Acrylic on cardboard – 9,5 x 12 inch – Unique work

There will be a next time I go to Scotland again!

This country is an integral part of my childhood and teenage years. I used to go there regularly on family holidays. It was like coming home. Finding the comfort of a familiar and welcoming place.

I must admit that the weather hasn’t always been summery. The reason the rhododendrons are so huge, green, and bursting with magnificent flowers is that water is at will! And yet, that doesn’t matter at all. That’s not the atmosphere I remember.

It’s the sound of the bells of the beautiful, magnificent, amazing Highland cows. Their reddish coats, their long, slightly curly fur that hides their gentle, wonder-filled eyes. I’ve been under their spell since the first day I met their eyes. It’s as if we understood each other instinctively. It’s a story without words. It’s a long and unique connection that cannot be explained. I have no words, only feelings.

Here they are, grazing on endless expanses of lush green grass dotted with pink and white heather. I can still hear them chewing if I close my eyes and silence my inner turmoil. Their mooing is just as vivid and precise in my memory.

They are hardy and generous. They adapt perfectly to their environment. It’s harsh, wild, but also bountiful. Nothing stops them. Not the elements, not the motorists who cross their path, not even the sheep that sometimes accompany them on their daily wanderings.

I wish I could give her a name. I watch her, hidden yet present, suggested yet intense. I hold back because I feel it’s not my place. It’s up to the person who will adopt her, for life, to give her, her forever lovely name that will suit her. As far as I’m concerned, I gave her life. I also brought back, for the duration of a painting, my childhood memories. Names of towns I’ve passed through, in no particular order: Callander, where Pearl and Victor lived; Stirling, which isn’t far away; Oban; Inverness; Fort William; Pitlochry; Ullapool; Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. And also towns whose names I’ve forgotten. The little house at the end of the world where we slept.

I take one last look at my favorite Highland cow and then I let her go to live her best life in a new family. Long and happy life to you!