January 15, 2016 - Moo, Two!

The personality of the cow I selected to carve lies somewhere between the evil bovine from beyond  and Mabel the dairy queen of the midwest.  The fencing is a clue that she is either a farm or fair lady and  with her snout projecting over the rail, she is seeking ....something.....a nose nuzzle, food, head scratch, forehead butt........viewer discretion. 

Cow relief block with carving handle and cutting blades.

As you can see, I haven't touched the block in the upper right hand corner, so am getting better at making an early decision to remove entire pieces like this.  I am not sure this chunk is large enough to use for something else, but it is not useful here.

This cow does remind me of my first cow encounter.  Being from the city, I knew very little about cows, or farming life, in general.  During a particularly blustery and snowy winter day, I traveled with Dave to his family's dairy farm to help take straw to the barns.  He warned me that cows were cautious around unfamiliar things, people, etc.. and that one cow, in particular, was very curious and bold.

I was fully bundled with heavy winter coat, boots, hat, scarf and mittens, and moving like the Michelin Man across the feedlot, when Miss Curious put her head down and marched my way.  I could see her coming but was clearly in her "turf" and clewless about how to dodge her approach.  I was sure she was going to plow into me and keep right on going and tried to mentally prepare for how I wanted to land, if I could negotiate a choice about that.  Miss C stopped directly in front of me, put her head down, and gently nuzzled into me.  When I put my hands up to steady myself against her massive forehead, she went right for my hands.....and began licking my red mittens.  She continued to lick until they were fully slimmed and I could ease into a safe get-away.

As I shared the gooey mess covering my lovely, hand-knit mittens, Dave simple statement was, "...I warned you she was curious - she likes your mittens...."

Lesson learned!  Thank goodness she was curious and friendly!

Cow relief in close up.  Once again, what to do with that "too big" open material in the upper right hand corner.

I think I will color at least one of the prints of this relief print to commemorate Miss Curious....it's the least that I could do to thank her for teaching me an important lesson! 

Cow relief block ready for proof #1 - honoring Miss Curious!