Off to Greener Pastures

Painted these sheep form a sketch I did this spring. I tried a more realistic appearance of the sheep but used color on very wet paper. This allowed mixing color on the paper. It stayed wet a long time allowing me to go back over areas that needed it. It is best to use transparent paints. It was a fun session on a cold morning in the studio.

Sheep

Spent the morning at the Jepson Prairie Preserve in Dixon, CA. Quite an interesting place with wild flowers and vernal pools. The yellows that appear in the lumpy grass are carpets of wild flowers that are all over the place at this time of year and called yellow carpet. The grazing sheep control the nonnative grasses and weeds. I assume that the fleece of these sheep is not used for clothing as it appears very coarse and yellow. The sheep do keep moving but return and so easy to sketch. This was a very quick sketch and painting. It was a beautiful morning; very quiet with only the sounds of birds.

Happy New Year

It is the Chinese new year of the sheep or goat. Since I was around sheep for a long time while living in New Zealand, I feel quite close to them. I found a picture of these two just standing there on the green grass and used it as my subject for this acrylic painting. Sheep are very timid animals, never wanting to be alone. They are always moving inside the group. Our border collie, Brett, would race out and herd them for my inspection and I was so impressed at how efficient Brett was in putting them in the pen. He would race back and forth, keeping them together as they approached the entrance. Brett really didn't need me to direct. This is a 16x20 painting on stretched canvas. Maybe I'll put it up on the bedroom wall to help me count sheep when I can't get to sleep.

The Sheep Ranch

This is the last of my sketches from my farm visit two days ago. I sketched sheep. One doesn't think of sheep moving fast, but as soon as they sense someone, they move on. In New Zealand we had the expression, 'rattle your dags', which was the sound of sheep moving on. It came from the dried feces on their rear ends.
I climbed up the hill to get a view of them and the barn. There was no rattling as they were recently sheered and it is very dry at this ranch. They dispersed.