commission work I have managed to make some serious progress on the sales PAM! I'm incorporating new techniques and am loving the freedom and ease of fine oils after the pastels are applied. I can sit quietly for hours just adding detail and not have them dry so fast or get frustrated as the extender dries too quickly. I never felt a connection with oils outside of canvas work but I'm happy to say that I feel happy and at ease using them most recently. The photo of the PAM was taking rather quickly with the camera on my phone. Its blurry with very little detail, but I do promise to get a nice shot of her soon for you to see. I feel confident in showing one side of her head soon.

My gal Falcon laying an egg

My hens have all started laying eggs. It's been a most exciting time here in the house and I must say that the eggs are delicious! I absolutely love the position the hens get into right before they lay. Its a beautiful compact shape that I am dying to capture in both pencil and clay.

EGG-CELLENT

First egg from my hen

A most excellent development. Thank GOD too cause mentally I've been drained with personal stuff. Good ol nature to the rescue with a mental pick me up. I guess that is all for today. I'll try and show off the PAM (or at least talk about her a bit) tomorrow. She has been very relaxing to my brain to work on.

A Bloggy Break

My PET CHICKEN

Wow....that was a much needed break.....and the last post quite a mouthful.

That last post was certainly "wordy", but I felt it needed saying. Over the years I have learned that the best way to handle such things is to nip them in the bud. So, all is nipped and to end this ongoing saga of "Penni" the rooster I can safely say that an animal rescue is taking him. I didn't eat him, I didn't just chuck him on the side of the Belt Parkway, and I didn't stop till I found a place (with help from a very good friend) that we felt would be the best solution. He will be safely transported to Pennsylvania on Wed. morning by an animal rescue. I sure will miss him and after having gone to my neighbors to smooth things over just one more time I've found that a few actually enjoyed hearing him in the mornings crowing. Sorta put my mind at ease, if only for another 24 hours or so.

My vacation from the studio continues and finds me fiddling with framed photographs and dusting off curtains in the living room. The living room is the least of the disasters in the house. I have two more rooms to go and then I can center in on my studio which truly looks like someone ransacked the place.

Close up of the crackle.
MMmmm....love that crackle!

The lidded piece with additional "bead"

I did manage to get the pieces I'd like to sell photographed. The photo cube was probably the only area down in the studio that wasn't amazingly covered with a ton of junk. I'd like to hold an online sale if I can manage to finish up removing the rest of the clutter from the house in a timely manner.

A Note About Those PET Chickens...

We interrupt our regular art studio broadcast for a short word...

This one is going out to all those following the chicken saga. Apparently I've pissed some people off out there. Perhaps I need to explain my posts? Anyhoo...(Mizzy...this one is directed at you.).

I'm normally really thrilled to hear comments, but when someone can recall such detailed tidbits from my personal Facebook page and regurgitate them in a nasty way in my comment section of my blog, I have to put on the brakes. Unfortunately, you ruined it for many as I cleared house tonight on FB and just left very close friends and family on my FB pagee (I'm really sorry to those who I've had casual encounters with. I really didn't want to do that, but I have to keep my sanity. I'm always here and happy to chat via email. Just email me or catch me on Blab. )

For those that don't know...or didn't realize... I am new to owning chickens and yes, I lost one to a cat and another was just missing. Cat? Hawk? Other? After that incident I went into action immediately. Since I'm here in NYC, not the woods/country, things can be different. Apparently, we do have predators around including possum (they come in on the Christmas tree trucks) and of course stray cats. Believe it or not we also have a hawk family living in the church tower. All of which love the taste of chicken. I purchased several Scat Cat devices which are very humane and emit a loud sound if the cat (or any object) comes close to it and placed them around the property and near the coop. I also spend a ridiculous amount on this stuff called "Coyote Urine". Good LORD!!! It cost more to ship the damned stuff than the stuff itself. Smells awful, but so far its been months and no cats. Nothing. NADA! The hawk has seemingly moved on for the winter. I suspect he will be back come spring.

Losing a chicken brings about all kinds of thoughts and ideas of how to protect one's flock. These are all new learning experiences and when we don't have nice people willing to extend their expertise and experience to newbies then we newbies must learn the hard way on our own...sometimes with some sadness. I will add here that if you (MIzzy) or anyone else (especially chicken owners) do have any POSITIVE and useful information/experience to extend to me I'm totally and inexplicably all ears and waiting for you to talk. The comment portion of my blog has now been turned off to the public, but you can email me directly at studiodanza@optonline.net This way (Mizzy... whomever you are) I can see whom I'm really talking to and not just replying to a "ghost" profile. Man up....say what you need and sign your real name.

Having said that, I did joke about having the rooster for dinner and it was just a JOKE people. Anyone who has taken the time to get to know me either in person or online knows how much I adore my PETS. YES.. I WON'T STOP calling my chickens pets. They are pets. They come when called and they sit on my lap and fall asleep when I pet them. That means lots of time spent with the PETS folks. If the rooster was truly "disposable" to me I'd have eaten him already cause we LOVE every form of chicken, including chicken soup, in this house. If he was truly "disposable" to me I'd have saved myself the gore and mess of a soup killing and just taken him to the Bronx or Queens for fighting. If he were "disposable" I would have chucked him down at Jamaica Bay to fight his way amongst the stray cats. But no...he is still here and now he's crowing like mad. I've gone to my neighbors and personally apologized and explained the situation. I'm trying to exhaust every avenue in order to find him a good home (hence the reason he is still here cause no one wants a rooster as a pet in NYC) and I have two more possibilities before I have to take him out of state which will not only be a hassle with a toddler in toe, but an expense I am willing to pay even in these horrible economic times. All....all...all for the sake (MIzzy) of doing everything I can for my PET.

SO, before posters start spewing negativity my way with their pointy little finger pushin' it's way into my face they need to stop, take a breath and take a look at how many in that hand are pointing at THEM.



Here be my rooster in his glory. MY PET which came to me by accident in a lot of 6 day olds. Falcon and Crest come to snag some treats, but Lucy was still soakin in the heat lamp in the coop as it was rather bitter today. She did eventually come out and I saved some snackies for her. And btw we suspect the one my "husband lost" was actually taken by the hawk as he made it a daily ritual to circle not only our house but our other neighbor's house who also have hens who, like mine, free range happily during the day. Two of which met their fate as well with....something...odd. So, before I turn my wonderful readers back to our regularly programed schedule I will depart with a few small words:

Quick to judge are you....

Nuff said.