It's a Cow Thing 2016 digi July

What can I say about cows? I have really good early memories of visiting a dairy farm several times, patting calves ready to go to market, associating with near blind sheep dogs, and being around peppercorn trees and rotting stock yards of the 'old dairy' with new plonked right down next to it, the great hunt for cow pats to take home for the garden, and watching the old bulls (at great distance) in their separate holds. All the dairy cattle in my local area were black and white friesians. Each farmer had their own idea what was best to keep; one farmer had near black herd with very little white, another had 50-50 black/white, and another still had 'few spots' white cattle with a couple of black spots on their hides, and of course everyone else had a mixture.

I always considered cows a bit of a mystery in the farm animal world. They knew when it was time for milking, and some walked right up to the gate (and even into the dairy), but on other occasions they would stare blankly at an open gate and seem to prefer to push through a fence. They didn't come when they were called or you offered a sprig of green grass. Just like in one of my favourite childhood books Chocky by John Wyndham - cows just 'stopped' - not physically so much but just stopped thinking. Or perhaps we people just never found the connection language to converse with them as we did with other animals.

I still look in every paddock where there are dairy cattle, and long one day to be able to paint them. I took tonnes of photos last Christmas when Mum asked me what I really wanted to do that day, and I said I'd love to take some cow photos somewhere where they are close to the road (so no permission required to go on private land). Mum was suprised but took me straight to a herd she knew about and I clicked to my hearts content. It was a very mixed herd; Guernsey and Jersey as well as Friesian but I didn't mind.  I just find dairy cows beautiful in some way.

So when the 'country' theme came up with my all time favourite painting 'Spring Frost' by Gruner, I had to do a scrapbooking page featuring one of the photos I took at Christmas!

It's a Cow Thing 2016 July - ARTastic - digi layout

I channeled the colours from the inspiration painting to put this page together. Colours I wouldn't normally have put together on my own, but very effective as a page.

ARTastic July inspiration

ingredients:

DigiChick Kimeric Kollections Sisters - patterned papers no 16 (floral) 

Far Far Hills Freebies Kit Clock & Gears 001 

Tracy Reed Bad Sewing Machine 18 set 2 black

Cilenia Curtis CP8 Tab & Tags no 9 and no 12 | Talula Moon Designs Sunset - Staple Strip 002

 Aliya Because of You El6a (fluffy seed head)

Angie Young Get Craft Collage Sheet 36

 Rachael’s Antique & Vintage Buttons set 2 no 25

MSweet Boutique - Christmas Silhouette horse clip art no 16 

Laitha’s Designs Nocturn Whispers Elements e16 (straw thatch), e15 (branch circle)

Cilenia Curtis Fly With Me e-Frame1 (journaling frame), 4x6paper no 6

 Far Far Hills Freebies Kit Photo Frames 004

Far Far Hills Freebies Kit Light Wood with Grain 004

 Hand Stitched bees (mine)

 L Grier Disaster Space 1 - paintstrokes