Studio notes, progress photos, news and observations of San Diego artist Denise Rich
How is everyone doing this year? I have two new paintings on the way just finished two daily paintings so both are 5x7.
One is a familiar subject, a cow, a Scottish Highland Cow to be exact! Standing in front of a heavily wooded area.
5x7 daily painting Highland Cow
The second new painting is of a different subject, but fast becoming a favorite, a bear. This bear sits on a hill with flowers surrounding it and natural grasses.
5x7 daily painting Bear on a Hill
I never grow tired of seeing my work hang in a place of honor in someone's home. This is not something I take for granted, and generally once someone acquires a painting they are happy to send me photos of it hanging, thank goodness for cell phones! I like to show some of them from time to time to give other's ideas, and so they can see cows in context. (These should all be linked under the blog topic of cows in context.)
This painting titled "Milk Calves Holstein and Mixed" was purchased unframed in 2013. (I have been painting cows as my theme since 2004) I shipped it out as I often do, and the buyer found a great frame. These are the pictures of it framed and hanging.
The one on the right for sure is Holstein, I'm not too sure about the one on the left, I would love thoughts on that! Either way
the frame is fantastic and the Milk Calves are happy!
And here you can see the Milk Calves hang above a fireplace, with lights on either side, making a statement with cows in the middle.
I have seen a few over fireplaces, but this one has those recessed areas where the painting and the lighting fit perfectly.
You can hang paintings as the focal point for the room, giving it a ton of personality.
I like this one a lot! Thank you for the pictures of the Milk Calves Alan M., they look fantastic hanging here!
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These calves lived at our local dairy, where I frequently can be found taking photos. I love those big eyes that calves have, their expressions and lashes make this piece!!
11x14 Holstein Calf Painting by Denise Rich
So when I took the reference photo of this calf I immediately noticed the 7 on his forehead, which I though was really cool. I finally got to painting it, and it's still all I saw, but after this piece was finished it was pointed out that the negative dark space inside the 7 looks like a mouse standing, which is also correct!
I had never noticed. Which do you see?
This is a frequently asked question, it is not difficult to get inspired. Just looking at nature inspires me, mostly my goal in creating art is to capture something that I see, feel and experience, and share it with the viewer of my painting, in most cases it's a cow, but sometimes I paint other subjects, especially as custom work.
Happy Place Calf Painting 16x20
The first time I photographed cows as reference for a painting I fell in love with everything about it, not just the animals, which I saw as individuals with personalities for the first time, but also the smell of the field, the freshness of the air, the sound of cows walking through the grass, and of their breath interspersed with mooing.
Gentle most of the time, I don't get myself in precarious situations with them, I keep a respectful distance, enough to allow for the natural curiosity to come out as they sneak near to me and explore my existence.
I love capturing the unending variety of color combinations, expressions, fur patterns and personalities of these beautiful animals, I hope you enjoy seeing what I see!
One of the most important decisions an artist makes when planning a painting is the composition. I frequently consider several different ideas before settling on the one that moves me the most. With my subject of choice, cows, I might have a reference photo I've taken that has several cows in it, but I decide to only paint one of them, or just a portrait of one.
If I have a portrait, I have to decide also whether to include all of the ears, for instance, or to crop them. This decision is based on several things, not limited to first how it looks, because let's face it, they are cows, they are adorable no matter what, but what is it I'm wanting to show?
Take the example of the two portraits below, one includes the ears, but the ear color contrasts with the face and I like that, so including the ears was the decision I made for that one.
The black calf on the other hand had no difference in color, but had the most amazingly sweet eyes, which are my focus for that paining. You can see how, by cropping part of the ears off, even though these two paintings are the same size, 12x12, the face is larger and the eyes more prominent by cropping part of the ears off.
Each has it's own feel, mood and charm. Which one do you respond to the most?
Sometimes I just can't help myself, and a clever or fun title for a painting just jumps out at me, I have to use it. Other times I suppress my thoughts, especially if it would define the piece too much. Let me explain.
Just as we are all individuals, different people see different things in an artwork. Usually when I am working on a painting of a calf I am thinking of it as either a male or female, and I am always a little surprised when someone refers to it by the opposite gender. The fact is, often I don't know the gender for sure, if I didn't pay attention when I took the reference photos, which is often the case.
