Here's Something Else I love; COWS

-
When we moved to Vermont in 1964 there were still more cows than people in our county.

My High School boyfriend lived on a dairy farm; he'd get up at four to do the milking, go to school, go to basketball practice, get home for milking again, than play baketball.  There was no break on the weekends-- milking continued always.  He'd come over to my house and fall asleep.

I begged him to let me watch a calf being born and so he called me early one morning.  I rushed out of the house--my Dad said, "Ah yes, the miracle of life."  The mother was still locked in her stantion--the apparatus that held her in place.  I persuaded the hired hand to let her go so she could nurture her baby but as soon as she was free she took off for the feed room.  The baby was a boy so he was off to become veal.
So I'm not romantic about cows but I still love them and I especially love to draw them.



This is the little town we lived in. 



Here's a barn scene; I still have to finish the nest in the rafters--full of the Barn Owl's eggs. I had some vague idea of writing a story about two cows named Elizabeth and Jessica who yearn for life beyond the farm. They hate it when the farmer calls them "Bess and Jess."



Here they are setting out on their journey.


Another imaginary space inspired by Rome and the Fountain of Trevi.



The cows look pretty small here but I still call it a cow picture.
This was a lot of fun to draw.  the larger mermaid is actually 
a carving on a settee in a book about the great houses of Britain.  
Can you imagine curling up on this settee?


Here's a collage with that image.  I think I pushed the edge of propriety, but it was fun. 
The hand belongs to the image of an awakening Adam in the Sistine Chapel.
Working in collage, with the random images and the "Oh, whatever" attitude I brought to it, pushed my drawing in new directions.


 I like mermaids and maybe some day you'll see more. But I digress; this is a post about cows. 


 A cow with c;assical archetectural elements.  
I've also thought about a series of animals in stately settings-making triumphal entries.  


I'm not the only artist who loves cows--these images came from an ad for an exhibit of paintings by William Beckman at the Forum Gallery in 2003. His cows are gorgeous.

Now I live in  New York City and the closest I get to a cow is the dairy aisle at my supermarket.  For the milk in my coffee, cheese, yogurt, ICE CREAM may I always remember to thank my friend, the cow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'm Keeping' on the Sunny Side

-
Image
 Good Morning!  I was thinking about posting a reprise of an old post about PINK, to keep the Barbie vibe going; I understand that in London they've painted all the red telephone booths pink and the great Ferris wheel has pink lights in honor of Her Plasticness but I had a better idea--you could say the Sun came up! You know I have a granddaughter named Sunny, right? I wanted to do a drawing for her and what else could I start with? The Sun and sunflowers--not very original but she's two and a half--to her everything's new and it's her name! Filling in the sky I see that it looks like the way I draw water, but that's OK.  I added Batchelor Buttons beneath the Sunflowers and I like the way the blue makes the yellow pop.  I'm not sure how to handle the transition from flowers to sky so I won't think about it.  Remember Mickey Rivers; "I don't worry about what I can control because if I can control it why worry?" And I'm in control! I used som
Read more

Oh, Russell

-
Image
 I have to teach Russell that when I say, "I just devoured that book!" I don't mean it literally. However, I must admit that he has a discerning eye, and has brought some forgotten favorites back to my attention, like this -- Art Nouveau  by Martin Battersley, from The Color Library of Art.     Here is Symbolist poet Robert de Montesquiou, an aristocrat and a dandy, the original of Proust's Baron de Charlus. I placed him with this Barbie because she has a Belle Epoque kind of vibe.  The painter is Giovanni Boldini 1842-1931. "He fascinated his sitters by his method of painting, gazing at them intently as though to draw out their inmost secrets and then attacking the canvas with long brushes held at arm's length. He transformed his sitters into almost impossibly seductive creatures striking languorous poses and suggested that the slightest movement would result in the beautifully painted silks, chiffons, lace and chinchilla falling off to reveal them in writhi
Read more

Summer Reading

-
Image
What are you Reading?  I love it when someone asks me that. The Times Book Review has a column that asks what's on your night table?  Does everybody read in bed?  If I have a good book I can't wait to say good-night. But as reading and writing has made me focus on language an abyss of bad grammar has opened before   me and I cry out in anguish. Will I ever become inured to hearing Ivy League graduates on NPR saying, "Him and Me are gonna..." and "Please reach out to John or I?" Terry Gross never corrects anyone's grammar and I respect  that,  it's not a good interviewing technique,  but where are the mothers and teachers?  How has it come to this? And another thing! The misplaced modifier!   In a biography of Willa Cather I read, "At the age of eight, school began to bore Willa."  Really? School was eight years old?  Miss Cather is rolling over in her grave.  And this, from Elle Decor; "As a young girl, her father affectionately nickna
Read more