Scottish Highlanders
In addition to being a visual artist, I’m also a certified health & nutrition coach. Recently I wrote an article for my other Substack, The Art of Health, which focuses mainly on nutrition. The article, Mind Your Meat: The Quest for Quality of Life for Animals and Better Health for Humans, explores the difference between factory-farmed and pasture-raised meat, and its implications for human health, animal welfare, and the environment. The contrast between these two types of meat can hardly be overstated – they are completely different foods. Check out the article if you want to learn more – you can either read or listen.
To flesh out this comparison, I decided to portray one end of the spectrum – the positive end, how the animals we eat are ideally raised and fed. To bring the animals into my writing, I visited Hubbell Farm, a local farm where cows, chickens, and pigs live an ideal life. On a late winter day, I was escorted to a high mountain pasture where a herd of fifty Scottish Highlanders – a breed known for their long, silky hair and elegantly curved horns – peacefully grazed. Just being around these beautiful bovines made an impact on me. I asked permission to come back in the spring when the calves would be born – not as a writer, but as a painter.
So about a month ago, I took my tote bag of art supplies and climbed up to the mountain meadow again, now bursting with springtime growth, where the mother cows and calves were grazing. Talk about greener pastures . . . these lucky animals live their entire lives outdoors, knitted to the natural world that sustains them. Everything they eat is woven into their meat – not just a variety of wild plants, but also insects and healthy soil, with all its beneficial microbes that ferment the plants in the cows’ magical rumens.
The sky threatened rain, so I wasn’t able to draw very much – and besides, the cows were curious about me and made their way toward me, milling around and staring at this strange creature sitting on the ground. One of them – a huge, dun-colored (greyish-beige) mama, came right up to me and sniffed my feet and my pencil box. I could hear her breathing, like massive bellows in a cave, and the sound of her ripping and chewing clover. She was so peaceful, patient, and powerful – merely being in this animal’s presence was therapeutic. I gave up on painting on the spot, and just sat watching the cows and breathing their energy.
One calf in particular – a lovely rust colored youngster – came and stood near me, staring intently. What did this innocent beast make of me – the smell of my shoes, of my dog, my tick repellent, my paint tubes? I caught him with my camera, and came home with numerous photos of the cows, the sky, the forest, the mountains – all to be pieced together as reference for these two oil paintings.
These two paintings also served as practice pieces, as I’m slowly transitioning from water-based oils to regular oils. I’ve avoided the latter for years, not wanting to use turpentine or mineral spirits as paint thinners. But water-based oils are rather gloppy, making small or detailed imagery difficult to control – so when I recently discovered these toxic chemicals can be replaced with walnut oil, I decided to give it a try. It worked! Now I’m gradually replacing my water-based oils with new tubes of old-fashioned oil paint.
Anything can be inspiration for art – even researching an article about nutrition. As an illustrator and writer, I’m constantly learning new things. In that sense, the creative process is also creating me.
Both these paintings are for sale, once the walnut oil dries. Please inquire for more information if you’re interested. And if you’re in the area, do check out Hubbell Farms.
A good week to all!
D. Yael Bernhard
https://dyaelbernhard.com
Have you seen my other Substack, The Art of Health? In addition to being a visual artist, I’m also a certified integrative health & nutrition coach with a lifelong passion for natural food cooking and herbal medicine. Now in its second year, this illustrated newsletter explores cutting-edge concepts of nutrition. I strive to make relevant information clear and accessible, and to anchor essential health concepts in unique images. Check it out, and if you like it, please subscribe and help spread the word. Your support keeps my work going!
I love these cows! I've spent my share of time in pastures with cows and their quiet, big-breathing, cud-chewing ways.
And I love that you can use oil paints with walnut oil instead of turpentine!