Cow dragon on barn multimedia project

Edit: I wasn’t sure when I was going to be able to share this project, if chosen, or when I would find out, so I wrote this blog post as I was working on the piece (late December, early January). I found out last month, however, that my piece wasn’t chosen for the cover. I’m sharing this up front since I was obviously writing this from an I-don’t-know-where-this-will-fall standpoint.

One of the local artwalks I participate in takes submissions for the cover art of the program booklet, which in turn is then used in other promotion materials for the event.

I submitted a metal element dragon the very first year I heard about it (2017), as I had just finished it and felt like it was a high quality piece (it still remains one of my favorite dragons). While my piece was not chosen that year, I revisited where I could improve and created a multimedia piece to submit for this year’s cover.

I think the biggest area of improvement was to create something that was more relevant to the area. My metal elemental didn’t really have any connection; I chose it because I thought it was unique.

The area I live in is known for its rolling hills of wheat. Focusing on agriculture and using a craft birdhouse from Michaels, I set to create something a little more relevant.

I had already known what I wanted to do with this barn birdhouse when I saw it, I just didn’t connect it to my cover submission until later.

The birdhouse was the perfect size to become a multimedia project to sculpt around. Since I wanted the dragon to be securely attached, I decided the best place to position it would be on top of the roof.

I also didn’t want this to be a hanging item, so luckily I was able to remove the rope hanger in the roof and fill it in with apoxie sculpt. From here, my barn was ready for paint!

I kept the barn pretty traditional—bright red walls, brown and white accents, and a green base (for grass).

For the dragon, I decided I wanted to do a farm animal-dragon mashup. I thought a white cow with black spots would be the perfect inspiration for this dragon. I also looked at reference images of the more cartoony type of cow for inspiration for the muzzle and ears (the pink).

He’s so that he is sleeping on the roof, his head, back legs, and tail hanging off slightly, and the front feet wrapped around the edge of the roof. He is sculpted in white and black clay, and accented with pink chalk pastels. The spots were painted on after the dragon was baked up.

I wanted to add a couple of other elements to this piece, so I asked you guys on Instagram whether or not I should add a trough to the side. The majority of you voted for it, so I added it at the end!

I wanted some sort of 3D element to the grass too, so I rolled out some clay to create clusters of grass, prebaked those, and added those around the base as well!

Once everything was finished baking, I added resin into the trough so it looked like it was filled with water.

Traditional 2D art (like painting) is definitely the dominating art type for this particular event, and that’s definitely reflected in the cover art. I do have concerns that my style will be seen as “cartoony” and “child-like,” but I hope that it also provides something unique and fresh for the cover art as well.

Overall, I’m happy with how this piece turned out. It has a closer tie to the area I live in, and it was a really fun way to incorporate different materials and skills! This little one will be with me at the Moscow Artwalk later this year.

I like to consider this project a sibling to the set I shared with you all last week. While their themes aren’t related at all, I bought these 2 birdhouses at the same time and prepped them together. I actually had this one done first for the submission deadline. You can see how my other birdhouse project turned out by visiting last week’s blog post.