At the Edge of the Sound

By Carrie Jacobson
Hard to know, today, what day it is, what month it is, what year it is. The Sunday holidays, followed by the Monday holiday days off have left me in a state of befuddlement. OK, it is the state where I have my primary residence, but usually I live more or less near the border. Right now, I seem to have moved to the exact middle.

So be it. If age and my previous lifestyle have left me like this, well, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the getting here. If this winter’s landscape looks like last spring’s, well, that’s OK, too, and easier on the pocketbook, considering the cost of heating oil.

If you’d like to see more paintings by me, by Shawn Dell Joyce, and by the other artists of the Wallkill River School, please stop by the gallery on Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. The gallery (and the school) are at 232 Ward St., (which is also Route 17K) in Montgomery. Click here to get to the website for directions and more info.

The show is a group show of artists represented by the gallery, and in fun and wild chaos, we will all be demonstrating during the show!

If  you do come, please say hello – and plan to come back in April, when Shawn Dell Joyce and I will have a show together at the gallery.

Yowza, Cowza

There are days when my brain feels as blank and undefined as the surface of the snow in the yard, and this is one of them.

So I will let it go by saying that I really enjoy painting cows, and I have no explanation for that. I have no real love of cows (though I get pretty excited about a good burger…) – I’ve never had a cow, or wanted a cow, or held a particular fondness for cows. I mean, they are fine.

I do like seeing them standing in fields, though. And I find it intriguing that they like looking at humans about as much as humans like looking at them.

I stumbled on this enjoyment of painting cows by accident, when I was traveling through Wyoming. I got off the road (I got off the highway at every exit in Wyoming, just to see what was there), and bumped on down a dirt path, and a group of handsome if large and menacing cows crossed my path and required me to turn around. I took photos, and have made several paintings from these photos, and all have sold. So I am not the only one who enjoys looking at cows.

When we lived in Idaho, we had a little dog who despised cows. They infuriated him, and he would bark like a crazy dog whenever he saw one, including once when we were crossing an open range and a large crowd of horned, huge black Angus surrounded the car.

Gus even barked at a statue of a cow that stood outside a steak joint.

So, “Yowza Cowza,” another in the bovine series.

Don’t forget about my show, “Rough Hand” at the Wallkill River School in February. The opening is Feb. 5. Don’t worry, I will remind you again!