Painting a Cow

This was a rapid painting done today of a cow I had photographed south of Santa Cruz.  This is the first cow I've painted, so it's really pretty interesting to get a good look at one. 

The light was warm in the late day and the cow is such a lovely caramel color.  I pushed up the impressionistic colors in this work and found that a bit of a challenge with maintaining the form.  Overall I was just trying to maintain warm plane and cold plane, cold shadow to keep it together.  The neighboring cow was deleted and replaced with some receding ground.  I still owe my brother a duck painting, hopefully the cow is progress towards that duck.  Enjoy!

Roses in a Blue Vase

Roses in a Blue Vase
ckm 2013

 

Probably needed to turn the tv off over the last two weeks, these roses all went weird and nothing like they were supposed to.  I owe my brother a painting of a duck, so that has got to get worked on...
Happy Painting!

Kwanzan Flowering Cherry Blossom

Kwanzan Flowering Cherry Blossom
12"x16" oil on linen on board
ckm 2013

 

 



Several years ago there was a short time when my city ran out of money to replant street trees and so I bought this Kwanzan Flowering Cherry tree to replace the street tree out front.  The blossoms come out right at about the same time as the leaves and they are carnation type flowers.  The water in the glass ended up being more interesting to me while working having an abstract swirling quality.  These cherry blossoms with the multiple petals are a neat challenge, so I went for more of a loose look working out the lights and darks.  Hope you enjoy and look for this kind of cherry tree, while it bears no fruit the flowers are a real joy.