work in progress photos, new paintings sue gardner work in progress photos, new paintings sue gardner

Colourful Highland Cow Painting with Flowers!

A new Highland Cow painting on the easel this week

I love painting my Highland Cows in a folk art style, with the flowers and mosaic pieces. These paintings paint themselves and I have very little to do with it, we just go with the flow. I’m loving this girl with her jaunty hair and her jazzy background.

I have a collection of colourful Highlanc Cow prints on canvas available here - shipping worldwide!

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Highland cows sue gardner Highland cows sue gardner

Who paints the Colourful Highland cows?

The Story Behind the Colourful Highland Cow Paintings
I painted my first Highland Cow in 2018, from a photo reference of a beautiful brown and very hairy Highland Cow with a quizzical expression. I used the stance, and the lighting from the photo, however I used my own colour palette. The idea was to use some of the rich and beautiful glowing colours present in the gorgeous Harris Tweed fabric, which always reminds me of the beauty of the Scottish scenery. I painted that piece in two sessions, and it all fell into place very quickly. I enjoyed it so much that I began to paint a whole series of these lovely cows. The colours and the expressive brush and finger marks do seem to suit the character of the Highland Cattle, and I enjoy creating the moody and stormy surroundings.

The most famous of my colourful Highland Cow paintings is that first one, simply titled ‘Highland Cow’. I entered the Wraptious artist competition that year, having put together a collection of five paintings , all of the animals, for my entry. I won the competition and was signed up as a licensed artist , and my Highland Cow began to be featured on a lot of their home and giftware that year. He is still a bestseller now and a familiar face in boutiques and shops both in the UK and abroad.

colourful highland cow art

My original Highland Cow painting

Buy a large canvas print of the Highland Cow here:

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