Dancing Cows

(watercolor & acrylic illustration on paper, 2004)

"Scientists tell us that the fastest animal on earth, with a top speed of 120 feet per second, is a cow that has been dropped out of a helicopter."
Dave Barry

"If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then the happiest individual would not be either a man or a woman; it would be, I think, an American cow."
William Lyon Phelps

"Moo may represent an idea, but only the cow knows."
Mason Cooley

"I guess cows aren't into the four food groups, especially when they are two of them."
Anthony Clark

"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian."
Dennis Wholey

I painted the Dancing Cows right after I finished painting my first cow (Moogie, the Moogic Cow) for the CowParade West Hartford. After working on Moogie for over a month I got so enamored with cows that for quite some time thereafter all my artwork was related to cows. I painted shopping cows, dentist cows, teacher cows, cows in love and of course cows dancing the night away.

As a child I've constantly used anthropomorphized animals in my paintings, but as I became older and my art moved in a more 'grown-up' direction I've stopped painting animals, (until I painted Moogie that is). One of the main elements featured on Moogie was a winged cow flying in the night sky. I got that concept from a cartoon I watched as a child. Thinking about that flying cow brought back a lot of childhood memories, which made me realize that I don't have to be a grown-up all the time and I can still paint cute whimsical animals to feel like a child.