KC Cow Parade Technicolor Dream Cow by Artist Marcella Smith

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THE MAKING OF 'TECHNICOLOR DREAM COW' An Official cow of the 'KC COW PARADE 2001' by MARCELLA SMITH

This is the story, of the making of 'Technicolor Dream Cow' ... In the fall of 2000, I was able to answer a 'Call to Artists' from the Cow Parade organization, for the next Cow Parade to be held in Kansas City in the summer of 2001. (Original design submission below) I sent in my designs and with a wonderful phone call from Marge Abrams from Cow Parade, I was notified that two of the designs were accepted, the other was 'Yellow Brick Roadie'. I had only 4 weeks to complete the two cows, so I spent the first day or two concentrating and focused, on the organization and the problem solving, of all the many step-by-steps I needed to do to accomplish fully, my designs on the full sized fiberglass cows in the time allotted. It was so exciting and challenging! Next, I went to the KC Parks & Recreation warehouse, where I meet Scott Huddleston, the person in charge of organizing the physical cows here in Kansas City, and picked up both of my cows, fully wrapped. I quickly got them home and unwrapped them, WOW !!
I knew that the technicolor 'bubbles' had to be started first, so I researched the grade and temperature of ceramic clay needed, then cut out the 'bubbles' from slabbed clay, with several sizes of PVC pipe pieces. To prevent the clay from sticking to the PVC piping, I covered the clay with a piece of plastic before pressing the 'cutter' into it. I then trimmed and corrected any shaping errors, let them dry over a couple of days, then 'cooked them up' in my electric kiln...
Meanwhile, 'Dreamy' got a bath, to clean off any dust acquired in shipping. I then drew out my preliminary shape of the flowing dream on her sides using willow charcoal, a charcoal that I could clean off easily as I worked the design. When the outline was just how I wanted it, I painted a line over the charcoal lines with a watered-down blue color to permanate my line. (yes I made that word up, 'Permanate'-to make permanent, hello Webster!)...
Now, attaching the 'bubbles' toke research too, I needed to find an adhesive that cured quickly, yet held well, epoxy was not applicable to the design, but I needed to get as close to it in strength as I could. I decided on a super strong exterior polyurethane adhesive, that cured in 3 days, not bad, and man can it hold!! Now, to attach those many handmade 'bubbles'. I began with 'Dreamy' standing up, so I could choose the correct flow of size and shape, standing back occasionally to check my work, but OH NO! The 'bubbles' began to slide down the wet adhesive, especially the big ones, what troubles for the bubbles, I ended up finishing the placement of the 'bubbles' with her on her side. What's that? - rain you say? Yes, not only now do I need an over-head cover, but all this humidity is slowing drying time of all things, including intermittent paint layers I was applying to Yellow Brick Roadie! Well, I knew the Lord didn't give me this assignment only to drop the ball, so I stayed cool and calm. By the way, it rained alot those final two weeks, eek! I mean - coool, caaalm...
All righty, here we are, back in the studio with the bubble's adhesive curing, with the help of a space heater. If you can see 'Dreamy' in person, you will see hidden among the round 'bubbles', an occasional 'Tear Drop' shaped 'bubble'. I love the shape, and I like the 'mental feel' of flow and liquid. The 'drops' are a hidden 'hello' from me to you, enjoy! Time to begin the layers of color...
I envisioned the body of Technicolor Dream Cow, to be a beautiful Teal color. Plain colors of acrylic though, never have the depth and radiance, in my mind, as colors that are layers of glazes, so for 'Dreamy', layers it would be. With plenty of clear medium added to my acrylic paint colors, I applied the first undercoat of yellow to the body. Yellow is the complimentary color of Teal and by using it as the undercoat for the glazes it would cause the Teal to have that radiance I wanted. All of my paints were from GOLDEN, which I think is the best, at one point, I did use another brand of Titanium white, but it was a substitute of good quality. I've always felt GOLDEN is the best quality made in professional acrylic paints. I began to get excited finally seeing color on 'Dreamy', by now I was into the 3rd week. I requested 2 weeks vacation from my other job, so that I could intensify my work on the cows. During the final 2 weeks, in order to have them both completed on time, I worked on them approx. 13 - 16 hrs a day! Luckily, my other job, is as a Nursing Supervisor at Two Rivers Psychiatric Hospital in Kansas City, they understood my needs and gave me the time I needed! Thank you TRPH !
Here is a view looking down the back of her head, remember Technicolor Dream Cow is 'dreaming', so of the 3 different poses of cows, I choose the head lowered pose. In this picture, I am beginning to apply the first thin layer of Teal color. I also believe plain flat painting is boring, so with a small brush, I created a pattern of texture design, allowing some yellow to show thru with each brush stroke, she looks quite 'painterly'.
Now, her body is done. The final layer of Teal glaze has been applied and her horns, tail, and hooves have had their final layers. Next, the bubbles...
The polyurethane adhesive, by now, has cured properly and is ready for primer, but wait, I could not apply a water based primer to polyurethane, so first some KILZ, then a good quality artist acrylic primer. Now, for the ribbons of color...
I needed to choose, in what order, the colored ribbons would be placed. I first imagined how they would look best, then double-checked the relationship of the colors on an artist's best friend, the color wheel !! I decided that yellow would be second from the bottom to help lift up the whole color area, to keep the color composition balanced and not weighted 'heavy'.
As I worked on Dreamy, I was finishing up on Yellow Brick Roadie, which you can see in the back ground. 'Roadie' had just received her first layer of varnish. My choice of varnishes came from the advice of the owner of Art Supply in Houston, TX, Vicki Trammel, email: artsupply@swbell.net. Her husband is a chemist, and with their combined knowledge of art preservation, her advice was to use 'Hard MSA Gloss Varnish with UVLS', and you guessed it, it turned out to be a product made by GOLDEN, I knew it would be the best! It adhered perfectly to the lower layers of GOLDEN paints and looks great! I bought most of my paints and supplies at COLDSNOWS in Kansas City and thru ASW mail order. Also, to continue credit listing, the designer of the fiberglass cows themselves is Pascal Knapp his email is www.pascalknapp.com, my email contact for questions to the Cow Parade organization was Ron Fox , email: rfox@cowparade.net, clay advice came from BRACKERS in Lawrence, KS, and Ron Hicks & Paul Vonfange from JCCC, now lets get moooving back to 'Dreamy'...
With the ribbons done, the painting of the 'bubbles' would begin, two layers each, with a iridescent product added to the final layer of paint, making them extra beautiful in the sunshine! By the time I was done, I couldn't help but count the bubbles, which came to over 1,400 !!!!!!!!! Of course, she had a layer of the varnish applied with another two to be applied after Donny Osmond, who starred in 'Joseph & the Technicolor Dream Coat', autographed her at Starlight Theater in Kansas City, June 7th !! WOW AGAIN !! Click here to see the snapshots of Donny autographing her! DONNY'S COW??? click here
And here she is DONE, what fun she was to make, from design to completion. She will be placed, after the signing, somewhere between Starlight Theater and the Kansas City Zoo. On October 5th, 2001, she will be auctioned off by Sotheby's at Starlight Theater, with the proceeds going to the Kansas City Zoo, the American Royal, and the Kemper Museum. Click here to go to the Cow Parade website. I pray 'Dreamy' and 'Roadie' both do well at the auction. What a wonderful gift I was given to enjoy for this short time. Thank you Jesus ! To God Be the Glory !!!