Plein Air: Friendly Animals

I didn't go out to paint last weekend or Monday, so this morning I told myself that I got to paint outside and drove to Wheeler Rd. again, remembering the cows I saw last time when I was painting Bernhard's house. I wanted to paint the animals simply to challenge myself. As you know, they won't sit there posing for you. When I got there, maybe out of curiosity, they would come up to stare at me over the fence. I had to engrave their images on my brain immediately because I knew before I set up my easel, they would be gone. They left exactly as I anticipated. They simply roamed over their kingdom. I had to paint the background when they were not "available". I had to rush back to their pose if the way they stood happened to be similar to the one I recorded crudely on the canvas. Of course, I had to wait if they needed to relieve themselves or walk away to drink or eat. You can imagine it didn't take long. That was exactly the way I wanted to push myself.

The cows belonged to a German immigrant named Klaus. His residence covered several acres. Evidently the cows were seldom disturbed before. I guess that is why they were pretty friendly.