Recently I was at an art auction and I saw a painting of some cows that really appealed to me.It was very atmospheric and captured the sense of animals together in a very natural way. It immediately reminded me of the cows and calves on the farm at home in Kerry. There were particular cows that had great personality and you had a sense of how protective they were of their young calves. I decided that I would do a painting that would capture that sense of cows nurturing calves. I wanted to show the solidity of the cow looking out over the landscape and how calm and at ease she was in her natural environment. Beside her I have put her young calf. I have painted him by his mother's side so that I convey the sense of security that the young calf feels beside his mother.
The cow is looking straight ahead while the calf is looking out to the side. I wanted to give a sense of confidence and ease in the cow's demeanour while showing a nervousness in the calf. He is young and unsure of himself in this strange new world. The cow is an off-white -Charolais-.with tinges of brown while the calf is strongly brown - Limousin breed- to create an attractive contrast in their colours. The scene is set on a sunny summer's evening with a lovely soft light falling on the animals which gives a great opportunity to show rich areas of light and shadow.
My father was a dairy farmer and he built a fine herd of Friesian cows to supply milk to Kerry Co-Op. He was always interested in breeding animals and from to time experimented with beef cattle and also had sheep to see how they would contribute to the farm income. At one stage an uncle of mine persuaded him to get some Charolais cows and to cross breed them with a Limousin bull. The result is what you see depicted in the painting. My father's main interest and income was from dairy cows so while he was interested enough to try out other cattle on my uncle's prompting he did not persist with the Charolais and Limousin breeds. As children we were greatly taken with these big colourful animals. They were a welcome change from the constant black and white of the Friesian cows.
The farm near Listowel is not beside the sea but I took the artistic licence to put the sea as a background beacuse the cloours of the sky and the water would set off the animals very well.
The cow is looking straight ahead while the calf is looking out to the side. I wanted to give a sense of confidence and ease in the cow's demeanour while showing a nervousness in the calf. He is young and unsure of himself in this strange new world. The cow is an off-white -Charolais-.with tinges of brown while the calf is strongly brown - Limousin breed- to create an attractive contrast in their colours. The scene is set on a sunny summer's evening with a lovely soft light falling on the animals which gives a great opportunity to show rich areas of light and shadow.
My father was a dairy farmer and he built a fine herd of Friesian cows to supply milk to Kerry Co-Op. He was always interested in breeding animals and from to time experimented with beef cattle and also had sheep to see how they would contribute to the farm income. At one stage an uncle of mine persuaded him to get some Charolais cows and to cross breed them with a Limousin bull. The result is what you see depicted in the painting. My father's main interest and income was from dairy cows so while he was interested enough to try out other cattle on my uncle's prompting he did not persist with the Charolais and Limousin breeds. As children we were greatly taken with these big colourful animals. They were a welcome change from the constant black and white of the Friesian cows.
The farm near Listowel is not beside the sea but I took the artistic licence to put the sea as a background beacuse the cloours of the sky and the water would set off the animals very well.
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