On top of the feelings some people get, just by features like long eyelashes, are the opinions of those in the cattle industry. They raise these babies and see them day in and day out. Even among them it seems there is a possibility of either/or when you can't see the bits that make it a for sure thing.
I posted this cutie on Facebook and asked people to respond if they see a bull calf or a heifer calf and why, so far it looks to be about 50/50 but I am interested in a final tally. You can check out the comments here.
This is a simple example of why I don't always give my paintings names that define them, if I did it would get in the way of what you might see, if I told you already what to see. The result is a lot of paintings with titles like "Calf on Blue" and the like, but it's not the title I want to speak to you, it is the soul of the painting. I hope that makes sense.
Please leave a comment, let me know what you see here, a bull calf or a heifer calf, and how would you feel about it if I had titled it the opposite gender of what you see?
I have to share a little about my life as an artist. I can't speak for other artists and of course we are all individuals, but it takes a lot of different hats to pull it off. Yesterday I was a computer technician.
I spend some time sitting on a couch with my laptop, where I have a view of what is on the easel and can study it from a little farther away than when I am standing at it.
My studio laptop keyboard was not working anymore, and needed to be replaced. Enter YouTube, my savior, with a video showing exactly how to replace the keyboard on my particular laptop! I highly recommend looking on YouTube anytime you need to fix something.
Now I am typing with great ease once again. Studio time is precious and so many things come up to distract that I was thrilled to be able to spend 5 minutes on this rather than having to take it to a repair shop, which would have been a much bigger time slot away from the easel. Now, back to painting this pastoral scene with Hereford, Angus and Baldy calves.
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When is comes to being an artist I am not sure if there is any more explanation as to what inspires us to paint a certain thing than there is why some music appeals to one person, but not the other, or why some art appeals to one and not the other for that matter.
Have you thought about what makes a person simply need to have a particular piece of art? I am moved to paint each piece, sometimes it can take many weeks to finish because I have to wait until inspiration moves me to do so, other times a piece just moves along seamlessly from start to finish, before I know it I'm done. There is no rhyme or reason, there just is, and I just do. I wonder if your art collecting experience is like that, you don't really know why, you just need it? I think this would be a fun exploration, don't you?
I would like to invite you to choose a favorite work of original art, one that you have purchased if possible, and say a few words in the comments below about how you found it, what moved you to own it and about your daily experience living with it. Say as much or as little as you like, but touch on that moment when you knew it had to be yours and why...
Work In Progress and a few words about my inspiration.
24"x72"
I am always inspired by colors, shapes and relationships between the subjects. Some are about the individuals only, but pieces like this are also about the composition elements regardless of the subjects, the negative spaces on either side and the focal point detail area of the faces. Often people mistake my paintings as just about cows, but there is a strong design element as well that actually has nothing to do with the cows themselves, though is a dimension that I feel is recognized by the mind even if the viewer is not aware of it.
Work in progress 36"x36"
I love how the cows crowd each other, sort of a me first attitude, even the shy ones. It's that feeling of motion and how they can be totally captivated by you that moved me to do this piece, the different personalities shining through, plus the feeling that you are there watching them do it, a place I love to be. I try to take you there with me.
Some of Andy Warhol's Cookie Jar collection
Do you have a collection obsession? I tend to focus on one thing at a time very well, so in recent years I've stopped collecting in favor of painting full time, but there was a time when I cruised thrift shops, garage sales and swap meets looking for curious things that I found interesting. Not necessarily valuable, just fun, interesting, and maybe a bit off the wall. Some items I have collections of are colorful vintage art glass vases, figurine vases, unusual vases, wall pockets and vintage books . I used to think of my tendency to collect these things as a passion, but I guess you could call it an obsession, and I always felt like they would cause me to be seen as the equivalent of a 'cat lady'. Until now....
The Barbican Art Gallery in London is currently running a show titled "Magnificent Obsessions" featuring the personal collections of 'stuff' by big name artists like Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and Pae White (full list below) to name a few. The very personal collections range widely, including stuffed animals (Damien Hirst) and Cookie Jars (Andy Warhol) and while giving visitors a more intimate look at the person who is the artist they also suggest, as in the title of the exhibition, that perhaps the collectors are a little obsessive.
