Meet Korovka, my surprise love

Last month I got an interesting request...

Could I paint a portrait of a cow? No, not a specific now, just a funky, cool, happy cow. I had never considered painting a cow before. Why a cow you ask? I asked the same thing.

This commission was a 40th birthday gift from a thoughtful wife to her beloved husband. No, they are not farmers or butchers. In fact, they are a very urban, hip, vegetarian couple living in cosmopolitan Chicago. But the husband has an affection for cows.

Maybe it was the years of driving through rural Illinois down to Urbana for college, or maybe it is just their beautiful, loving eyes. His fondness for cows has become a kind of inside joke in their home and was the perfect subject for their first art investment.  

Challenge Accepted. 

I never thought I could fall in love with a hypothetical animal, but love this cow I did.

As I began researching images of cows online to get inspiration, I totally started to get it. Cows have the most wonderfully expressive faces! I was blown away by how much I enjoyed working on this project, which I lovingly nicknamed Korovka (little cow in Russian -- though at 3 feet by 2 feet, this Korovka was definitely not little). 

Here she is in her new habitat! Didn't they do a wonderful job framing? Rumor has it that their stylish ten-year-old had something to do it. Happy happy birthday and thank you guys, so much for choosing me as the artist for your first big art commission. It is truly an honor.

You pushed me out of my comfort zone out to explore greener pastures -- stay tuned for mooooo-re.