Most of the year my sister Marcy’s dining room is her art studio, and the table is full of art projects in process. For thanksgiving dinner she graciously hauled all of her studio stuff into the spare room and set a beautiful table for ten, complete with grandma’s china, table cloth and candles. When dinner was over the table’s real purpose called out to me and I sketched and painted by the warm glow of the candles.
The next day in honor of our turkey feast, I painted wild turkeys from photos I’d taken last summer on an evening walk in Tilden Park.
I started with oils but found it frustrating, especially on the small panel (above) so I switched to ink and watercolor in my sketchbook (below).
The turkey guy above was strutting his stuff, showing off for a lady turkey. When she ignored him and wandered off down the path, turkey dude and his buddy followed behind, shaking their tail feathers, still trying to get her attention.
I imaged the turkey dudes strutting to the song “Stayin’ Alive” by the BeeGees that starts with:
“Well you can tell by the way I use my walk.
I’m a woman’s man; no time to talk…”
OMG! Those tightie whitie pants! Here’s last year’s Thanksgiving Leftovers post (same table).
Jana Bouc, Artist 