I was first inspired to paint cows when walking through a field at the foot of Cam Peak in Gloucestershire in the south west of England. On a sunny but chilly day I was admiring the beautiful hedge-lined countryside with my family who had wandered a little away from me. When I turned around I was faced with a sizeable herd of Friesian or Holstein cows walking towards me. I took out my camera a fired off some photos as the black and white patchwork quilt of cattle ambled their way closer and closer. No aggression here you understand, simply curiosity combined with perhaps hunger...pretty sure these were the normal style of cows i.e. herbivore! Anyway, the movement, interaction and expressions on the faces of these animals really struck a chord with me and it became apparent that much of what I found fascinating when painting people was also present when observing animals (no disrespect to any portrait sitters intended!).
The first cow painting to come out of my experience with the cattle of Cam Peak was 'Who Are You?'. This is also, I think, the first narrow painting I produced and this relatively unusual aspect ratio is one I've enjoyed returning to over the years. The lead cow peers out of the canvas at the viewer while a couple of other members of the herd are suggested in less detail. The scenery is actually inspired by the view across some rolling hills from the edge of the road on the way to Dartmouth in Devon.
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| Cow painting - Who Are You? |
I’d always been slightly reticent about working from photographs but this painting made me realise that I could produce work in my painted-from-life-style providing I tapped into the mindset I have when painting from life. The way I do this is to display the photo on the computer screen and then place the computer between 6 and 15 feet away from me as I paint at my easel. This encourages me to ignore the detail in the image and work in the same way I would if a real cow was in front of me, off at a distance.
I used a different section of the same photo to create
‘Morning Walk’ next. Like the previous picture, this cow painting was created with acrylic paint using gloss medium to add some translucency to each layer of colour. It was the creation of this image with its clear blue sky above a bustling quartet of Friesians that made me really fall in love with painting this subject. The sense of movement that I feel comes across is in part due to the loose and expressive brush strokes used, especially with the 3 cows on the left. In addition, I found that using blues where one would normally expect to see blacks or browns gives the image a vibrant look that was in keeping with the reflected light I used to enjoy painting when depicting flesh tones.
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| Cow Painting: Morning Walk |
My bovine acquaintances were not yet done providing me with pictorial inspiration as I used another photo of the same herd as reference for
‘You Again?!’. This is a large (about 40” x 30”) painting on canvas of a group of Friesians, again with hues of blue, this time within the Gloucestershire fields (the background is inspired by a view from Cam Peak). Another key step in the production of this cow painting was the use of interactive acrylic paints from Chroma Inc. These acrylics are great as once dry they can be reactivated by spraying them water. This can be done repeatedly and allows the paint to be readily blended. At the time this was a revelation to me and now, some 6 years later, looking at the blending of deep blue on the group of cows on the right genuinely brings a smile to my face because it records a moment in time when I discovered a whole new level of artistic technique. (I should point out that I’m very aware that blending paint is anything but new, but the ability to do so without long drying times or solvents was, to me at least, brand new at this time).
After these paintings I started carrying a camera with me often and whenever I saw a herd of cows in a field whilst on my travels I would park the car, hop a gate, climb a tree etc in order to get a few shots.
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| Cow painting: 'You Again?!' |
