Rooster Comb Red

Rooster Comb Red

The Historic O'Neil Farm is the last remaining working dairy farm in Duxbury, Massachusetts.  The 145 acre property has been in continuous agricultural use since the early 1700s and is permanently protected as one of the oldest and last working farms on the South Shore of Massachusetts.

The trail alongside the farm was an easy one mile hike and at times it felt more like a rural trail in Pennsylvania than a seaside town in Massachusetts.

There were several scenes that I thought would make interesting paintings, cows in the fields, cows at the water trough, and cows in the woods.   Barn cats were lolling about in the sun and a group of turkeys pecked away at the front lawn of the old farmhouse.  I hope to return to the farm for an on site paint-out but meanwhile, this painting was created from a photo I took on this first visit.  The rooster in the photo paused at the entrance of the chicken house just prior to stepping out into the sunlight.  The rooster's red crest caught my eye because it looked nearly fluorescent against the darkness of the hen house.

I have more work to do on this one.  The wood looks too white, the rooster breast is too dark and I'd like to brighten up the red comb even more.   I'll post it to my website when it is done.