Little Red Burro

My husband and I saw a little red burro with its mother while hiking in Middle Creek Canyon, Nevada. The sandstone background behind the animals created a bright orange color as the rising sun touched the mountains. The morning air was crisp and a cool 50 degrees. We were wearing knitted hats, thermals, jackets, and gloves. I had brought tea to share with my husband when we got to a rest spot. It was a magical kind of morning where everything felt perfect and peaceful. I did not bring my camera and was unable to capture the moment of the burros digitally. Years later, I decided to paint the memory and the sweet face of the baby burro. I added a Joshua Tree pod into the painting to show a food source of the burro and focused on the texture of the fur. The nose was quite enjoyable to paint. I tried to add the deep oranges and reds into the hairs of the burro that we saw in the hues of the sunlit mountains. The purple colors represent the cool air of the morning hike. A beautiful combination of warms and cools.

Little Red Burro | Original Acrylic Painting | Karen Hilliard Art
CLICK HERE FOR THE PAINTING -> https://khilliardart.com/product/little-red-burro-original/

Our dog reacted quite calm and relaxed around the burros and just watched them. He sat and looked upon them with curiosity. The wild donkeys just frolicked and played in the desert. It was amazing to watch them enjoy their life with such a strong bond between mother and child. I love how burros roam together in their family herd and protect one another from danger. It was an amazing day of our family observing another family from the same animal kingdom and finding similarities between both. I was elated to recreate this memory on a canvas. The “Little Red Burro” was painted on a 12” x 12” wrapped canvas with 1/2″ stretcher bar. The painting is available on my website at khilliardart.com. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did painting this little burro. Please contact the artist with any questions via the contact page. Thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard