Gift Registry available on Cow Art and More

Based on customer feedback, we are excited to announce that a Cow Art and More gift registry is now available. Website visitors will see two options now on the left side of the page:

1. Visitors can create a registry. Users must first create an account, then add items to that registry. Users may specify the occasion and even email the list to someone when he or she is done.

2. Website visitors can view the Cow Art and More gift registry by clicking the find a gift registry link.

Still need help? Visit the Cow Art and More customer contact page.

A conversation with Lynn Bishop: Part 1

Why do you paint?

Each of us has some form of creative energy that longs for expression. My emotional responses to life are varied, but when it comes to outwardly expressing my response to something I've experienced, creating a realistic image, through painting or photography, seems most natural.

Picture credit: "Greys", oil on canvas

Click here to learn more about this horse painting

Robin Pedrero's "Grazing Beneath a Garnet Sky" explained

Cow Art and More artist Robin Pedrero has produced a short video about her work, "Grazing Beneath a Garnet Sky". This art work, featuring a Holstein cow, is profiled in the video, along with her dog Max. Her video, entitled "Super Cow", can be seen on You Tube.

Picture credit: "Grazing Beneath a Garnet Sky, pastel on paper

Click here to go to Cow Art and More to read more, including an artist commentary, on this image.

A conversation with Jon Ellis: Part 5

How do you decide what to paint?

I constantly have millions of cool ideas popping in and out of my brain/mind; Some not so cool. It is difficult to decide which ones to run with. I know I will be spending many nights and hundreds of hours with the painting, so I just make sure before we get started that we will be good friends for the duration and enjoy each others company.

Picture credit: "Lounging Cow", acrylic on art board

Click here to go to Cow Art and More to read more about this painting

Jon Ellis featured artist for April.

Cow Art and More is excited to feature acrylic paintings and mixed media creations from Florida artist Jon Ellis. Over the years, Ellis’ fanciful work has graced the cover of many popular books, advertisements and periodicals, including the cover of Time and National Geographic. His work has been exhibited at such prestigious galleries as the ‘Helander Gallery’ on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, as well as, maintained in permanent archival collections at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. Such notable private collectors as Attorney Robert Shapiro have also enjoyed ownership of his work.

The complete line of Jon's work can be seen on our specials page. His work will have free shipping the entire month of April.

Picture credit: "Dining Cow," acrylic on Fabriano art board

Click here to go to Cow Art and More to learn more about this painting

Linda Blondheim talks about her technique

What is your technique?

I paint with oils, acrylics and gouache. I am representational expressionist, in that I don't copy nature but rather invent it in my on style.

Picture credit: "Wood Farm", oil on canvas, 18 inches by 24 inches, framed

Click here to go the website to purchase this painting

Linda talks about how she got started

How did you get started?

I started an art club for the neighborhood kids when I was nine. We painted together one day a week. I also had a horse club which crossed over into horse art. We were all horse crazy at that age.

Picture credit: "Florida Cattle Ranch", oil on birch panel, 24 inches by 30 inches

Go to the Cow Art and More website to purchase this painting

Linda Blondheim featured artist for March

Oil painter Linda Blondheim is the featured artist for the month on Cow Art and More. Linda is well known throughout the southeast United States for her landscape paintings. Linda does not create prints of her work, so her paintings truly are one-of-a-kind. Look for postings about Linda and her art all this month.

For the month of March only, purchase any of Linda's paintings and receive free shipping. Go to our specials page to see her work.

Monday's agriculture website of interest

Today's website is Capital Press, a magazine and website that serves the agriculture communities of California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Its website has the latest events for this area, along with photos of recent events and a classified advertising section.

Kent discusses his "mistakes"

Do you ever have goof ups or work you don't like?

Of course. When searching for a location you have your eyes to tell you the scene looks good, but the way the infrared light alters the scene can vary dramatically. To me, this is the real fun part. Sometimes I get back and look at the images and I'm shocked at the detail and light and overall effect. Other times, it just comes out OK. Having that element of surprise from the IR keeps it fun.

Picture credit: "Equine 19", 20" inch wide by 16" high archival giclee open edition art print

Click here to purchase this image

Friday's website of interest to art lovers

Today's art focused website is Art Info, which discusses worldwide art events and news. The website includes breaking news, artist profiles, information for collectors, gallery news and events, art trends, and art fair coverage.

Horse photography from Kent Weakley

Over the next few days, I will be sharing some of Kent Weakley's horse images featured this month on the Cow Art and More website.

Picture credit: "Equine 16", 20 inch wide by 16 inch high archival giclee open edition art print

Click here to learn more about this print

Kent talks about his photography training

Where did you learn your technique?

I picked up this idea on the web from a story about digital IR photography. At the time I had a camera that would "see" IR light. After experimenting for many weeks, there was no going back.

Picture Credit: "Shading Arms", 36" inch wide by 16" high archival giclee print or signed, numbered, framed limited edition print of the original photograph; actual image is 30" wide

Click here to learn more about this image

New artist on the website

Cow Art and More is excited to welcome Amanda Raithel and her pencil drawings to the site. Amanda has a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Missouri - Columbia, but now calls Nebraska home. Amanda, along with her husband and daughter, live on a registered Angus farm. She takes great joy in her active role on the farm while maintaining her art portfolio.

Picture credit: "Brothers", pencil drawing
Click here to see more information about this piece

Ag Wired: today's blog of interest

Today, I am highlighting AgWired.com, a company owned by Chuck and Cindy Zimmerman of Missouri. Their company, ZimmComm, publishes several agricultural industry news websites and specializes in blogging, podcasting and managing RSS feeds for the agricultural industry. The company has many online publications.

Kent describes his photography technique

What is your technique?

I shoot Infrared Black & White Photography. Not the old fussy film IR that was more a guessing game than art, I do everything digital. I'm currently shooting with a Nikon D300 which has been converted to "see" only infrared light. My technique also includes shooting multiple images to create large panoramic images.

Picture credit: "Morning Graze", 36" inch wide by 16" high archival giclee print or signed, numbered, framed limited edition print of the original photograph; actual image is 30" wide; Click here to see more information about this piece

Another butterfly photograph by Kent Weakley

Another butterfly photograph by Kent Weakley

Picture credit: "Malachite", 8 inches wide by 8 inches high archival giclee open edition print

Caring for your art purchase

Today's website of interest for art enthusiasts comes from the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. I have included a link to their section on the website about caring for many kinds of art. I have found that people purchase and display their art only to find out after a few years that the piece has been damaged by sunlight, humidity, improper storage and such. This website goes into great detail on how to properly display and preserve many forms of art in order to keep the beauty for many generations to come.

Kent explains how he got started

How did you get started?

I gathered up all of the money gifted to me for high school graduation and purchased my first professional camera. Later that summer, while mowing the family grass in Illinois, I had a thought - "I need to go some place cool to photograph". I ventured off on a journey to Washington D.C. and New York City. Burning through rolls and rolls of film I was hooked. To this day, there's little I love more than planning a trip to make stunning images.

Picture credit: "Purpose Served" 36" inch wide by 16" high archival giclee print or signed, numbered, framed limited edition print of the original photograph; actual image is 30" wide; second place winner of the international landscape division in the annual Popular Photography magazine photo contest

New art from Kent Weakley for February

Since Kent is the featured artist at Cow Art and More for the month of February, we will be offering an expanded portfolio of his work just for the month. I will be posting the new images also during that time to give people a full appreciation of his range of subjects and talents.

One such of those subjects are butterflies. Florida has a nice resident population of the creatures not to mention the assorted butterfly farms in the north central Florida area. Kent has captured the butterflies in color, while showing the background as an infrared image.

Picture credit: "White Peacock", 8" x 8" giclee open edition print