Chickens. Hardly the subject for a painting, let alone an entire ex-hibit. Yet Anglo-Dutch artist Prunella Hawke has created one of the most unusual shows Cairo has seen in a while, all inspired by our feathered friends.

The story of this show starts in the English countryside, where Hawke grew up, number six of seven sisters. Fast forward to 2002, when Hawke arrived in Fayoum Oasis with her husband, a banking consultant working on a project sponsored by the Dutch government.

Fayoum, she says, gave us a much greater insight of what Egypt is really all about the problems in the rural areas, the beauty of it all and the fantastic people.

Yet it was a sad and lonely time as well. Her mother had died just two months earlier, and Hawke missed her sisters. Alone and with much time on her hands, she decided to buy seven hens to keep her company.

After observing their characters, she named each hen after one of her seven sisters: Caroline, Annabel, Cecilia, Lavinia, Rowena, Olivia and of course, Prunella.

In her large Fayoum garden, Hawke spent her time feeding the chickens, watching and talking to them, and soon they began appearing in her paintings in the vibrant colors the artist saw as she and her husband traveled around the country.

Enchanted by the underwater life she saw during a snorkeling trip in Dahab, Hawke began painting chickens in turquoise, shot through with deep pinks and reds. A trip to the white desert spawned works of hens on backgrounds of gold, burnt orange and brown.

Chickens in brilliant green were inspired by Hawkes Fayoum garden and the fields of the Delta. You just dont get that vivid green in Europe, she says.

Hawke feels that the vibrancy of the colors in Egypt is what prompted her to paint in acrylic, although in Europe she painted mainly in watercolors or oils, which suited the soft colors and diffused the light of the environment there.

Ive always liked bright colors, but somehow here [in Egypt] its the clarity of the colors and the incredible combinations that strike you, and the fact that the sun is always there. Its not gray at all, says Hawke. I think that this is maybe why I found acrylic a more suitable medium for my mood now, because you can get the brightness and clarity of colors, she explains.

The hot climate dries the canvas quickly between stages, which helps because Hawke uses a lot of water in her painting technique. Experimenting with color and style, she applies the paint with her fingers and sponges as well as brushes, letting the paint have a life of its own, as she says. The artist describes her method as a combination of watercolor and oil techniques, and the swirls, splashes and dots of bright color she creates give the works a psychedelic effect that contrasts with the ordinary subject of hens.

Hawke herself was surprised, but the possibilities have been endless, probably due to the richness of the environment.

Theres the belly dancing chicken painted in the rainbow colors of glittery belly dancing costumes on display in Khan El-Khalili, and a painting of Baghdad chickens lost in a fiery, red haze, created during the war when you had those awful scenes of explosions, says Hawke. Nighttime chickens are painted in deep inky blue; khamaseen chickens in whooshes of red sand, and chickens in lovely lilacs and soft green inspired by the jacaranda tree.

Its the colors just as much as the chickens that are the real stars of this show. Absolutely delightful these hues are so true to the Egyptian landscape, yet we tend to forget them because we live in Cairo, surrounded by concrete and asphalt.

With her artists eye, and her fresh look at the environment, Hawke has been able to put the essence of Egypts colors in her work in a totally appreciative way. At her canvas, suddenly, I would see a color combination, she says.

Hawke formally trained at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, Holland, where she lived for 15 years with her husband and two sons, and after her studies she exhibited regularly while running an art school for children and adults.

But art has been a part of her life since childhood, influenced by her mother, a talented painter herself who trained in Paris for a year before marrying young and becoming busy with her growing family. The girls grew up surrounded by paints and drawing and they all developed their mothers love of art.

When we used to go for holidays, wed sit in a row on the top of a cliff and paint the sea, remembers Hawke.

Now all the sisters are artists, whether amateurs or professionals, and are planning their second group exhibit appropriately titled The Seven Sisters in Londons West End next October.

And what about the womens namesakes? One, unfortunately, was eaten by a mongoose, but the other hens are safe with Hawkes former gardener in Fayoum. They will live forever on her canvases. et

WHERE AND WHEN: Paintings by Prunella Hawke. Khan El-Maghraby Gallery, May 3 to 13