The New York Times article discussing the show says " 'Magnificent Obsessions' does demonstrate that collecting is a trait shared by many artists"...I would like to know if that is true or not, I do know it certainly applies to me. I find this show idea interesting, but I'm not sure if it really does what the Barbican curator who came up with the idea intended when she said organizing the show allowed her “to get behind the thought process of an artist, to think the way they think, and to look at the world in their eyes." While knowing that prominent and highly collected artists share my obsessive behavior makes me feel better about my personal collections of bric a brac, I don't really feel it's offering a great deal of insight into anyone's thought process as is suggested. It will give you a more personal and very human perspective.
Artist Pae White's collection of tea towels, napkins, bed linen and scarves all designed and signed by Vera Neumann started with two scarves she bought at a thrift store, and now it is in the thousands. She said she curbed her obsession 7 years ago, but "thanks to this show I’ve started buying again."
I think it is an interesting show, if it was close enough I would go, if only to make myself feel in good company. And like Pae White, it's renewed my passion and I might have to cruise ebay for some treasures soon...soon as I finish my recent commission that is...focus!
Detail of recent commission in progress. Final piece is diptych 36"x88"
As displayed on the Barbican website:
Featured artists
You will recognize the style below as that of Andy Warhol, who apparently had no special interest in cows himself, in fact it was a suggestion of art dealer Ivan Karp who asked Andy:
"Why don’t you paint some cows? They’re so wonderfully pastoral and such a durable image in the history of the arts.” Although he didn't come up with the idea apparently it sounded like a good one, and Warhol began his series of cow screen prints. Warhol recalled that “when he [Ivan] saw the huge cow heads – bright pink on a bright yellow background – that I was going to have made into wallpaper he was shocked”.
(Quoted from Nationalgalleries.org)
"Cow" Andy Warhol 1976
Andy Warhol set out to shock and surprise, a large cow head in bright, unexpected colors would certainly accomplish his goal.
My personal experience is, even when they aren't bright pink on bright yellow, the experience of seeing a huge painted cow head as a serious piece of art is also a surprise. I see the reactions from visitors to my studio, and to the galleries I've shown them in.
A big hat's off to Ivan Karp for this great statement: "Cows are so wonderfully pastoral and such a durable image in the history of the arts."
I couldn't agree more! Pictured below are three of my super large paintings, 72"x84" each.
I'm working on a commission right now, and in beetween finding time to finish a couple of other projects, most recently this Black Angus painting. I have to say I love this expression! This is another larger painting, 3 feet by 3 feet. It just had to be that way, and the impact is exactly what I had planned on.
"Black Angus Portrait" 36"x36" oil on canvas by Denise Rich
This is one of those compositions that just begged to be large and in charge. It is also one that the title came into my head before I painted the study a few years ago.
I've finally gotten around to doing the full sized painting, and "The Boys Are Back" is 36" x 72" of Black Angus checking you out! Whenever I think about the big paintings that saying "go big or go home" comes to mind.
I am currently working on a 36"x36" portrait of a Black Angus cow, and will be starting a 36"x48" of three from a slightly different scene with this group, so it appears that I'm on a Black Angus painting binge right now! Of course, that means everyone will be looking for Herefords, but that's why I do commissions, so everyone gets exactly what they want.
I've been switching gears from several large works, Here are some of the latest, a selection of Holstein cow paintings.
Holstein Cow original oil "Sunny" 12"x12"
I loved her curiosity and the black top knot.
Holstein Cow Oil Study 8"x8"
Inquisitive girl, with great eyelashes.
Holstein Calf w/Red oil painting study 8"x8"
This little calf had a cute face, and needed to be painted.
Last but certainly not least, I loved the expression, angle and colors in this Holstein calf:
Holstein Calf "On the Ranch" oil painting study 8"x8"
This study is certainly going to end up as a large piece. They may all, but I am sure about this one. That is the purpose of a small study after all, to see the colors and composition in smaller form, before committing to a very large painting.
I love the baldy face, and the black with the golden grasses background, but I especially love to show the interactions between the cows and this one certainly tells a story. I'm kicking around a few different titles for this piece, but since everyone doesn't see the same thing when they view a painting I don't think I want the title to say too much, giving it some thought. If you have a great suggestion let me know.
