Udder Relief

oil on canvas paper, 9" x 12"

Yet another cow painting.  I'm on an animal kick right now.

Aross the Divide

acrylic on panel, 24" x 24"

With this painting, I was experimenting with placing the figure of the cow in an unfamiliar environment.  I'm wanting to get more abstract in my paintings.  I might go back in for some tweaking of this one later.  Updated 5/2/2026:  I've done a bit of tweaking.

Hippy Holstein

oil on zinc plate, 8" x 6"

The demands of life, once again, have pulled me away from my easel for a good spell, and so I thought I'd do a simple painting to get back in the swing of it.  I may tweak this one later, but for now I'm calling it done.  Updated image 7/4/2022:  I've done more work on the background to create a sense of distance and added more textural elements to the grass around the cow.  Now it's done!

Spring Heifers

oil on panel, 16" x 20"

I love Holstein cows.  They dot the landscape here in Sonoma County like moving abstract black and white paintings.  The black and the white are up for interpretation, however; depending on the light and the time of day, there can be all sorts of colors in there.  I may be stretching it a bit, though.

Sunlit Ridge

acrylic on canvas paper, 12" x 12"

Painted from a photo, here's another quickie I did to distract me from the two paintings I'm currently struggling with.  I think it helps to do these quick studies, because I notice that it puts me in a different frame of mind when I return to the more challenging paintings.

Indian Summer Dusk, West of Petaluma

oil on panel, 8" x 16"

This painting of the hills of West Sonoma County near Petaluma was done from a photo I took in the early evening on my drive home from work recently.  I love the pink and orange hues in it, as I was trying to conveying the warm glow emanating from those velvety hills.  I never get tired of this view.

Dairy Queen

oil on panel, 24" x 24"

Lordy, it took some labor to birth this baby!  She made it clear to me early on:  don't mess with my face.  So, I messed with just about every other part.  And I may not be done messing with her, poor thing.  Oh well, at least she's got a comfy chair to sit in.

Black and White in Blue

oil on MDF panel, 24" x 24"
sold

A seemingly perennial work in progress, this is the same heifer as in a previous post, from a different angle.  I think I liked this painting better in its third iteration.  Maybe the cow is trying to tell me something, as in leave me alone!  Can't I just stand here in peace, enjoying a cool drink of water?  We'll see about that.

A Delicate Balance

oil on linen-mounted panel, 16" x 12"

It is what it is, folks.  All my paintings are experiments to varying degrees, and this one was my attempt to merge my love of cows with my love of birds, as well as subject with background, admittedly with varying degrees of success.  I do like that cow, though; she makes me smile.  The bird is a black-billed magpie.

The Watering Hole

oil on panel, 20" x 16"
sold

A Holstein cow standing in water, one of the two main paintings I worked on during an animal painting workshop with Lindsey Kustusch.  I was not particularly happy with either effort, but I do like the cow itself in this one.  I may work on it a bit more later, but for now it's going to the time-out room.  

Chileno Valley Oak

oil on canvasboard, 6" x 8"

This was a quick little plein air sketch done from a pullout on lower Wilson Hill Road, looking north to the hills that surround Chileno Valley.

Curiosity Called A Cow

oil on canvasboard, 8" x 6"

I was hoping to paint some cows in a landscape yesterday from a pullout on lower Wilson Hill Road, and was delighted to spy a bunch of them off in the distance.  When they saw me setting up my gear, though, the entire herd came running up to the fence.  I switched my focus to portraiture instead, and God bless her, this Holstein cow held perfectly still with this gaze for the 20 minutes it took me to bash in her portrait.  That's a first!  I finished it off in the studio later, and will definitely return to that same spot again to paint more cows, one of my favorite subjects (aside from birds, that is).

Resting Holstein

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

I've had cows on my mind a lot lately.  I love the high contrast patterns formed by cows set against the local landscape.  I am especially drawn to the Holsteins, but I love them all for their peaceful spirits.

Wilson Hill Road Scene II

oil on canvasboard, 6" x 8"

Another plein air study, this one done from the same pullout along Wilson Hill Road in the Chileno Valley area west of Petaluma, but of a slightly different section of the view.  I intend to revisit this spot again soon, to focus on those beautiful black and white Holstein cows that frequently pass through this valley.  

Trailblazers

acrylic on canvas, 12" x 36"

This is another painting done mostly without a visual reference.  I cheated a little bit in looking at cow shapes online, but the landscape itself is imaginary, as far as I know.  This painting has gone through a lot of changes since its inception, due to the challenges it presented with the palette I had chosen, the colors of the shadow areas, and the scale and color values of the cows, trees and hills at various distances in shadow or light, all without a visual reference to work from.  My goal was not to create a realistic scene.  I wanted an overall feeling of warmth and space, a late afternoon on a hot day when it's just starting to cool off and the cows are on the move.  Who knows where they're headed?  

Nicasio Cow

oil on masonite panel, 6" x 12"

This was done on site a few months ago and somehow never got posted, so here it is.  

Blood Brothers

acrylic on canvas, 12" x 12"

There were two little bulls, siblings, that I got to know a wee bit when they were kept in the corral attached to the art studio I had in Sonoma.  I added the third in this painting just to balance the composition.

Chileno Cow Crossing

acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"

Another cow painting, this one from a photo I took of a Holstein straddling the blonde road in Chileno Valley, where I once lived.

Holstein

acrylic on plywood, 16" x 20"

I thought I would pay homage to the cow, since the art studio in which this was painted is, in actuality, a calf barn.  More to come, I hope.

Holstein in a Field

oil on hardboard panel, 6" x 6"