Revisiting PA - Cows at the Creek

Cows at the Creek

I really enjoyed my trip to Pennsylvania and remember thinking that I would try to do some paintings from my photos once I got back home.   When I reviewed the countryside photos I remembered just how radiant and unspoiled it was.    It was a novelty for me to see a stunning hillside farm beside a crystal clear stream;  the vibrancy of buttery oil color would be the way to best capture the memory of it.

I am no cow expert but did observe that once a cow decided it would make a move, others would follow and in this case the move I saw was a slow trek to the edge of the stream.   This was the same stream as was in my painting "Creek Zen" - only further on down the road.   Colorful kayaks were also passing through, somewhat contradicting the iconic farm scene but enjoyable to watch the cows and kayakers observing each other.

As for the painting, I began with an underpainting of a pasture, in other words, a previous painting done "en plein air."  This practice of using an old painting is not only economical and environmentally friendly, but often results in textural complexity and color that is interesting and unplanned.   The small patch of black and white cows were depicted with what amounted to warm white dots, shadowy white dots, and dark patches for their coats, and no one cow painted in its totality.  I would love to walk that area again!