Sunday was my birthday.  We went to my brother and sister in laws house for a birthday celebration, since my brother in law's birthday is also on May 24th.  It was amazing!  Brother in law made Beef Tenderloin that was so tender you didn't even need to cut it, melted in your mouth.  (This was prime and from Costco FYI)  We celebrated, my kids were there, had a great time. 

When we got home we realized that someone had shot off something loud like a firework, which freaks her out,  and she ate a hole in the fence and bolted.  Hours were spent looking for her that night but we didn't find anything.  Flyers were printed the following day which we peppered all over the neighborhood in hopes of hearing something, but nothing for days.  Finally yesterday we heard, our efforts paid off, and the people that picked her up the night she went missing brought her home!  I can't tell you how happy this makes us, but my daughter especially since Lovie is her 'child'!

I am so pleased that my birth date will not be forever the day Lovie ran away!  And so:

5x7  #29/31   Custom Your Choice

In honor of the return of our dog, today's daily is for a custom painting, of your choice.  You can send me a picture or choose a certain breed for a portrait.  I won't be working on this until June when my daily paintings are finished, which should be June 1 as I am a day behind.

Now would be a great time to get that special gift for someone, or have that special cow you own or did own painted!  The regular price for a custom painting this size is $175 get it for only $99.

Herefords always look great on a blue background, it really brings out the red/orange color of their coat.

I love painting any of the white faces but spots on the nose gets extra credit.  This Hereford youngster was living on a ranch just outside of Ramona,California where I took the original photograph.

Update on the missing family dog, she's still not been recovered, but today we got a lead, we are waiting to hear back and I will update on tomorrow's post, hopefully a reunion photo with my daughter!

Special thanks to my friend and collector who offered to add to the reward!  

5x7  "Hereford Youngster"   #28/31   $99

I love all of the colors, but Red is always fun to paint.  This is the same pair as in an earlier painting "Redheads" but a different pose.  This was the favorite cow of a friend/cattle rancher from Ramona, California.  I love that I got to meet her!

5x7 "Big Red, Little Red"  #27/31   $99

So on Sunday night, which was my birthday, our family dog ran away.  We have been putting up signs, posting on social media, calling around shelters etc anything we can.  My offering today is not something I did today, because I'm going to spend more time looking for my dog, and hopefully soon she will be home and I'll have a story to tell.  This is an 8x10, a little larger than what I have been doing but it's something I don't mind letting go to a loving home for $99.  

I did this with burnt umber in one sitting also on a gesso hardboard like most of the rest I'm doing now.

8x10  "Hereford Monochrome"     #26/31     $99

On a trip through some snow country a few years back I saw a beautiful herd of Herefords.  The scene with both the cows and the majestic snow capped mountains in the background was one of my finest photography opportunities, this is from one of those reference photos.

I was going to call it "Out Standing In His Field", I know, over used, but in reality, I'm not sure if it's a male or female, so didn't go with that.

What do you think?

5x7 "Snow Country, Cow Country"  #25/31     $99

I'm back to paintings, the party is over!  Thanks to everyone who wished me well on my birthday, it was wonderful.

I do love back lighting.  This little painting has it focused directly on a Texas Longhorn baby.  I took the original reference photo in Temecula at a ranch that raised both Longhorns and Guernsey's for showing.  I'll be painting some Guernsey's soon also in fact as I was able to take quite a lot of great reference photos there. 

5x7 "Backlit Longhorn Baby"   #24/31   $99

Today, May 24 is my birthday!  I am officially taking the day off, and instead of doing a daily painting, am offering this original drawing.

It's 8x10 matted to 11x14, ready to put into a standard frame.  It is colored pencil, and signed of course.  I have always loved groups of cows, especially if I can get a good reference photo so the scene is natural like this one.  They lined up just right for me.

I may paint this someday, but for now it's available as an original drawing.  I know, it's a painting a day, and this is a drawing, but it is an original, and it's my birthday!

