MARGARET Rees, Balnarring, has made a name for herself as the local “cow lady”, after seven years of creating oil paintings of different breeds of cows.
Ms Rees doesn’t come from a farming background, nor does she live on a farm today, but she has fallen in love with cows, and spends most of her time painting them.
She moved to Balnarring from Dandenong 16 years ago with husband Derryck, when they bought a local hotel that they ran for seven years.
“We used this house that we’re currently in as a part of the hotel, if we ever had overflow, or families, they would stay here,” she said.
“When we sold the business, we thought we’d move into this house temporarily, but we’ve been here ever since.”
When they were on the verge of selling the business, she decided to take up painting, something she said she had been longing to try for many years.
“I’ve always done a lot of art and craft, doing dressmaking, embroidery, cake decorating, flower arranging, and things like that, but I didn’t start learning to paint until we were retiring,” she said.
“I went to a dear artist friend in Bittern to learn to paint, and had lessons every week for about two and a half years.”
She said at the start she would paint anything she could, doing paintings of flowers, birds, beaches, and portraits of children and dogs, until she fell in love with a small herd of Simmentals.
”There was a small farm in Balnarring that was being sold, and we went down to the auction to have a look,” she said.
“These beautiful Simmental cows were in the paddock near the house, and I always take my camera with me wherever I go, so I took some photos of them.
“This was my first cow painting, and that was six or seven years ago, and I’ve done about 75 cow paintings since.”
She said to get photos of cows she wishes to paint, one of her favourite things to do is go “cow spotting”.
“I love driving around looking for cows, and getting out to take photos,” she said.
“One day I was having a rough time with a few issues going on within the family, and my husband said ‘alright let’s go cow spotting’, he just knew that that was exactly what I needed.”
She said part of the joy of painting cows is getting to meet them beforehand.
“I love taking the photos, I talk to the cows, they’re interested in you, they all come so close,” she said.
“Some people say all cows look the same, but they don’t, they’re all different, just like people.”
But she said taking the perfect photo can be difficult.
“You want to get them in a perfect line, which can be hard, and sometimes they’ll put their heads down, or will turn around, or won’t have their ears up, it’s hard,” she said.
She said over the years, herself and Mr Rees have formed friendships with several farmers and stud owners who have invited them on their property to get closeup photos.
As proof that her paintings are of top quality, Ms Rees has won an array of awards for her work.
“I’ve won more people’s choice awards than judge’s awards, seven in total, which is quite amazing,” she said.
“I received an oil painting award at the last Camberwell Rotary Art Show for my Friesian cows, and that was huge, because it is the most prestigious art show in Victoria.”
She has recently joined a painting group in Merricks, which she attends once a week.
“Painting is quite a lonely task, you spend a lot of hours and days on your own,” she said.
She said her works will continue to be displayed at exhibitions around the state, and she’s always happy to do commission projects for interested people.