Charolais Bull Sign

Oils on plywood, May 1978

When I first started painting in 1973 I used only oils.  I appreciated the slow drying time and the ability to work the colors longer and blend them well.  I painted in oils for years until I started experiencing some allergy problems and switched to acrylics.

This is one of the largest projects I worked on using oils.  A friend of mine, who was also a fellow painter, had owned land where she and her husband lived.  They decided to raise some Charolais cattle and asked if I would paint a sign for them.

Her husband cut and sanded the wood and set it up on sawhorses in their barn for me to paint.  It measured six feet wide by four feet tall  Thankfully the weather was warm and comfortable for the time it took to paint it.

I gave the board several coats of a dark blue acrylic paint and sprayed the dried surface with Matte finish for a good painting surface.

I took pictures of their Charolais bull and using large rolls of tracing paper, that were cut and taped together to match the size of the board, I sketched the outline of the bull and then transferred it to the painted background using a white, artists, transfer paper. 

I had to use much larger, flat brushes for such a large project.  To base the body I used a regular, soft bristle, paint brush like you would use to do trim in the house. I worked on a section at a time starting with the head, applying shading, highlights, color and blending.

The whole project took me several days to complete, but was such a pleasure to work on.