Small 12x16 Hay Bale Landscape Painting by Cheri Wollenberg

Small 12x16 Hay Bale Landscape Painting

by Cheri Wollenberg

I love to paint!  Hay bales are my subject in this particular painting.  At my Inspire Studio And Art Gallery downtown Shawnee, Oklahoma I tell folks when they come in that I am inspired by different subject matter, but I always go back to subject matter that I loved as I was growing up.  I married a farmer and my life was full for so many years raising cattle, sowing crops, harvest time, and raising children.  Those years were so good.   I reflect on them a lot.  This field of round hay bales were about a mile from our home a few years ago.  I loved the distant hills in the background, the sky, with trees and hay bales in the foreground.  We have a beautiful earth!  Click the links for more information.

 

Clementine - Cow Painting

Clementine 

18x18 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Clementine is a black baldy cow.  She seems to be gazing out of a window at her viewer doesn't she?  Our family has been in the cattle business for over 50 years.....going back to my husband's dad who was a farmer and raised cattle.  I especially love to see this crossbred cow mixed with Hereford cows grazing on green pasture.  The design in color, texture, and composition is very exciting for me. For more information on the Black Baldy click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Baldy 

 Clementine is named for a dear friend in Arkansas.  I am honored to know her.  She is a fine, Christian person and mentored my husband and I when we lived in Fayetteville.  For information about buying this cow you can follow this link.  Just CLICK.  

Mama Red Hen and Chicks - Farm Animal Painting

Mama Red Hen And Chicks

12x12 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

My husband and I have lived on farms all our married life except for a 10 year period that his work as a pastor took us to Fayetteville, Arkansas.  He was an agriculture teacher in Oklahoma and farmed full time, raised cattle and preached!  I taught art in school later after our children were in high school.  We have loved both our farm and teaching lives.   Now during the retirement years we still work at farming though on a very small scale.  Our newest venture in raising animals has been chickens!  LAUGH OUT LOUD!!!!! What fun we have had.  Knowing nothing we have raised enough chickens to have fresh eggs now for a couple of years.  Recently we decided to try our hand at chicks!!!  LAUGH OUT LOUD AGAIN!!!!  We started with four eggs because we don't want to have a population explosion.  The reason being is that we could never eat any chickens....only have fun with them and enjoy their wonderful produce.  So...out of the four "planned family" experience we have hatched two.  These two are in this painting.  I couldn't help but want to paint them.  They would not stay still long enough for me to get a good shot of them, so I had to improvise somewhat.  Enjoyed this venture.  Hopefully I can  post that we were successful in raising these little chicks to adulthood someday.  This painting's description and price are in my Etsy store.  Click Here.

Blue Bonnet Duo - Two Cows Standing in Blue Bonnets

Blue Bonnet Duo - Two Cows Standing in Blue Bonnets

20x30 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

 

I was inspired to create this painting of these two cows, one an Angus cow and the other a Hereford cow, standing in a field of green grass and blue bonnets when my son brought some pictures to me that he had taken while working in Texas. He is a cattleman and works for Stockman Oklahoma Commission Company. He regularly travels to Texas to film cows for video sale and/or supervise loading cattle for his company's customers. He knows how excited I become when he brings home beautiful pictures of Texas hill country and cattle. He doesn't always have time to take photos, but last spring he got some great shots of blue bonnets.  This painting features two of his own cattle here in Oklahoma close to my home. I placed the Texas blue bonnets inspired by his photos in the composition for fun.  Click here to buy.

Gene's Ducks

Gene's Ducks

6x6 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

(SOLD)

When my husband and I moved back to Oklahoma we decided to do some things that we had never tried before....sort of a bucket list!  We always raised cattle on our farms before the ministry called us far away from our farm home in southwest Oklahoma.  So, cattle are not new to us; however, considering some things we thought we would do after moving back to our roots was our decision to raise a few chickens.  I cannot tell anyone enough about this "trip".  We have had some hilarious moments.  We have a neighbor...a bachelor friend...who also raises some chickens....Gene.  He has a beautiful variety of breeds of chickens and roosters.  One day when we visited him I took lots of pictures of roosters, chickens and these wonderful ducks.  Did you know that they will not pose for photographs (lol)!?  I kept following them all over the place.  It was such great fun and I managed to get a few photos to paint. This little painting was one of them.  I placed it in my Etsy store and it disappeared very quickly......Someone else is experiencing the same love for those cute little white ducks as I did.......I would love to invite you to my new Website and Gallery.   

