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Zeeland, MI
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Title
Old Weird Harold, White Crested Black Polish Rooster
Artist
Conni Schaftenaar
Medium
Drawing - Colored Pencil On Paper
Description
White-crested Black Polish Rooster, colored pencil on paper (with a little gold acrylic ink), by Conni Schaftenaar.
When I was a VERY young woman, married and living on a farm in Pennsylvania, our neighbors and landlords had a dairy farm and the son was fascinated with chickens. He had several varieties of colorful chickens running around, one of which were his Polish chickens, a breed I had never seen before. Polish chickens have 'crests' or top-knots; the hens' crests are quite small, but the roosters had long crest feathers than hung to their shoulders. I thought they were beautiful, and, because we were getting some chickens, Jim offered us Old Weird Harold, because apparently he was an outcast even among his own kind and Jim was tired of his antics. He told us Harold was a bit of a stinker, but I thought he was beautiful, and so we took him. He had those glossy black feathers with blue and purple and teal iridescent highlights in them, and his long white crest feathers were tipped in gold!
Our chickens were big white Leghorns, mostly hens for eggs, and we also had four huge roosters. Harold was probably 2/3 the size of those big Leghorn roosters, but he still pestered them mercilessly. He also saw fit to hassle the cats and dogs, and we had a young raccoon we had raised from a baby, who by that time was in a huge cage by the barn, with branches in it, as she was also a stinker and no longer could be in the house - WAY too naughty.
So Harold took to stalking around Rosie's cage, teasing her. She'd put her little hands out through the wires and he'd peck them. She'd chatter and hiss and he'd stalk around some more until she tried to grab him and he'd peck her again. We had already decided that Rosie needed to be turned loose and we had borrowed a live trap to transport her somewhere way out in the woods away from where we lived. She was attached to us, but as a now maturing female, she was also getting snappy and untrustworthy - no longer our cuddly little one! And we knew Harold was being a real pain, teasing her, so our plan was to take her away on the weekend and find a good place to turn her loose.
What we didn't realize was that this huge old cage, that had been previously used for hunting dogs, I think, had begun to rust out. Rosie was assiduously working away at weak points. I had just come outside and was coming down the porch steps when I heard a hellacious commotion from up behind the barn. I see Harold running faster than I had ever seen a chicken move, but had no idea why, until he ran past me and I see that right behind him, under his long tail feathers, yanking feathers off his butt, is Rosie! Feathers were flying, Harold was squawking his head off, Rosie is grabbing and yanking feathers like crazy! I somehow (still don't know how) managed to snag Rosie by the scruff of her neck. Fortunately, the live trap was right there and open and I managed to stuff her into it, hissing and snapping away. Man, was she mad at that rooster! I'm lucky I didn't get bitten in the process. I got her secured and Harold sauntered away trying to be nonchalant about his practically bare ass. Once the adrenaline subsided, I sat on the grass next to Rosie in the cage and just laughed and laughed and laughed thinking about that goofy rooster running like a cartoon character, trying to tuck his butt under him. Harold pretended not to know what I was laughing at and went to raid the vegetable garden.
3rd place tie win in the Whimsical Wonders contest, July 2023
Featured in:
Created By My Pencil Power, July 2020
The World We See, July 2020
Images That Excite You, July 2020
FAA Portraits - Birds, July 2020
The Artists Group, July 2020
Midwest America Artists, July 2020
For The Birds, November 2021
Uploaded
July 10th, 2020
Statistics
Viewed 438 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/20/2024 at 12:34 AM
Embed
Sales Sheet
Niceville, Fl - United States
Congratulations on your 3d place win in the Whimsical Wonders contest! voted
Zeeland, MI - United States
thanks to everyone who voted this to a 3rd place tie win in the Whimsical Wonders contest!
Zeeland, MI - United States
Marsha and Dianne, so glad you enjoy my goofy Old Weird Harold! He was definitely a piece of work!
Middletown, PA - United States
Wonderful work, Conni!!! Congratulations, your work is Featured in "For the Birds"! I invite you to place it in the group's "Featured Image Archive" Discussion!!
Quakertown, PA - United States
Revisiting this handsome fella. This old, perfectly weird, character. Love your portrait of Harold, Conni. I feel like I know him lol
Zeeland, MI - United States
Hahahahaha, thanks, Laurel - yes, he is pretty cute in a sort of goofy way!
Danville, KY - United States
Love weird Harold, Conni...I happen to think he is cute...NOT ugly!..:-)
Perth, We - Australia
👍 - Fabulous Old Harold ! - But I think now is the right time for him to returns his striking Wig to Trump ! - 🙂 -
Zeeland, MI - United States
Thank you, Laurel - I know Harold's story makes you laugh, so I had to put him into the contest!
Zeeland, MI - United States
Thanks so much, Sarah! I'll have to consider that, because when I originally did write the OWH story, I couldn't figure out how to get it illustrated. Now, maybe I can do it myself!
Quakertown, PA - United States
Oh for goodness sake, I just love Harold! His portrait and his story! You're quite the story teller, Conni. You should write a book about him- I'd read it. Maybe a children's book. Reading of Harold and Rosie is the best entertainment I've had all day!
Zeeland, MI - United States
You are so kind, Michele! I actually DID write a story about Old Weird Harold years ago, before I started doing any art, and shelved it when I couldn't figure out how to illustrate it. Maybe I should think that over again!
Roseburg, OR - United States
What a great story about Harold and Rosie.. Conni, you are an exceptional writer and should be writing for children.
Roseburg, OR - United States
Conni, you have truly captured this 'character!' So adorable.. who could not love Harold! lfpt
Danville, KY - United States
Love Harold and his backstory...truly a bird with a “tale”... LOVE your paintings ALL, CONNI...v...best to you
Zeeland, MI - United States
LOL! Glad my tale of OWH's antics tickled your funny bone! He was definitely a memorable character!
Danville, KY - United States
Oh my Conni...you’ve got me Oohing and aching one minute at Harold’s beautiful portrait ...and, while you told me he was a stinker, you never told me the story of he and Rosie. I was laughing so hard by myself in my artroom, my husband had to investigate!...love old Harold and his story! He puts the GOLD in golden years!...LF
Zeeland, MI - United States
Thanks to the group Midwest America Artists for the feature on 7/17/2020!
Independence, KS - United States
CONGRATULATIONS! It is my great pleasure to FEATURE your artwork on the homepage of The Artists Group, 7/16/2020! You are invited to post it in the Group's Features Discussion thread for posterity or any other thread that fits!
Zeeland, MI - United States
Thanks to the group Images That Excite You for the feature on 7/11/2020!
Bensalem, PA - United States
Congratulations your beautiful work is being featured in The World We See:-)
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