Somewhere around 20 years ago, I painted some cows. The first one materialized when I was hugely pregnant. Make your own deductions there :0) I tried to paint them in a realistic way even though as a primarily self taught painter realism has always been something of a struggle for me, I was fairly successful and sold a few of those paintings. One day, a birthday gift arrived in the mail for me. It was a T-shirt that said, "Cows of Color" and had six cows on it with colored spots. It was from my sister. I really dug that shirt and I thought, "Hey, that could be fun".
What has materialized from there is over 100 whimsical cow paintings in all colors, stripes and situations. I have had a blast letting my imagination go all over the map with the bovines in my painted world. I continued painting my "People on the Couch" paintings and other series, but damned if those wild girls didn't find there way into a couple of those paintings too. (They're sneaky, you have to really look.)
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| "Red" |
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| "B-52's" |
When I wrote "Millicent and the Faraway Moon"" a few years ago, it only stood to reason that the main character had to be a cow.
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| In the Barn |
Two years ago I became a potter. During one of my open studios a year or two ago, a couple of ladies came and bought an original cow painting. This year, they dropped by my studio and offered me a commission: a cow painting on a bowl! It was bound to happen. Somehow these creatures have taken on a life of their own. Just when I think I am ready to move on to something else, they keep demanding to show up wherever I am! I am not sure if painting the cows on my pottery is a trend that will continue, but I do plan on looking for ways to incorporate my painting skills more and more into my ceramics. Of course, resistance may be futile.... the ladies are talking dinnerware....:0)