8x10 original drawing matted to 11x14  "Holstein Group"   $99

Well I had a problem the other day, I gracefully tripped over my laptop wire pulling it to the ground, the memory stick in the usb port broke the fall and the computer was fine, but the stick was in two pieces.  There were images on this stick that I did not know how to find again, but in my search I found a trove of images I had taken in the past, this is one of them and I do love it.  Not every picture I take is of a cow, believe it or not!  And not every one is worth painting but this one was.  I call it "Friends" 

5x7  "Friends"   #22/31    $99

Some years back I had the opportunity to photograph some Buffalo during baby season.  This is from one of those reference photos.  I love how the classic profile of the mom is there, but the focal point is clearly the baby, which I had been somewhat surprised to see were a lighter color, and to me have a great similarity to a cow rather than a Buffalo, cute no matter what!

5x7  "Buffalo With Baby"  #21 of 31    $99

I love Holstein Heads on a red background.  Something about red, black and white that works so well to me.  I don't have a lot, although the really large paintings I've done of Holsteins were 6'x7' and had red as a background, they were stunning.  I might do something like this larger, but for now here is a 5x7 daily painting, Holstein Heads.

5x7  "Holstein Heads"  #20/31    $99

I had the opportunity to photograph some Highland cattle, this guy is one of them.  He was young enough that his horns nor his hair was very long, and you can still see his eyes.  A cutie!

We don't see a lot of these around here, I figure it's pretty hot for them in Southern California with all of that hair!

5x7 "Highland"   #19/31    $99

I've always loved the white cows with the black ears and noses, somehow it gives them so much character.  This one was photographed at the same time as another cow painting I did earlier this month, the orange one.  I really love the colors of the background, taken in Ramona, California. 

5x7  "White with Black"   #18/31     $99

I did a Happy Cow painting with a chicken in my April painting a day series, here is one for the May series, Happy Cows and Chickens.  I took the reference photo in Petaluma, California during an official Happy Cow ad spot filming session.  I love how curious cows are, and this may be one of the first times these girls had seen chickens.  The chickens were eating and were unfazed by the cows however.

5x7  "Happy Cows and Chickens"   #17/31   $99

I did a Baldy calf a few days ago, here is one with it's mother.  The relationship between a cow and her calf is something to behold, and is truly special.  I love to see that bond!  I photographed this pair one spring on a ranch just outside of Ramona, California, during one of my reference collecting travels.  A peaceful scene.

5x7 "Baldy Calf with Mom"   #16/31   $99

Two Butterscotch colored cows laying down and relaxing.  I photographed these two at a horse boarding facility not far from where I live.  They teach cutting there and take care of cows for ranchers in exchange for using them to teach.  I figure these two were taking a rest between classes.

5x7  "Butterscotch Twins"   #15/31  $99

It's a calves in spring state of mind, takes my thoughts off of what else is going on in this world right now.  I hope it does to you also!  The Black Baldy is, to my limited knowledge, the result of breeding a Black Angus with a Hereford.  I don't know, but I love the black white face cows, sometimes I've heard them referred to as Panda Cows. They do look extra cuddly.

5x7 "Baldy Calf in Spring"   #14/31   $99

Cows are curious and this mom wanted in on the photo action!  Coming in from the side she's most certainly posing as if to show this baby how it's done.

5x7  "Photo Opp"  #13/31   $99

Contact me if you are interested in this piece.

Cows come in all colors, even no color at all, like this one.  I could not resist the eyes and eyelashes.  I decided to paint a pastel background.  

5x7  "White Eyelashes"   #12/31   $99

Sometimes I use the scenery behind the cows as inspiration for a piece, other times it just isn't appropriate so I have to put something else in.  This one I did use the existing scenery as it was serene and peaceful,soft and dreamy, and complimented the color of the cow perfectly.

5x7 "Gold in the Hills"   $11/31   $99

Calves are a favorite of mine, but especially in the spring time with all of the waves of wildflowers.  These two spring babies were hanging out enjoying the weather with their friends.

5x5 "Spring Calves"   #10/31    $99

This is number 10 of 31 original oil paintings for May 2020.  I'm not sure if I will continue after the end of this month, aside from maybe doing three a week, if you are on the mailing list you will be notified.  I am enjoying it immensely, and of course all of the May paintings will be available to commission as a larger custom painting, and will be added to the April paintings which are now named "Compositions for Commissions".  I have always made the small works available so you can see what I have and what you can have as a larger piece.

I knew on Mother's Day I would choose a cow/calf combination to paint for my daily piece, and I have a lot of reference to choose from, but I felt it appropriate to pay tribute to all of us mother's with Covid 19 hair this mother's day.  No brunch, no beauty salon, no haircut/style, no nail salon. 

