Day 10 - Gentle Companions

In case the word Coo is unfamiliar to you, Coo means cow in Scotland. (so cute..) The cow pictured below is a Coo and in my opinion, the highland coo is one of the most entertaining and fun animals to paint.  They have adorably expressive faces and shaggy fur, plus the horns... which are just the icing on the cake. This friendly lady has an aura so sweet and gentle that butterflies and ladybugs can't help but flit about her as she dons chicory blooms in her hair. 

Some color talk:

Recently, I have been exploring different tones for my backgrounds.. Many of my paintings have very light backgrounds. A favorite straight-out-of-the-tube color of mine is called Warm White (manufactured by Gamblin). I love this color as it always imparts a warm glow and I like my paintings to have a light and airy feel to them.  

I recently purchased a tube of phthalo turquoise.. (phthalo is pronounced Thalo.. why is there a phth?  Dunno..) and have been using pops of it here and there in many of my recent paintings..  Today, I made a puddle phthalo turquoise and mixed it with a tiny bit of indian yellow and burnt sienna (two colors complimentary to phthalo turquoise).  This helped to knock it down and neutralize it a notch...phthlao colors are intense.. After mixing it, I thought that this shade of "warm" turquoise could potentially be a pleasing variation to the warm tones that are in the Coo and insects so I used it for my background.  And that's my color story.  I think it worked out nicely.. :)

Sometimes paintings are dense with philosophical meaning (my last two were...) and sometimes paintings are simply designed to make you smile. This is one of the latter kind, and I am just as happy with these kinds of paintings as the ones that are laden with symbolism.  I think there is room for all kinds of art in this world and joyful art definitely has a place.  That said, I am very happy if you do find meaning in my paintings. Art is for everyone and is a unique experience for each of us.

"Gentle Companions", oil, 10"x10", click here for purchasing details