Great CenterFest Show

Ferdinand was a hit at CenterFest (and he was adopted as well!).  Here he is with an adorable admiring fan:

I told Michael I was going to do "a bull" painting for Durham.  Well, I kinda went bull-crazy!  They are so much fun to paint.  This is Ferdinand...  I started out with this nice large canvas (40" x 70") and did some studies thinking I'd do a nice strong classical bull... here's one of the studies:

Well, obviously, Ferdinand had other ideas and charged onto the canvas of his own accord... you can see on the right side of the canvas that I collaged in some cut-outs of some drawings that Picasso did of bulls and put them out in the pasture - they were an inspiration for Ferdinand.

Then, after I was mostly done painting him I sent a picture to my mom.  She, of course, remembered the children's Story of Ferdinand  and song of Ferdinand which I had totally forgotten... that's when I decided on the name... I am so glad that folks appreciated him.  Even had a couple people disappointed that he had sold.