Believe it or not it wasn't especially windy on the day I took this reference photo, this gal just had a crazy top knot like that, saw her a few years in a row and recognized her immediately!

This is her with one of her calves.  Happy Mother's Day!

I love the look of this cow, it's the only one I've seen that has this many spots in black.  I have always wanted to paint this face.  This is number 8 of 31 paintings this month.

5x7  "Black Spots"    #8/31   $99

I have been told that no two cows have the identical markings, so how an individual is marked does intrigue me.  I also liked the way this one is so interested and looking intently at you.

This cute little Holstein baby was just born shortly before it was photographed by me as reference for a painting.  I love the face, innocent and a tad confused.  Only a few hours ago it knew nothing of this wide world, and now it's starting to take it all in.

5x5  "Holstein Baby"   #7/31      $99

I guess you could say it's a Holstein in snow, but actually I have been doing daily paintings now with different landscape type backgrounds mostly and I did this Holstein, was ready to do a background and thought how much I liked it just how it was, on the prepared white background I was painting on.  So, I decided to paint the entire background white.  This one is all about the cow.

5x7  "Holstein on White"  #6/31     $99

I like the serenity of a simple cow on white personally, it's a nice change for me from a busier look.  I like both, but I think this is a nice change.

I've painted this calf from a few other views, it happens to be a very photogenic calf and I took a number of reference photos of it.  I like this one, because of the hillside behind it and the one eye that is keeping watch over you.

5x7  "Seeing Spots"   #5/31           $99

This is indeed the Queen of the Hill, and as I've said before doing these small daily pieces has let me paint some images I have longed to paint, this is one of them because every time I see this image the colors are an instant draw to my eye.  This would make an excellent large piece that commands a room for sure!

5x7  "Queen of the Hill"   #4/31         $99

I love the complimentary colors of the blue distant mountains and the cow, I think it's a beautiful combination.  

 I was able to see this calf minutes after it was born, the hooves are light at this point and it's fur was still wet.  I loved how the mother looks like she's new to this, and they both have their heads towards each other.  The calf by the way is new to it also!

5x7  "Fresh"   Holstein Cow and Calf painting   3/31   $99

The daily paintings have turned out to be very popular, and many are collecting them. I'm looking forward to seeing some of these collections on walls!  This project, which started out as Covid 19 quarantine entertainment,  keeps me painting daily and also gives me a small deadline to fulfill.  These are both good things.  I've found myself doing paintings that I have always wanted to do because I liked the image when I took the reference photo but have never had the time to do large.  Small gives me more freedom to create more, and the result is you can a. collect the daily paintings and b.see a painting of what I have to offer in a larger size, something I could not show you before as an actual image doesn't give you a true idea of how it would look painted.

5x5  Motherhood   #2/31 daily paintings    $99

This painting is of a friend's horse with her baby.  It is because I have always wanted to paint this image, I loved the lighting and the connection you can see between the two here.  Plus, when my artistic focus has been cows since 2004 I can't tell you how many times I have been asked if I can paint a horse lol.  I do paint most anything on a custom basis, but this illustrates perfectly how the daily paintings have enhanced my ability to create.  I hope you enjoy it!  First person to ask for it gets it, when it's sold I will mark it in the title of the May Painting A Day category.

Well the corona virus quarantine is hanging in there, so I guess I will too.  I've decided to do another month of daily paintings, both to keep me busy and to keep you entertained.  All 30 of the April Painting a Day series are sold,

The first one in the May series is a Pair of Herefords.  

5x7  Pair of Herefords  #1/31  May 2020   $99

I love the fact that although they are both Herefords, they have different faces, and most likely personalities as well.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I will make a new category for the Painting a Day in May.  And as I normally do with the small works, the finished paintings from April will be available to commission as a larger painting that although different will have the same feel, just larger. 

If you are new to the painting a day for $99 that I did in April, and will be continuing in May, and would like to receive an email newsletter with the daily painting just let me know and I will be happy to add you to that list.

This is a day late, number 30 of April Painting a Day, my covid 19 lock down entertainment.  I hope you have enjoyed it!  

Milk Calves is two cuties standing so close together that one's ear is smashed into the other's eye:

5x7  "Milk Calves"  #30/30  $99