My small collector base isn't due to fewer collectors, on the contrary the number has grown nicely in recent months, it's got to do with the age of my most recent collector.
Meet Emma, a sophisticated appreciator of original art, at the young age of seven! My little Holstein calf painting that has been on the home page for a while caught Emma and her Father's eye, and they have decided to make it a part of their home.
Emma is excited about her new acquisition, and I'm so pleased that she and her family will be enjoying it in person soon.
Here's Emma looking at her new painting on the laptop, anxious to see the real thing.
I don't know whether or not Emma will be taking this with her when she leaves for college, but one of the great things about an original oil painting is it will bring enjoyment in a family for generations, someday she may be passing it on to her grandchildren. Congratulations Emma, I hope you love it!
There are a lot of ups and downs to being a professional artist. One of the best parts is the way the art brings a connection with the viewers who see the same thing that I do in my subjects. To me, cows as a subject for paintings are not just generic objects, they are personalities with feelings and attitude.
I receive a lot of wonderful comments, and I'd like to express my deep appreciation to those who take the time
to let me know how my artwork makes them feel so I'm going to start posting a few of my favorites as they come in.
This comment just came in last night, from "Jessica"
:
I am a farmer and I have always loved paintings of cattle. Your paintings are the best that I have seen. I love the expression that you catch in each of your paintings. I look at cattle everyday and your paintings are so..."real". "That Look", you nail it every time.
"That Look" being exactly what I'm after, what could be better to read than a comment like this?
Thank you Jessica for making my day!
What's the best way to collect photo reference of Texas Longhorns? Take a hayride through the middle of their pasture, of course! That's exactly what we had the opportunity to do last Sunday at the ranch.
I was, as usual, positioned at the edge of the pasture, hanging my camera over the fence when ranch caretaker Carlos pulled up on a tractor trailer with a bale of hay, and graciously asked me if I would like him to take us inside with the animals.
No need to give that any thought, yes! We immediately jumped on the trailer, sat on the bale and enjoyed a ride around the property. I can tell you that the best way to capture the attention of the animals is to sit on top of a bale of alfalfa, they will follow you anywhere.
Perched safely on the bale of hay, we became instantly popular! The only problem was one or two of those racks get in your way, and you can't get the photo you are after, even though you're right in the middle of them.
In spite of the horny interference I was able from this great vantage point to collect a good number
of reference photos for future Texas Longhorn oil paintings, thanks to Carlos!
On the way out of the Longhorn area, this gal wants to know exactly where we are going with the
snack truck.
We went for a quick drive through the dairy cows, and it appears that Joe was a big hit with the ladies!
Of course, I can understand why.
Taking my reference photos has always been one of the greatest joys of my work, and the hayride
was a fun surprise. Many thanks, Carlos, for helping me get such great photos of your beautiful Texas Longhorns!
Here is a recent painting of Texas Longhorns, the reference in this case was from a previous trip to the same ranch. This original oil painting of a Texas Longhorn Mama and her calf is 16"x20".
What did the coyote say to the Buffalo?
Please post your best guess in the comments section!
This amazing wildlife snow scene was not created from a set of photos in photoshop, it's from a single reference photograph, and was painted exactly as seen. Thanks to Jim and Gail for having me paint this unique slice of nature, quite a fun and welcome departure from my favorite cow faces, including the opportunity to break out the number 1 round sable brushes for the detail on the coyote!
If you can think of a caption for the piece, do leave a comment.
Meet Akkie, Azizi and Aussie! Three dogs from the land down under. Their people commissioned me to
immortalize them in oil, and what fun it was to study these faces closely while working on their painting.
This is painted on portrait smooth canvas, which I chose because of the fine detail necessary to render their
glorious locks of hair. The reference was taken outdoors on grass, but what they really wanted was a painting of the dogs at the beach where they visit and play. Although it proved difficult to get the reference photo at the actual beach, I used my artistic license and put them on the beach anyway. I loved this project, many thanks to
Bob and Sheryl for entrusting me with this commission!
One of my favorite things is when the people who know cattle the best speak favorably about my work.
Jim Fisher, a rancher from Texas wrote to tell me "Your art work is breath taking for any cattle lover..."
Music to my ears!
