I was commissioned to create this illustration as the official art for the 2007 New York State Sheep & Wool Festival. Since I breed Bluefaced Leicester sheep, I was the natural choice to create the artwork for the 2007 festival, which selected the Bluefaced Leicester as that year’s featured breed.
I rendered the illustration in colored pencil (one of my favorite mediums) and was very pleased with the result. Colored pencil has texture when the artwork is viewed at actual size. When it’s reduced, you tend not to notice the texture.
I also had greeting cards printed with this illustration. They are available for sale on my husband Karl’s website (click here).
The design was also silk screened on sweatshirts and t-shirts and sold at the festival. A portion of the artwork was also embroidered onto shirts. (Yes, the silk screen/embroidery service misspelled the name of the breed as “Blue Face Leicester,” not “Bluefaced Leicester.”)
Finally, here is the original concept sketch I did for the color illustration. We didn’t use this layout in the final illustration, but I wanted to share it.
