Another Cow - Oil Painting

It seems that the cows give me inspiration lately because somehow I found myself painting yet another cow in oil  lol.

"Sitting Cow" 8x8 inch oil on canvas

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Milk Cow

Another entry for the DPW Challenge; I might update the pic with a better version as soon as the painting will be dry, but for now I'm just happy to own a second cow :)

The Milk Cow oil on canvas 8x8 inch

DPW Challenge - The Cow

Such a luck with these challenges...I wonder where I would be and how much I would paint without them...
So. This week challenge is "the curious cow". Here is mine, and may I say is my first cow painting ever:

"The Cow" oil on canvas 8x8 inch

Have a great day everyone!

End of September

I got these sunflowers as a gift and what better way to show my appreciation than painting them? They looked so lovely on my bookshelf, so fit with the last days of September that I had to paint them.
I will probably make some more sunflowers paintings since I took a lot of pictures of them.

"End of September" oil on canvas 13x 10 inch

Blending or Not Blending?

I got stumped over this painterly approach to oil painting. About showing the brushwork and never ever blending. So I started a second entry for the DPW Challenge in oil this time, and a sky painted without blending is really a challenge to me.

The problem is that hunting for that artistic brushwork I somehow miss the important elements of the painting itself; I mix the values or I overstep the original shapes I draw. At some point I cannot see lights and shadows and shapes anymore, only a bunch of brush marks.
Of course I end up frustrated beyond words after I agonized half day over a simple sky with nothing to show for. For the sea I haven't had any patience left so I just put some colors in there and finished with it.

And since the painting is meant to be wiped anyway I started blending here and there, then some more until I was sort of satisfied with it.
Here are the both versions of it so you can see the difference (only the sky is modified):

The blended one                  The raw version

Since my problem is that I don't like the un-blended  version, maybe I should understand that painterly approach is not my cup of tea? Or maybe I should keep trying?
Or... maybe I should stick with pastels?

A lot to think about. I would love to hear about your struggles with "painterly' method, if you have any. Or any opinion in general, and of course which version of this painting do you prefer.
Have a great day and a lot of inspiration!

Edit: in the end I decided to post it on my gallery after all; I'm curious to see the reactions.
You can find it here if you are interested.

Yellow Oil Paint

When out of inspiration for painting ideas there is always your work space, always full with colorful, messy things. Like this for example:

"Yellow" oil on canvas 8x8 inch

 My yellow paint although almost empty is now a superstar, and so my dirty palette knife. And I really enjoyed making this painting.
Have a great day everyone!