Cow for the day

Well, all I can tell you is that I have no idea where I got off the track on this one. It's not done, of course, but I don't think I'll do much more with it. I started it several months ago, and now it leans against the wall near my painting area, and it sits there, staring at me as I work on other pictures.

The funny thing is that I love this thing, no matter how much it looks like a cross between a cow and a dog (and maybe some other species as well!). I don't love it because it's well done, because obviously it's not. It's one of those pictures where I occasionally believe that it has a life within it, or perhaps represents a life or lives. There are some pictures I do that sort of break my heart. This is one of them. It's something I can't begin to explain, because it's something I really don't understand. Some of the pictures I make just seem to hit me in an odd way and sort of resonate within my emotions, and once one of them does that there has never been a day when it doesn't evoke the same response.

It doesn't have to be something recognizable, or one in which the subject matter is obvious. I guess there's some echo in the pictures that recalls what I was thinking or feeling or dealing with when the picture was made. These next two pictures do that, and I can't expect anyone to understand why, so I'll just post them.

If I had to pick my five "best" pictures, this would be one of them. Sorry the photo isn't showing it as well as I would like.

 

So, anyway, as you can see, this is yet another example of why it is that I don't generally care whether my pictures are "good" or pass the "elements of design - rules of composition" tests. Maybe some people take photos that remind them of happy times or important occasions. I paint pictures and preserve stuff that wasn't experienced by anyone else. It's a selfish thing, I know.