Year of the Ox

Feng Shui master Thierry Chow tells CNN, “The Ox, in Chinese culture, is a hardworking zodiac sign. It usually signifies movement so, hopefully, the world will be less static than last year and get moving again in the second half of the year”. I am sure we all agree that this would be fantastic.

In the meantime our CBP Challenge Group has been painting lots of different Oxen in preparation for this Chinese year so here follows our herd.

First of all come a number of paintings from Claire. The first one, a traditional composition, picks up a couple of themes I am sure a lot of people will be familiar with but in a Chinese style. These are home schooling and exercise in lockdown:

The next painting is another traditional composition of a young boy riding on the back of a buffalo. This is a development of the theme of the Ox and Boy and is linked in this separate blog post:

After this we have another version of the Ox and boy but this time both are in repose:

Finally, a more contemporary style of Cattle picking up particularly the texture of this Highland Cow’s coat:

Following Claire’s herd, my latest Ox painting is a further development of the theme of the Ox and Boy, linked in this separate blog post:

Next, come a couple of Ox relaxing after their incredibly hard toil as Pat explores the nature of the Ox as support for rural cultures and, therefore, beasts of burden…

I especially like the Seal Script version of Ox which Pat has included in this painting above.

Hope you enjoy painting Oxen throughout this year.

Paul