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| © Robin Edmundson, 'Three red cows', watercolor, framed 18 x 22 inches. $350. |
I think a lot about limited palette studies. Choose just a few colors and use only those for the whole painting. It's easy for winter studies, not so easy for summer studies. For this one I chose Azo Green, Indigo and Pyrrol Orange. Basically a red/yellow/blue. As I was contemplating the composition, I knew the cows had to be red so red they are.
It was fun to really look at cows to paint them. What I usually see in the fields nearby are big black blobs with tails. Then there was that one time when the neighbor's cow escaped into one of our fields close to the house. I looked out and saw what I was sure was a dinosaur passing between the trees. [I'm a sheep person, not a cow person] Of course that might have had something to do with having just seen all of the Jurassic Park movies. [#1 and #4 are my faves]
At any rate, since I am not a cow person, I had to really look at cows for the first time. One of the things I love about painting is that it forces me not to just see something, but to really look at it.