And Jim knows cattle, he works with them every day as evidenced by his "About Me" description on his blog which says "I have been ran over, knocked down, kicked, stepped on, hooked, pissed, pooped on, hung up, head butted, charged at, punched, and slobbered on, all before lunch on most days."
Check out what he had to say about my work on his blog "A Rancher's View" a Blog about and for ranching, raising cattle, feeding baby calves, and doing ranch work..
The other night I dreamed of finding tiny Holstein cows, and when I say tiny I don't mean like the Jack in the Box commercial for mini sirloin burgers, with mini cowboys "herding cows the size of Schnauzers but they're cattle". I mean tiny cows... like insects. In fact I wouldn't call it a herd of tiny Holsteins, it was more like a hive, I could scoop ten or twenty up with one hand. Teeny, tiny perfectly anatomically correct black and white cows swarming around!
Wondering at first if I was losing it, cows were now taking over my dreams, and not just any cows but bizarrely small ones until it occurred to me what I had been doing right before I went to sleep. I have a commission to do a painting of cows on the beach, and my client has a very specific thing in mind. Working on this involves carefully studying my hundreds of photos of Holsteins in search of the perfect cow composition to fit her vision, hundreds of tiny thumbnail images of black and white cows parading past my eyes.....legions of itty bitty bug sized bovine etched in my brain. Makes perfect sense to me.
These are the first two studies for cows on the beach. The cows are the only consideration here as I don't want to put time in working out the beach scene until I have the cows that fit my clients vision. I do like both of these compositions however and suspect that I will eventually do large paintings of them sometime in the future.
by Denise Rich on 12/29/2009 11:28:07 AM
1 Comment
Original oil painting horse portrait commission
One of my collectors commissioned this painting as a gift for Christmas this year. This is Cheeca, an older guy who has been loved by his family for many years. I used two reference photos for the finished piece, one for the horse and the other for the background. Commissions of family dogs, cats, horses or ....cows!... make wonderful, one of a kind, thoughtful gifts that last a lifetime and then pass on as family heirlooms.
by Denise Rich on 12/15/2009 11:11:59 PM
1 Comment
New Holstein calf painting,
In between commissions drying for their next stage I did get this new painting finished, it's one I've been wanting to do for a while now. I can't resist the newborn calves, the ones that are just hours old. They have that tell-tale
confused look, and who can blame them?
This little guy was not entirely steady on his feet, but doing alright. I just love the eyes!
I'm still working on a few holiday commissions. I have been, as usual, emailing updated photos of the progress to those who have commissioned the works, but won't post them online for all to see until the holidays are over, I don't want to ruin anyone's surprise!
One of the keys to keeping up with new works while I'm busy with commission work is to work on several pieces at one time. This both insures a fresh eye as I move to a different work in progress, and also makes it easy to avoid overworking any painting. My works typically take several applications of paint. Long ago I used to work on only one painting until it was completed, which at times resulted in frustration working over an already wet surface. The canvas can only take so much wet paint at a time, then you are just spinning your wheels so to speak.
As the years passed and many paintings later I now work on several pieces at a time, once I have covered a painting to reach the next stage of it's progress, I can put it aside to dry before moving on to the next step, and take the opportunity to work on another one during that time.
I've been quite occupied with commissions for the holidays, and haven't wanted to broadcast the painting of these in case the recipients should tune in and ruin their surprise. I will be online more as these commissions wind down.
I wish I could figure out the cause of my intermittent static interruptions, if you hear it and have any suggestions, please do contact me and let me know!
The other day my artist friend Diane emailed me with a link to the California Art Club's call for entries for a show in Julian. The theme of the show is the San Diego Back Country. That got my interest!
Many of my reference photos are taken along the drive to Julian, through Ramona. The San Diego back country is my back yard, my favorite subject is a back country resident,and I decided to enter the show. I have to say they have the most up to date, state of the art entry system I could imagine, quick and easy digital entry.
"Road Block" 12"x12"
"Golden State Cows" 12"x12"
The two pieces I entered,, shown above, were accepted. The artist's reception is this Saturday, November 7th from 6pm to 8pm at the Julian Art Gallery. The show runs from the 7th to the 29th.
I'm looking forward to the opening, hope to see you there!
