Skull

This piece is something I've been wanting to do for a while. This skull is one I've had for a few years and had already painted with different designs three years ago. But I wasn't satisfied with it and knew that I could do better. So a couple months ago, I covered the skull with a layer of white gesso paint and planned out the beginning of my design. The design was completed in pen and ink over a period of a month or two.  My motivation was to celebrate the life and death of this cow in a respectful way. The designs were inspired by Mexican and Indian fabric designs.  The skull itself came from Seven Stars Farm, which is a farm that a number of friends of mine have interned at over the years. Seven Stars has a herd of dairy cows, which feed right next to the farmhouse that my friends have stayed in. The cows are so wonderful and beautiful, with their big lashy eyes and sweet demeanors. The farm is Biodynamic, which means a lot of things that I don't fully understand. But one of the practices they do is putting a cow head in their compost pile every year. After a few years of turning the compost and eventually using it as fertilizer, they recover these skulls. In 2011, we got 4 of the skulls, which we immediately processed by bleaching for a week and sunning for 2 months each (flipping the skull halfway through so that both sides get sun). I then scrubbed them down, and shook out any extra little bits of dirt (and stuff) out of the crevasses, prepping them to be utilized in whatever project we had coming.  

I sold this piece at an art fair last weekend. I am glad that someone will be able to fully enjoy it instead of it sitting on my wall for a couple more years until I don't like it any more and paint it over again. :)