Previous Catalog Cover Art Competition Winners

Posted: May 12, 2014

2014 Catalog Cover Art Competition Winner

Ken McNeill, Fuquay-Varina, NC

I grew up in tobacco country, central North Carolina. I drive a truck and I like old barns. Farm equipment, the smell of plowed dirt and rolling landscapes say home to me. I’ve drawn since childhood but took for granted the natural beauty of pastures, ponds, fields and farm buildings. A handful of years ago, when I set out to paint my surroundings, I truly began to see color in the shadows and the play of light.

I work eight-to-five as an electrical engineer. My job is structured by the laws of mathematics and physics. To be valid, it must be interpreted precisely and in the same way by those who utilize it. To break those constraints, I paint nights and weekends, filling my canvases with bold swirls of color. My wife’s obsession with spinning, knitting and all things fiber inspired me to paint sheep, goats, alpacas and bunnies, with the goal of finding an animal’s attitude or personality and translating it to canvas. My hope is that these paintings bring pleasure to others. And I feel honored that my work will be part of the 2014 Maryland Sheep & …