Morning Snow (High Country Wrangler)

  I paint and draw in part because I often need to get beyond words: to a feeling, a yearning; a resonant mystery thrumming in my heart. 

 That said, I have been trying to find the words to express what is at the root of my journey into the contemplative cowgirl paintings and drawings. It is becoming clear to me that I have a deep need to express a certain divine feminine energy as it finds confluence with the power of western landscape, weather, sky; to celebrate the toughness and relentless beauty of the natural world and the human heart. 

 “Morning Snow 3” took three months to make. Each version and iteration of the image seemed to ask for more: more snow, a fiercer storm, a more resolute and proud protagonist. As I approached that vision with colored pencils and paint on paper, I was surprised to find a streak of blue sky arriving and opening– even as the heavy snow swirled. That was when I knew I had found the story in my heart.

Paintings by Kevin Macneil Brown, watercolor, graphite, colored pencils, and gouache on toned paper, winter 2022-2023.