Blondie - A Cow Painting

Blondie

8x10 Oil Painting on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg 

Blondie is another one of my son's cows that graze behind our house.  She had her nose turned up one evening as the sun was going down and I fancied that she was smelling the grass and clover that was all around her and the other cattle.  Her blond coat of summer hair was high lighted in the sun,  and her ears were perked up as I walked up with my camera.  She looks proud and relaxed in this painting.  Cow paintings are such a favorite thing to paint.  She is priced in my Etsy shop.  This link will take you there.

Daffodil - A Cow Painting

Daffodil A Cow Painting

16x16 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Daffodil is one of the cows that has been eating grass back of my house all spring.  She is one of 150+ head of cattle that belongs to our son.  They are so fat and tame that I can walk right up to them and move around with my camera in the pasture.  Occasionally they look up curiously and every once in a while one will paw her foot as if to try to scare me off......at first I was concerned when one did this to me and I instinctively jumped.  My jump scared her more than it scared me (chuckle).  I have enjoyed this herd of cattle more than any I've ever been around.  They have been a tremendous inspiration to me as I look at the natural patterns and textures in their colorful coats.  The original painting of Daffodil can be bought in my Etsy store.. here and different sized prints can be bought of her on my Fine Art America website..here.

Texas Bluebonnets Oil Painting

Texas Bluebonnets

12x12 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

My son videos cattle for a cattle commission company here in Oklahoma.  He spends a lot of time in Texas and he knows that I love the Texas landscapes in the spring when their wildflower, the Bluebonnet, covers their pastures like a plush carpet.  Recently he brought some photos home and shared them with me.  I was so inspired that I created this painting.  Painting from photographs is never the same as being in the real place painting from life!  The artist misses out on the whole experience and is handicapped in producing the right colors, depth, and values when painting from photo images.  But, I still enjoyed painting this little vignette and remembered the times that I was so impressed with the countrysides of that great state.  It is listed in my Etsy shop.

Bach

Bach

12x12 Oil on Canvas

by

Cheri Wollenberg

I am working on a new series of cow paintings.  This particular group will have musicians' names.  I have finished three and working now on the fourth.  I have lovingly called them "bovinia" in the past for those who give me a hard time....you know.....people like my husband.  He has raised cattle all his life.  He also has his own idea what a good bovine looks like, and I like to embellish them a wee bit (laugh).  Prints of these guys are available at Bach

Nameless Has Been Named!

The contest is over!!!   I promised that my husband and I would pick the name that would fit this gentleman (or gentlecow:) by November 14, 2010.  I must confess that I knew a few of the participants personally because I posted on Facebook....so I had to back out of the decision making process.  When I saw all the creative names and titles coming in, I was so pleased and it was great fun, but I knew I wouldn't be able to choose.   I decided to bless my husband with all the responsibility in making the choice!  He does not read my blog anyway!  So I felt he wouldn't be biased and would have no problem.  Well.....I gave the names and comments to him this afternoon as we traveled back from a trip to our farm home in Oklahoma.  He had 4 1/2 hours to decide:)  He narrowed it down to four and finally decided.   I asked him to explain why he picked this name.  He said, "Having had a few cattle (hundreds) in his lifetime, he recognized a look out of this guy's eye.  This look means handle with care and caution.  If things don't work out between 'me and thee', give that fella an opportunity to get to know someone else (laugh)."  The winner is Mary Jahn, comment posted on October 25, 2010 - SALE BARN SAM.  Thanks Mary for entering.  Will you please contact me through email to give me your address...............and by the way folks, this is the real guy.

Meadow

Meadow

6x6 Oil on Canvas

by

Cheri Wollenberg

(SOLD)

The inspiration for this little painting came from my daughter-in-law who sent an image to me from her iphone.  She had been out feeding their cattle.  I have a difficult time painting landscapes on small canvases.  I am determined to do some plein air painting this fall.  Painting from life is always more invigorating and satisfying.  I am spoiled with still lifes because I can set them up in the setting of a comfortable studio and they are "still".  I will challenge myself this autumn to paint outdoors!

This painting may be purchased at:  Meadow

Pete and RePete

Pete and RePete

18x18 Oil on Canvas

by

Cheri Wollenberg

Three Amigos

Three Amigos

SOLD

(Fine Art Prints Available)

I lived most of my life on a farm-ranch in Oklahoma.  This experience gave me a great appreciation for the natural beauty and design of the outdoors and of farm animals.  The patterns and natural earth tone colors of steers' coats became a fancy for me.  The "Three Amigos" is an oil painting I did of three steers.   I have painted them several times and I only have giclee prints of them now.  I sell other cow paintings on http://www.chatterboxart.etsy.com/.