The close of entries for my first 'Win a painting' contest came with the last day of March.
All of the names were put into a bowl on tiny slips of paper,


one was drawn by my Sister who was visiting at the time, and the winner is
Erika J. McDermott of Teaneck, New Jersey.
Erika came to my site from the link on the Happy Cows website, while voting for her favorite
(and apparently everyone's favorite) Happy Cow audition by Kirsten, the eventual winner of the contest.
Fortunately for Erika, she also entered my contest that day.

I gave Erika a choice of a Happy Cow painting or a custom painting from a photograph, and she
chose to have a painting done of the current little light in her life, her rescue Pekingese "Amazing Grace".
This is what Erika has to say about Grace, " I got her from a Pekingese Rescue and first fostered her and then I could not let her go because she was the most precious thing in the world."

I'm very pleased to be able to give Erika an original oil painting of her precious Grace, watch for
it in future blog posts.

Meanwhile I have a new contest started, if you have a photograph that you think would make a great painting, enter it.  I will be choosing one that I like the best for a painting, and the winner will receive a painting
of their photo.  You can enter here on the website by filling out the 'Win a painting' form, then email a photo to me at richartist@cox.net, or through my Denise Rich Art Facebook Page Here.  Just post your photo on the wall and it will be entered!  If you have any questions please contact me directly, and good luck!

You may recall some time back a blog post about a commission I received to paint
some Holstein cows on the beach.  There is a very specific vision in my client's mind for
this painting, and I've been working for almost a year to get the perfect bovine reference.  Unfortunately,
my efforts alone have proved to fall short of the goal, so I had to enlist the assistance of the owner
of the local dairy, Van Ommering's. 

My mission, to photograph two cows, mostly white with splotches of black, looking as if they had
been having a conversation and were taken by surprise.  Now you wouldn't think with as many trips
to the dairy as I've taken to accomplish this that it would be so very challenging, but it was.
Here's Dave Van Ommering, taking time out of his busy day to help me corral three cows of
the desired coloring. 
 
The cows were not impressed.  All they wanted was to get to the cows on the other side.

That was not the view I was after!

So Dave graciously helped me, got them to move around, and kept them in one area long enough for
me to take about 75 pictures of various configurations. Thank you so much for your help Dave!!

You really have to be on your toes to get that perfect shot, no time to watch your step as you run
across the stall to head off a potential escapee.  Well, whatever it takes, it's all in the line of doody!

I'm not fond of doing shows in person, but who can turn down an invitation to show in spring, in the heart
of wine country!  The drive up the 5 freeway was stunning from the Grapevine onward, only reaching it's climax
in the last hour as we pulled into Paso Robles. 
I only wish there had been more time, and more places that were easy to pull over and take pictures, but I did get a sampling of the patchwork of wildflowers that were erupting on the hillsides.


There were many more examples, it doesn't show up as well in the photos as it did in person,
just the most beautiful California wildflower scenery, everyone was talking about it. 

Of course there were cows too, happy cows indeed!  Just look at this beautiful landscape:


Last stop, after the show was closed, a few winery tours.  My favorite winery in Paso Robles, and
our last stop, was Eberle.  If you are fond of red wine, don't miss it if you visit the area!
Not only is their wine great, check out the view off their back porch



I hope you enjoyed the photos from my trip to Paso Robles, now I am off to finish this
Jersey calf oil painting.  It was being displayed at the art show on an easel with the reference photo, as
a painting in progress so people could see an example of how I work from photographs,
and turned out to be quite the attention grabber and was purchased the first night of the show.
I'll have it finished and shipped to the new owner by early next week.