If you want to paint them from life, the key is to organize the palette. For these Holsteins, I pre-mixed a dark gray and a black for their dark spots, and a couple of light tones for their white areas. I kept a separate brush for each tone.
I quickly drew their shapes with a brush on the 8 x 10 inch panel, which was oil primed with a tint of burnt sienna. Then I dove in with the tones.
Beautiful painting! I know what you mean with them moving around the minute you start, oftentimes I can only get a head or leg drawn before the animal thunders away.
ReplyDeleteHa, this is great! I especially loved the comment about them moving like chipmunks! lol
ReplyDeletethese are really beautiful james!!
ReplyDeleteThese look awesome. How much time did you spend on each?
ReplyDeleteThanks, everybody. Jonas, I think there's about 15 minutes in each of them. Sometimes I start one and come back to it if another cow moves into that position.
ReplyDeleteonly the master makes it look easy, and you certainly do, sir
ReplyDeleteThose ladies look gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clear explanation on how to paint these girls.
Amazing! Maybe I will try that next time I do some plein air painting.
ReplyDeleteA county fair is a good place to sketch animals - they are in pens and don't move much.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous!!! awesome stuff!
ReplyDeleteWow. Makes me want to get into paint sketching. : )
ReplyDeleteAnd damn, only 15 min each.
Awesome tips on painting cows sir. At least they stay in the general area... sheep flee ><
ReplyDeleteNice cows! Good job.
ReplyDeleteVery nice cows! I agree with Art and Illustration, it looks so easy! It's a shame I live in Finland, I'd love to be able to go to your demonstrations and lectures and ask you loads of questions..
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