Painting a Cow

Last winter Ron and I visited the farm of some friends to talk about purchasing meat for the freezer - beef, pork, and lamb.  As we were standing in the yard talking, I saw this cow in a small pasture beside us.  Such a sweet face!  So I took some photos.

I decided to paint the first shot with the cow looking directly into the camera.  

He's still a work-in-progress, but I'm mostly pleased with it.  This week has been a painting week since I've "mostly finished" three paintings - the Eclipse Sunset, In Mother's Arms, and now this cow.  I'm still thinking of what to name this painting.  I'm not sure I will write a poem for this one.

Side note:  I have to mention that this cow (apparently named "Henry") is likely the one that was "processed" for the beef that we ended up buying.  The farmer mentioned that the cow was due for processing, and that was why he was in the pen close to their house.  Since I eat meat, that doesn't bother me.  We still have some of that ground beef, steaks, and roasts in the freezer.   I also realize that cows are female, bulls and steers are male - and I've called this cow a "he" - but, for my purposes, it really doesn't matter.