The Dancing Cow (Mary Poppins)

After I finish a complex painting, I usually paint a cow next.  I guess it's just a comfortable subject for me.  As I was working on this pretty red mama cow, she reminded me of something... or someone... a flicker of a memory that I couldn't put my finger on until she was almost finished.

When I was a kid I loved getting to order books from the Weekly Reader forms each month.  I still have a few of those that I loved the most.  I think I ordered and read Mary Poppins when I was in fourth grade... (the first time when I was 10... although I've been in fourth grade - on the other side of the teacher's desk -  about 30 times since :)

Mary Poppins... the book, not the movie... is filled with chapter after chapter of completely wonderful, crazy, irrational, zany, clever stories that somehow tie together perfectly.

Chapter Five - "The Dancing Cow" 
Jane is sick in bed, and John is watching out the window when he sees a red cow walking down Cherry Tree Lane.  Mary Poppins explains that The Red Cow was a friend of her mother.  She tells the story: The Red Cow was raising The Red Calf in her perfectly normal field. One evening she began dancing and couldn't stop.   Eventually she went to see the king who noticed a star had fallen and become caught on her horn.  He advised her to jump over the moon. It worked, but then she wished she had it back.  The Red Cow now spends the her days looking for another star.

Like every other chapter, it's filled with all sorts of details... the lessons she teaches The Red Calf... the types of dances the cow does... the king who has an appointment with the barber...

I came across a blog post from Random Thoughts who asked whether The Red Cow's story was optimistic or pessimistic? She never gave up hope of finding another star, but she roamed the streets never feeling satisfied without it.

Any thoughts?

Original Oil Painting - 16"x 16" 
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We'll Just Have Salad

How important is the title?

I've gotten good advice from people who sell a lot of paintings about naming pieces.  I understand that the goal is to get your art seen.  I understand that when people go to Google they type in Cow Painting or whatever subject they're looking for.  I understand that my pieces would probably be seen more and sell more quickly if I'd give them titles to sell. 
Oh, but how I love to choose the just-right title!  Sometimes I know the title before I begin.  Sometimes I try out several throughout the process of painting.  Sometimes I get it about the time I sign my name in the bottom corner.  This time... nothing stuck... Two Cows... Black and Brown Cows... Flossy and Bossy... After I'd finished and was cleaning my brushes, my husband got his first look and said, "Wow!  I love it.  I love the grass hanging out of their mouths.  It's like they're out to lunch and you've bothered them. 'We'll just have the salad, thanks.'" And just like that "Two Cows" had a title that I loved!

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How Now, Brown Cow?

What Next?

According to the Urban Dictionary, that's what How Now Brown Cow means...  Well, it's one of the meanings listed.  It has taken on several meanings:

• getting turned downed down flat by the opposite sex... "You got how now brown cowed by her!"
• a really pretty girl... "Look at that how now brown cow coming!"
• another way to ask what's up... "Hey, how now brown cow, dude!"
• there's no more beer... During Prohibition, the wooden keg was called a brown cow.  When it was empty they asked what they should do next... "How now brown cow?

Those are the silliest things I've ever heard!  I thought it was just a phrase to teach the open ow vowel sound, and of course, the appropriate greeting when meeting a brown cow.

This little brown cow lives on the land that belonged to my family when I was a kid.  When I went home for my 30-year class reunion, we went to have a look at our old house, field, and pond.  This cow was just as interested in me as I was in her;  She even stopped chewing her lunch to stare for a minute.

Enjoy an Etsy treasury (collection of related art pieces and vintage items) called How Now Brown Cow - just click!

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