I am writing this on January 3rd, 2005, in the midst of transferring and updating the whole site into a new program (and the 4 other sites I take care of!). Seems like things have changed since I wrote the original "about me" page, and I also figure by now probably everyone has read that one anyway!
It seems like a very long time ago that I first made this website. It started out pretty small, and originally was just a way to get some pictures of my chickens on line. Then I put my other animals on here, and eventually added all my artwork. Well, before I knew it, the website had turned into this vast expanse of pages I couldn't quite keep up with, so I put the art on it's own site (http://www.KatherinePlumer.com) and reformatted things here. It sort amazes me how it has taken on a life of its own. People from all over the world look at this website! The most popular section, BY FAR, is the chicken coops part. Somehow I find that amusing, since it was part I added as sort of an afterthought. I guess overall this site is still mostly about the birds though, so that's what I'll talk about. :-)
For some reason I've always been intrigued by chickens. My family used to go the county fairs around here when I was a little kid, and I was just totally enthralled by the fancy bantams, and decided that I needed to get some of those. Back in the olden days, a kid had to be 9 years old before joining 4-H... so I had several years of waiting to do! So I drooled over hatchery catalogs and the Standard of Perfection and fell in love with every odd looking breed you can think of. In the end though, I decided I wanted Old English Game Bantams. So in the summer of 1987 (wow that seems like ages ago!) I got a pair of Spangled OE. Honestly they weren't all that great, but to me they were like the world's most beautiful creatures, and it at first it didn't bother me one bit that I didn't win anything. But time went on and I wanted to improve them, so I got some BBRed OE in 1989 with the intention of crossing the two to improve the Spangles. That didn't really work out, so I sold all those crossbreds except for one favorite ("Elsie") and one Spangled male ("Pheasant"). I really liked the BBReds though, so I kept breeding them, and did really well with them at shows.
Left: Pheasant (and me, a long time ago) Right: Elsie
In 1992 I wanted to diversify the flock a bit. I really like Black Rosecombs, I thought they were very cool looking, so in February of that year I got a trio of them. A year later, on a whim, I crossed the two breeds, and ended up deciding to make BBRed Rosecombs. And I did! Along with lots of other colors! I sold all the Old English in 1997 when I went off to college, but kept all the Rosecombs. That's the only breed I have now, in Black, BBRed, Brassy Back, Blue Brassy Back, and sometimes a few other random colors. I show at most of the shows in CA, and sometimes you'll find me there selling my poultry art.
I've been drawing ever since I could, and wanted to be an artist ever since I was capable of having that thought. Ultimately I'm still not quite sure where things will lead, and sometimes I wonder if I'm crazy for trying to really pull it off. I'm pretty stubbornly determined to make it work. I think it's going well. I am far from rich or famous, but as some famous person once said "Rome wasn't build in a day." I had no leads and no commissions when I finished college at UC Davis in 2001. Classes teach you how to make art, but nobody bothers to mention how to put these skills to use. I spent about a year being useless, and then a couple of good friends gave me the encouragement to really make a go at it. Advertising, shows, internet, this was all new territory for me! And slowly, things started happening. I went to shows, I got commissions...the years went by. And now, I am doing something I have wanted to do ever since I was eight years old and drooling over the pretty pictures in the Standard of Perfection. I am doing the newly sponsored illustrations for the next edition of that very book! This is still amazing to me, that I'm actually doing what I've always wanted to be doing. Some day I'll have all that new work on line, but I don't think I can until the book is published, and I really don't know when that will be!
But, lest you think my entire universe revolves around chickens... it doesn't. Just mostly. :-) Actually, things have really changed out here in CA as far as the poultry shows go, and as much as I want to, I just can't seem to get quite as excited about it as I used to be. That year off because of Newcastle really messed things up for everyone. I find that I don't devote as much time to it as I used to, and I certainly don't hatch as many birds. Maybe this will change, it's hard to say. But for now I am almost totally devoted to artwork (I guess that's a good thing since it's my job) and I've gotten more into horses over the years. I have two horses now. I adopted one of them as a weanling in the winter of 2003, so I guess I get to find out how good of a trainer I am. :-)
I guess that's about all I have to say. I don't know when I'll get around to updating this again. I hope you enjoy my website, and be sure to go look at my art site too. Ever since I changed the address it doesn't come up in search engines anymore, which is hugely annoying, so I really need more people to be aware of it.
A picture of me taking a picture of me! :-)
