Chicken Scratch 

Lucia Heffernan created this whimsical painting, "Chicken Scratch" using traditional oil paints and brushes. Notice how the artist skillfully builds up layers of color to create realistic textures, from the fluffy chicks to the teacher's ruffled feathers. Heffernan's technique is rooted in the traditions of fine art painting. However, she applies it here to a playful scene that is far from the serious subjects often associated with academic art. The humor in the image—a chicken teaching chicks how to read and do "egganomics"—subverts any highbrow expectations. By combining a classical medium with lighthearted content, Heffernan blurs the lines between fine art and popular illustration. The painting invites us to reconsider how we value different forms of artistic expression, and challenges the notion that art must always be serious to be meaningful.