Cow Parade — Natural History Illustration

Submission sketch to the Cow Parade judges

Expo moved into her new barn.

We brought Expo back to the clinic so I could paint her at our annual fundraising event.

Late night painting back at the barn.

Vincent, my assistant,  liked to rub on Expo's legs.

Pink nose!

I stood back in terror as Dr. Bonnie Markoff performed open heart surgery on Expo, but I knew she was a great doctor and it would be successful.

Hooray!

Paint everywhere

Starting on her other side now.

Muscles and Stomachs!

Now for the tricky part, I made a mold out of clay to cast the heart.

I did a lot of research into epoxy.  There is a lot of epoxy out there. I finally decided on a product and then found some glow-in-the-dark powder to add to the resin.

Unfortunately, the material was not setting, it was really sticky.  I thought if I put it in the refrigerator that would help.  My cat thought it was a good idea too, but it did not work.

It looked nice, but was still sticky

Second try worked! It set, it was thinner and less obnoxiously colored.

Sanding down the heart to make it fit was a dusty business.

After a lot of work, it fit!

A little bit of epoxy and Bondo to set it in.

I put a light behind the heart at night and it was beautiful! We tried many lights that were mounted on a board that Bonnie placed inside Expo. We made a hole in her stomach to access the area. We used blinking bike lights of all kinds. It looked gr

Painting eyes.

The cow parade guys came to pick her up.  it was kind of sad, and I was very worried about her in the back of the truck. But they took very good care of her.

Expo arrived at the cow parade kick-off at Madonna Meadows and met the 100 other cows there!.

She made a dog friend.

And met my nephew

It was really hot that day so we sat under her for some shade.

Expo arriving at the clinic to get mounted at her permanent home.

Come visit her at Animal Care Clinic at 162 Cross st. in San Luis Obispo.

Night time heart beat!

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Submission sketch to the Cow Parade judges

Expo moved into her new barn.

We brought Expo back to the clinic so I could paint her at our annual fundraising event.

Late night painting back at the barn.

Vincent, my assistant,  liked to rub on Expo's legs.

I stood back in terror as Dr. Bonnie Markoff performed open heart surgery on Expo, but I knew she was a great doctor and it would be successful.

Paint everywhere

Starting on her other side now.

Muscles and Stomachs!

Now for the tricky part, I made a mold out of clay to cast the heart.

I did a lot of research into epoxy.  There is a lot of epoxy out there. I finally decided on a product and then found some glow-in-the-dark powder to add to the resin.

Unfortunately, the material was not setting, it was really sticky.  I thought if I put it in the refrigerator that would help.  My cat thought it was a good idea too, but it did not work.

It looked nice, but was still sticky

Second try worked! It set, it was thinner and less obnoxiously colored.

Sanding down the heart to make it fit was a dusty business.

After a lot of work, it fit!

A little bit of epoxy and Bondo to set it in.

I put a light behind the heart at night and it was beautiful! We tried many lights that were mounted on a board that Bonnie placed inside Expo. We made a hole in her stomach to access the area. We used blinking bike lights of all kinds. It looked gr

The cow parade guys came to pick her up.  it was kind of sad, and I was very worried about her in the back of the truck. But they took very good care of her.

Expo arrived at the cow parade kick-off at Madonna Meadows and met the 100 other cows there!.

She made a dog friend.

And met my nephew

It was really hot that day so we sat under her for some shade.

Expo arriving at the clinic to get mounted at her permanent home.

Come visit her at Animal Care Clinic at 162 Cross st. in San Luis Obispo.

Night time heart beat!