Best known for her bovine renditions, with unique compositions and contemporary views, Denise has combined her love of animals and art in oil for the past 20 years.
Denise's focus for the past several years has been cows because "Cows make me smile. I seriously can't look at one and hold back a smile. I don't just see an animal, I see a personality, and that is what I am working to present in my paintings of cows." In 2006 Denise received a commission from the California Milk Advisory Board to paint their famous Happy Cows of the Real California Milk campaign. This led to becoming "The Official Happy Cow Artist", as seen on their website.
Her creative process begins with field work, taking reference photos. Cows being a favorite subject means "field work" can be taken literally, and involves careful stepping!
With a signature "painterly realism" style Denise breathes life
into her subjects, often bringing viewer comments of how "you could just reach out and touch them" and "I expect them to mooo".
A Hereford/Whiteface cow and her calf, the calf being a mixed breed of Hereford and Black Angus. I photographed this pair while on a recent excursion to Julian, looking for cows and scenery to photograph. I happened upon this Hereford cow and her calf, took several photos of them which served as the reference for this original, one of a kind painting. I love the panda look of the Black Baldies, and the contrast of the mother and calf make this composition even more interesting to me, so I had to paint it! This painting is 6 by 12 inches on masonite panel, specially prepared for oil painting. sold
