INSPIRATION BEHIND MY COW PAINTINGS
Did you know I grew up across the road from a small family dairy farm?
As a little girl, I would plop my knees up on the couch cushions, rest my arm on the back and stare out the window so I could watch the cows cross the road from the milk barn to the pasture in the mornings.
My family also lived on a small hobby farm. We even had a couple of cows of our own, but raising cows wasn’t something my parents dabbled in for very long.
We also had pigs, emus, ducks, ponies, and the kindest horse named Babe.
Anyways, the dairy cows would graze in the pasture all day after morning milking. Then they would gather around the pasture gate to be escorted back to the milking barn again in the evenings.
When the cows would get out of their pasture fencing, you could find them in my parent’s yard quite a bit.
My mom would have to call on the old telephone to the neighbors and let them know the cows were out, and we would end up with a handful of cow pies on the front lawn.
It’s a little crazy that I don’t even mind the smell of cow manure.
Sometimes I would play over in that milking barn, mostly chasing feral farm kittens, wishing they would snuggle, but it wasn’t their job on the farm. They were there for pest control.
I’d also get to help bottle-feed baby calves, ride hay wagons, collect chicken eggs, and occasionally play tea party with sugar cubes, water, and vintage tea sets.
To this day, cows remind me of simplicity and my childhood. I think that’s why I’m such an admirer of them. To me, the cow is a beautiful creature that both sacrifices and offers so much for us, as we use their life to benefit our own. The cow truly is gift and should be admired for their sacrifice, wouldn’t you agree?
I create most of them as mixed media on canvas. Acrylic paints are my go-to since I never have the patience for anything else. I’m also positive chocolate milk comes from brown cows, and strawberry milk comes from pink ones.
Did you ever believe that too?
I hope when looking at my cow paintings, you feel gratitude with a little spark of childhood whimsy and happiness.
XOXO
Emily
View more artwork under the PAINTINGS BY EMILY category of the blog.
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All of Emily’s artwork is copyright to Emily Carlson and She Paints For Ponies. You do not have permission to copy, download, digitalize, sell, and so forth, without Emily’s written permission.