A Couple of Coos

We were out walking in the Ochils yesterday - trying to get fit again. Went up Dollar Glen then on up Kingseat. It was a beautiful day. Didn't do any sketching until a crowd of black cows caught my eye on the way down. They were truly beautiful, shiny black, so I did a quick sketch. I've never tried drawing a cow before!

Charcoal sketch of a black cow copyright Aileen Grant

Today I thought I'd try a composition with cows. I had taken some photos yesterday as well as sketching. Being experimental, I thought I'd try drawing with highlighter pens as well as charcoal to see where that might take me. It started to look like this.

I quite like the shimmery effect of the charcoal, and the lines of highlighter pens, but am not too sure if these really look like cows - the sketch was better....however, I soldiered on, adding more highlighter and some pastel and white conte and ended up with this

Twa Coos copyright Aileen Grant

 

I thought the result was quite interesting and worth trying again. I've been thinking about my landscapes. Perhaps they are a bit empty and maybe I should think about the elements within the landscape to make my efforts into more interesting pictures. Was also at the Blackadder exhibition on Saturday and she of course was very considered about the elements she placed within her pictures. (I noticed that one of her early landscapes had some carefully placed cows, so maybe that put the idea into my mind). So perhaps I can learn from Blackadder.... I think I'd like to develop this idea further....