"Red and Orange Cows" by Alisha Houtchens

Image posted with the permission of the artist. Alisha Houtchens is a printmaker and student in Colorado. More of her work can be viewed and purchased on her Etsy store. I was most moved by this color piece, but she also has some gorgeous black and white prints. For those who enjoy black and white imagery of animals, definitely check out Serene Lion and African Grey.

In the waning sunlight, that time between day and night, swathes of color exhibit strange behavior. Patches of white fur in the foreground vanish and become windows to an eerily blue-green sky. Shadows and dark splotches recede even further, turning deep crimson. Clouds seem more like spills of paint, and where the clouds and sky end and the cows begin, I can no longer say. What's close might seem near, and vice versa. Scratches across the surface strengthen the form of the front plane of the closest cow's face - his is a face which comes forth clear from the chaos, the portion of the apparition that emerges distinctly from the ghostly mist for but a moment. The rest of the scratches serve to further collapse the near with the far. What's the big deal, you might ask? It's just cows. Cows in a pack. Cows looking out at the viewer. Curious? Anticipating? These cows are more than cows. They are a burning forest fire - and are those the antlers of a poor moose whose been caught in the flames? They are will-o'-the-wisps and cackling jack-o-lanterns, floating mustaches, and small strips of black and red yarn drifiting toward the ground.