Highland Calf

6x4 watercolor and ink line in Joggles sketchbook done last week or so ago for an online challenge with WetCanvas; an adorable Highland calf. It was fun to see these cows with their long hair when I visited the UK. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Scotland Highland Cow

6x8 watercolor on rough handmade wc paper done last week; ref courtesy Claire Read from Facebook's Free Reference Photos for Artists page. White Nights paints were used. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Curled up Calf

6x6 watercolor and ink using 0.5 STA Lictin pen on Masters Touch 80 lb paper done over the weekend for another WetCanvas weekend drawing event. We have 2 hour to select an image then paint it; image courtesy Kat. Her reference had two other cows so they were cropped out to focus on the youngest who was curled up by a bucket. COPYRIGHT 2023 Kay Smith

Another Mad Cow

4x6 mixed media on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done last month, another in my mad cow series, with this Holstein subject painted using Montana acrylic marker, watercolor, and Brusho. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

Hilarious Holstein

8x8 watercolor on gessoed Italia 140 lb cold press sketched in pencil then painted with Daniel Smith pigments. Some areas of the cow's black markings were sprinkled with salt for texture. Mostly I used a #1 rigger/script liner brush and had forgotten how fun it is to work on gessoed surfaces. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

Feedlot

9x10 ink and watercolor cows featuring one of them with the number 7 on her forehead, and her friends at the feedlot, done with black Tombow brush pen on hot press sketchbook paper. I've omitted the other cows and extra background clutter and worked from a black and white photocopy. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

Some Curious Cows

5.5x8.5 ink on Bienfang for mixed media sketchbook done a few days ago as part of a WetCanvas challenge in Animals forum.  With Tombow brush pen I first put in darkest darks then added water with a script liner brush to create greys; white is the white of the paper as you do in watercolor.
Image COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith.

Spotted Longhorn

5x8 watercolor and ink (Pigma Micron 01 pen) on paper sketched yesterday and painted today from seeing these Texas icons grazing in nearby grassland.  This one with his black and white markings was exciting to do.  When dry I splattered the same mixed black of alizarin crimson + thalo green for tinier spots on his hide.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Seven Cows - mixed media collage

5.5x8.5 mixed media collage on paper using palette knife and brush done a few weeks ago.  Over a novel page I drew cows in ink then applied watercolor, some gouache, then splatters for texture.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Contemporary Cow

20x22 watercolor and gouache on Lanaquarelle 140 lb hot press paper, a colorful contemporary version of a common cow patterned after one mass produced seen in a gift catalogue.  I first drew in pencil on the hot press paper then painted the background with Periwinkle Blue (American Journey), ultramarine blue plus white gouache and small amounts of Blue Bice (AJ).  Stamping done when dry using old strawberry plastic box as a stencil and Grumbacher true red paint.