Keyword: cows

  • Strawberry Fields

    “Strawberry Fields” by Jason Kotecki. 12 x 12. Oil on canvas.
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    Where does strawberry milk come from? Pink cows, of course.

    It’s a silly thing that some children believe; something grandparents tell grandchildren when pulling their leg.

    I created this painting for an art fair we exhibited at in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a land filled with dairy cows. I was pleased that so many people who saw it got the joke, reminiscing nostalgically about the “fact” that strawberry milk comes from pink cows.

    Part of the humor comes from considering the silly logic of children, and the outlandish things they are prone to believe.

    I, for one, used to believe I was Superman. I wore my Superman shirt under my school uniform in second grade to prove it. 

    The ridicule of my classmates inspired me to reconsider that belief.

    But kids are not alone in their misguided understanding of the world. We grown-ups believe our fair share of ridiculous things, don’t we?

    After all, some of us believe that you can’t eat breakfast for dinner and should never eat dessert first.

    Some of us believe that Diet Coke is good for us.

    Some of us believe it’s bad luck to bring bananas on a fishing boat.

    Some of us believe that the first few years of parenting are the hardest.

    Some of us believe that it’s possible to do and see everything on vacation, and we should ruin that vacation trying.

    Some of us believe the news other people watch is propaganda while the news they watch is always true.

    Some of us believe that we don’t need to prioritize spending time with loved ones, as long as the scraps of time we do spend is “quality” time.

    Some of us believe that money is the best barometer of success.

    Some of us believe that skin color says something about who we are as a person.

    Some of us believe that good times will last forever.

    Some of us believe that bad times will last forever.

    Some of us believe that love is a feeling.

    Some of us believe the devil isn’t real.

    Some of us believe that they’d finally be happy, if only…

    Oh dear. Perhaps we grown-ups are not as grounded in reality as we like to think. Maybe we are all in danger of following a few rules that don’t exist.

    I know I believe some of these things some of the time. But it’s probably silly to believe that anyone who reads this will take a moment to re-evaluate their own beliefs.

    Maybe even sillier than believing that pink cows are responsible for strawberry milk.

  • Invasion

    “Invasion” by Jason Kotecki. 20 x 20. Oil on canvas.
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    I love macarons. I only had my first one a few years ago, but it was love at first bite.

    Not only am I always on the lookout for ways to get them in my belly, but I decided it was time to get them into some paintings. They’re so cute and colorful, after all, and perhaps keeping myself busy painting them would help distract me enough to keep me from eating them.

    I like the whimsy that comes from playing with scale, making something smaller or bigger than it would be in real life. Perhaps this reflects my early fascination with dollhouses, dioramas, and Micro Machine cars.

    One day, as I was doodling in my sketchbook, it occurred to me that a macaron looked a little bit like a flying saucer, and that was all she wrote. My imagination concocted a great scene in which an army of macaron UFOs descended upon a field of grazing cows. Naturally, one would have to be taken as a specimen for further experimentation, sucked up by some powerful tractor beam.

    I like the idea that a painting like this begs the viewer to ponder some questions. What kind of planet did these strange, sweet ships come from? What will become of the cow? And where will the farmer imagine it went when he awakes in the morning to find one missing?

    Yes, it’s all nonsense. But that doesn’t make it useless.

    “I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.”

    –Dr. Seuss

    Perhaps these nonsensical questions will wake up our brain cells so they will be firing on all cylinders when it comes to tackling more vexing challenges in our life. Answers tend to be found by people asking the most questions. And sometimes the answer to a problem is hiding in something that looks a lot like nonsense.

    Maybe someday soon, one or more of Earth’s most pressing problems will be solved thanks to a discovery on some faraway planet.

    After all, it wasn’t that long ago that space travel was nothing more than science fiction.