PICK A COW, ANY COW

laptop photos (best color reproduction)


 You know I really enjoy painting outdoors.  Recently I was able to photo these cows while painting at a lovely creek.  My husband can tell you I have a strange passion to find cows in the water.  So this day was my lucky break.   Thought you might like to follow along.....I hope the painting does justice to these beautiful cows - looks like these were all girls.



several photos used for selecting certain cows to make a rhythm.  Used  for structue and composition, but not for color.




drawn in thin paint



At this stage, changes are easy to make in thin transparent raw sienna.  A section was wiped off  when cows got too large or needed shrinking.



darks laid in first



the color wash on the background is just to knock off the white.   The darks are added  regardless of the "cow" - Painting  just shape by shape and value by value from here on.......  The dark in this case is burnt sienna with a violet added here and there.

Now it gets funner, but more complicated.  When applying the ligher colors of the cowhide, I can see the darks were making the bone structure and some places needed changing.   Working left to right just because it seems simpler.

main cow, midstage

left cow, mostly finished

Lights are even more fun, and I can see more bone structure, here the attempt is to stay loose until the end.






mid cow and right cow getting structure

 What color are those highlights? Lavender? Orange? a combo?

So, thanks for following to this point.   Now there will be decisions about the water and some cow tweaking until it gets finished.


18x24,  oil on clay surface canvas

This is the glass palette used for this painting on the mid and highlights.   When I started to scrape it down after a session, I realized it looks very similar to colors for a persons' face.    :)