arpgst

I’m not very good at breaking down how I create things. Michelangelo supposedly said “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”. Not that I am anywhere as gifted as Michelango, but my explanation of how I create things would be just as useless to other artists! “I took a pallet… and made it look like a cow.”

My neighbors gave me a pallet in the fall of 2022 because I had a painted one in my garden. The new pallet was huge and heavy, so I knew I had to at least cut it in half to use. I was going to make planters except they wouldn’t really work where I planned to put them. Friends had tagged me in posts of pallet art, including one that was shaped like a butterfly. I know I also saw one painted with a cow face. So I guess that is where the idea came from.

I measured the pallet, then made a scale drawing in Illustrator to see if I had enough wood to do what I planned. I also made sort of an outline pattern of the head to use to cut, because I can not, for the life of me, make an animal, etc. head/eyes, etc. even on both sides (even when I am painting just a cartoon face). I used a reciprocal saw to remove the planks, and a hand-held jigsaw for the shapes (which still did not turn out exact).  The head is a tad too large, but it is supposed to just be whimsical, not accurate. When making things you have to be forgiving of yourself; a “mistake” is part of the process and can be worked over or ignored completely. Trying to “fix” an error can make things worse.

I happily found a cow bell at a thrift shop. I used L-corner braces to attach the head to the rest of the pallet, and wood screws to attach the ears to the head. I used “interior/exterior” white paint and colored craft paint. I then used polycrylic over all. However, over last summer the white sort of yellowed, so I am going to freshen up the white, then use my trusty Rustoleum clear to protect it.