Fowl Play: Holly Frean

"Chickens are spectacular, theatrical creatures," says Holly. "Consider their extraordinary faces and baggy accessories - all ostentation and swank!

I paint the same subject many times over to see how many differences I can generate. Formal shifts, subtle - and not so subtle - shifts in colour, the angle of a beak, the placement of eyes, even pupil dilation, the arrangement of expressive plumage, all these combine to describe - or invent - a chicken's personality. After that I am interested in the ordering, flocking if you like, and displaying my subject; these chickens must work on their own and also complement each other as a group."

Chickens are so different from my usual work, I really only started painting them after being invited to design the plates for the Anthropologie homeware department! One thing lead to another and suddenly I had masses of the things littering the studio floor and an exhibition of them seemed the right thing to do!"