Coopers Cows Oil Portrait Commission SOLD

Finally starting to live again. The stress of the school year is behind me and all the lambs are thriving. Bottle babies are still demanding that little bit of extra "lovin'" in terms of a pet or scratch behind the ears. I am enjoying the lushness of spring, I am NOT a winter person. My flower gardens are a common haunt now as I inspect the plants to see who survived the long winter.

I am starting to visit the studio with more regularity but my output is slower due to the size of the pieces I am working on. The above painting is based on a photo I took of a neighbors herd. I used to walk along the Bay and they would always come to the fence to visit me. Unlike my lambs they were never enamoured enough of me to let me pet them!

Mother's Day

LucyLoo and I

Goober and her triplets plus a few others!

It is 8:01 am and I have already done 1 load of laundry, fed the animals and made sure the bottle lambs have had breakfast. No one else is up yet.

Mothers Day is just an acknowledgment that you have a Mom. Without a Mom, human civilization would cease to exist. Mothers come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and species. Goober, one of my BFL x ewes, had triplets this year and although she rejected LucyLoo (above with me) she did not mind being the Couch Momma for all lambs. That maternal instinct is strong.

I have raised alot of lambs but LucyLoo is a special one. I leave all my orphans in with the regular flock. Not a practice most Shepard's agree with but generally the orphans learn to be a sheep by imitating their friends. I go in with the bottle and the hungry/orphans always come for supper/snack and then return to their friends to resume normal lamb activities. LucyLoo however is rather an odd personality. She sticks to me like a burdock and when I sit in the paddock, she will lay down beside me and go to sleep as I scratch her head and back. If I am walking around in the pasture she will stick to my side with a tenacity that most dog trainers would kill for. If I run, she runs, if I turn she turns. In all essence I am her momma. My friend calls me the Sheep Momma and I am not insulted by this.

On this day where Mothers are honoured I think back on the mothers I have known. You do not have to give birth to a being to "mother" it. I have a friend who is looking into adopting a second child. The difference she is making to that child is life altering. That child will know what it is to be loved and be part of a family, and in return that child will repeat the process. We hear stories everyday about the horrors of abuse and neglect but we forget that those are not as common place as the love a Mother (and family) gives her child. I think this is the real reason mankind has not become extinct.

Humans do not have the monopoly on this emotion either. The Internet is full of fascinating stories of moms accepting a child, not of their making, into their lives. Whether it is a human Mother, animal mother or a rescue person, compassion and caring combined with love help make this a better place. I think this is the true essence of Mothers day.

Happy Mothers Day!