"Cowhide" (unavailable)

(permanent collection of dee day)


Being a native Texan has responsibilities. One being to keep all things Texas on the hearts and minds of everyone...even those who weren't born here. Now if they got here as fast as they could, we won't hold it against them because they did eventually do the right thing!

Working with an overall pattern is not easy, but there is something uniquely interesting about cowhide. The spots are quite random and have a lot of contrast of size. Plus, they have a lot of texture. It took several experiments to get the texture right, but I finally achieved it by running a "broken up" fine tooth comb through gesso. (You can also achieve it with paint alone, but in a piece this small it is not convincing.) Notice, the direction of the combing needs to follow the same direction of the hair on the hide. Fortunately, we have five cowhides in the house to study. We also have the state of Texas carved into the saltillo tile. We're not being prideful, we're just being responsible Texans!!


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