Sharon Yates, Four Cows - Windy (Tide Mill)

Statement

Painting cows in the landscape takes me to a level of craziness that feels right. Early on in the fall at the Smith Farm in rural Maine where I live, the cows hung around the bales close to the fence. But I needed in. The bottom electrified wire close to the flat ground gave me just enough space. My heavy easel, paint box et al came in next one by one. Many years later on another dairy farm (Tide Mill), I painted Five Cows-Windy, where the fence setup was easier but the cows farther to reach. Taking one trip to haul my gear in on this mid-summer blue sky day, I trekked up the hill to a bunch of gorgeous Holstein milkers. As always I got up close improvising with the changing light and weather. It was heaven and a chancy process to be completed in one day.
Artwork Info
Date 2012
Dimensions 8.5 x 10 inches
Medium Oil on panel
Artist Info
Born Rochester, NY
Works Lubec, ME

Biography

Sharon Yates currently lives and paints in Lubec, Maine. After a long tenure of teaching at the Maryland Institute College of Art, she retired from teaching in 2007-2008. She also directed the institute’s summer landscape painting program in Canada and was a visiting artist at George Washington University, the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, and the Saci Program in Italy. Her paintings have been exhibited internationally and won her several honors including the Prix de Rome and an Ingram Merrill Foundation Grant. Her work is in many private and public collections and has recently been exhibited in Maine at the L.C. Bates Museum, Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Elizabeth Moss Galleries, and at Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre, New Brunswick, Canada. Born in Rochester, NY, Yates holds a BFA from Syracuse University and an MFA from Tulane University.