cow art

“Spring Wildflowers” and art show announcement

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Spring Wildflowers, 36 x 48 inches, oil on canvas

Very excited to be sending four brand new paintings down to the “Pop of Color” show at Southwind Art Gallery in Topeka, KS, opening on April 5th. I’m planning to be at the reception on April 5th. If you’re in that area, I hope to see you there.

This painting started off a while back and while I really liked the subtle, hazy quality to the distant area, I wasn’t happy with the foreground. But over the weekend, after working on several smaller paintings for this color show, I realized that even with the river, this painting could really benefit from a path in. I added in the colorful wildflower and green grass path, and now I think it’s pretty lovely. Sometimes you need something bright to really show off something subtle – or vice versa.

Progress on Spring. Big paintings, big paint.

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Detail of Spring. In the background, there is a nice heard of cows. I’m really happy with how the colors and shapes are coming together.


Detail of Spring. I love cows! I’m working on finding the right amount of personality for these lovelies. I want them to be discoverable. As in, I want them to not jump out at the viewer immediately, but to be enjoyable to find.


Spring. 48 x 72 inches, oil on canvas. In progress.

I’ve been thinking a lot about painting size recently.

I’ve been painting for about 30 years. Most of that time I have painted in a variety of sizes, but from 2009-2012 I was a “daily painter” working almost exclusively in a 6 x 6 inch format. I painted daily and finished about two or three 6-inch paintings each week.

Focusing on painting small taught me a lot of technical skills, and about what I want to say as an artist.

So here I am today working at the other end of the size spectrum.

I recently finished a series of 40 x 40-inch paintings, and am currently working on a series of 48 x 72-inch paintings. Working large is great. It has a new set of challenges and rewards.

When I go into the studio in the morning, I squeeze onto my pallet what looks like as much paint as I used for a year of painting 6-inch paintings. So, of course, I wondered if that could be right?

I thought you might find the answer interesting. I could fit ninety-six 6-inch paintings into one of the paintings that are currently on my easel. 96!

So, no, I’m probably not squeezing a whole year’s worth of painting onto my pallet every day. It might take me about 2 weeks now to go through a year’s worth of paint then.

Pretty wild, right?

What do you think?

(Cold Noses) What It Means, happy cows, large cow painting

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What It Means, 24″ x 36″, available.

 

I started this cow painting a couple years ago. It was based on some photos I took and a smaller painting I made of these cows relaxing on a chilly day. I loved the yellow sky and the blue and gold snow… The sky in South Dakota is often suprising and beautiful.

The small painting, btw, was called Cold Noses, and was printed in South Dakota Magazine and sold through the South Dakota Art Museum – Thanks!

Anyways, What It Means got started a couple years ago, but I had to set it aside and live with it for a while before finishing it. I had to think about what I wanted to say in this larger painting that I hadn’t already said in Cold Noses. Finally this week I realized that it could be a narrative painting, about the emotions and relationships. I pushed my painting pretty far with a lot of pallet knife use and calligraphy in the trees…

Here’s a close up of a happy girl enjoying some good company and a nice view.

Thanks for looking!

Best Wishes, Jessie