A Cow Painting – behind the scenes look

This painting is now available as a reprint in my Zazzle shop. See prices at the bottom of this post.

I’m always happy when someone . . . anyone . . . likes my work. But I was a little surprised at the response when I painted Two Cows for Oklahoma.

Oh, my mother loved them . . . natch. My brother? “They’re just cows.”

(That’s just my brother. He’s not big on giving compliments but I know secretly he’s proud of my work.) He was in the minority, luckily, and I was tickled when a blogger I greatly admire commissioned a cow painting for her new gallery wall.

It’s always special to paint a commission, but even more so when it’s someone you care about.

Since she’s in Tennessee we did all of our communication via Facebook, starting with different cow photos, once I found out she wanted a hereford.

She loves the curls and waves in cows’ coats and wondered if I could capture that, along with the long eyelashes and wispy hairs here and there.

We both loved this calf.

But she wanted a more ‘mature’ gal.

So I did my best to combine the qualities of young and old.

The canvas is 11 x 14 – which gave me a good excuse to go buy a new roll of tracing paper . . . instead of overlapping and taping copy paper together.

It’s oh-so much easier to do all of the nose-to-eye-to-ear relationships on paper first, and then just transfer it to canvas.

I know . . . kinda hard to see, isn’t it. I use graphite paper – anything will work, even pattern transfer paper or rubbing a pencil on the back of your paper – but graphite markings can get a little too dark.

So I press hard enough to get the transfer but then go over it with an eraser until I can see just enough.

Again . . . the eyes-to-nose-to-whatever thing.

For once {!} I didn’t stress over the background.

Yep, after nearly 20 years I still get a little . . . obsessive, maybe?

But there really wasn’t enough space on the canvas for a background so I used a couple of different greens and through in some greyish/taupish color.

Very technical.

Since my Photoshop skills are basic at best, I just threw the two girls onto the same square for reference.

Did you know if you hit the ‘control’ and ‘+’ keys you can enlarge anything on your computer you’re looking at?

Hello?!? Why didn’t anybody tell me this, like, years ago?

Of course if the photo isn’t great, enlarging it won’t help much. But still . . . in case you’ve misplaced your glasses.

Like someone I know.

Warning: lots and lots of pics coming up. But don’t worry, this isn’t a tutorial so I’ll just let the photos do the talking. For the most part.

Painting the shoulder, with a bit of waviness.

The scary part – underpainting.

But white just won’t show up unless there’s some contrast and depth with it.

Starting on the eyes.

I used to save the eyes until the very end but it always freaked my husband out – to see a complete animal with white holes where the eyes should be.

Now I paint them early on. It may sound weird but the eyes bring the painting ‘to life’. A distinct personality appears when the eyes are painted.

Starting to detail the ear.

And the other one.

Underpainting for the ear wispies.

Not as many on this side.

The first layer of white.

I used to paint wispies with a tiny little liner brush . . . one.by.one.

Took for EVAH.

Now I use a ratty old flat, kind of like a rake. (Yes, I’m aware there are paint brushes called “rakes” but I like my ratty flats.)

It takes a bit to get the feel of how much paint, how much pressure – just like any type of painting does. And sometimes there are oopsies. But then I just take a nice damp flat that isn’t ratty and clean ‘em up.

It’s actually a pretty good way of getting fine lines, if your hand isn’t steady – by ‘erasing’ paint and leaving just a smidge.

This was all done with a #6 flat.

Okay, maybe not the eyelashes and the long stray ear hairs. For those I used a round . . . I’d tell you what size but the paint has peeled off of the handle.

No, I don’t spend a ton of money on brushes. Why do you ask?

Before I started continued obsessing over the eyelashes and ears, I decided to work on her nose and mouth.

Also known as “snout” in bovine vernacular.

That whole eye-to-ears-to-nose relationship makes a huge difference, not just in the sketch, but also in the overall painting. Rather than spending all day too much time on just one part, I try to move on and see how the entire painting looks.

I said “try” didn’t I?

This was taken after I fixed the eyes . . . after I messed them up.

Apparently if you paint too many white eyelashes the cow winds up looking somewhat deformed.

ahem.

Speaking of deform . . . I mean unique features . . . I originally painted her mouth with her bottom lip jutting out.

Like this little girl here.

But we decided no, not the look we were going for.

Which is why I love paint . . . you just paint over what you don’t want and start over. Maybe even once or twice!

Yes, that’s a pencil marking on there because I had the nose too long.

And you try this color and then that color. And then this and that one mixed together.

And eventually you come up with a pretty good lookin’ snout.

Then you get to pull out your liner brush and paint the teensy weensy wispy hairs.

And some eyebrows.

And her eyes . . . with just a few lashes.

White on white is a little tough. Oh, I could’ve added some ivory and other tones but I wanted her face to be as white as possible. And still see all of the swirls in the hair.

I’m pretty happy with her. Her ‘mommy’ is still on vacation and can’t see the pics yet, so we’ll see what she thinks later this week.

After all, when someone hires me to paint, it’s like I’m a hair dresser. I might do the styling, but I’m not the one living with it every day. So I always leave the final say up to the client. Always.

Although . . . these cows are starting to grow on me and I just might wind up painting one for myself to keep.

Yeah. That’ll be the day.

Colleen

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This painting is now available in my Zazzle shop as canvas & prints!

16 x 20 Canvas – $129.95

8 x 10 Canvas – $85.20

16 x 20 Print – $16.95

8 x 10 Print – $7.50

More items are coming soon so please check my Zazzle shop often!