I Have Always Loved Longhorns

Everywhere you look in Texas there are cows-- from roadside pastures to billboards to sculptures in downtown Ft. Worth-- which is often referred to as cowtown. From the front of t-shirts to beer bottle labels, from wallpaper to wrapping paper from...well you get idea-- there are lots of cows.
There is usually a cow waiting to become a painting in the back of my mind--bright colored ones, abstract ones, and cows expressed in local color.

Commissioned piece

 One of the very first things I remember drawing in pencil when I was in elementary school was something my mother call " the south end of three northbound cows". Cow butts! Cow are trending right now, so consequently I have decided to "paint up a cow or two". When one of my students at school brought in some photos of the family Longhorns we both wanted to paint their portraits. He got busy and did a great job on his first oil painting. He was shocked to find out how much he enjoyed painting-- we laughed about that--he wanted to do a second one! I waited until he was finished to start a painting of the same two cows but mine would be a little different-more painterly with very little background like the landscape in Texas.
 This is the first step--drawing in the shapes on our first snow day from school.
Here is step one

Here is step two--blocking in the Momma cow, placing a treeline in the background, and starting on the calf. This took place one evening after school. A rotisserie chicken gave me a little extra time that night. I LOVE rotisserie chickens!!

 

Here is the finished painting.

I decided to remove the treeline on the horizon and simplify the foreground so the cows would be prominent.

 I think it is finished--never sure, many times I reserve the right to declare it unfinished again and work on it more. I usually set it up on the same plane as the TV so during down time I can gaze at it and see all the thing I should change. I find myself looking more at the painting than the TV so I turn it off and get out the paints and turp.

The colors are washed out in the last photo probably because of the sunlight coming into the room when I was trying to get the photo--I just couldn't close out the warm sunshine today. The cows were basking in it!

Oh, I see something I want to change already!! Well it is "mostly finished" that is probably the best I can do right now. Hope you enjoy!