Paula the Cow thinks it’s high time the Hollywood sign moooooves on over.
The 25-foot-tall cow mural exudes charm and more than a dash of whimsy, and has been welcoming folks to downtown Waukon, Iowa, since artist Val Miller painted her in 2008.
Paula may not be flashy, but she’s fun, and she’s handled the tests of time beautifully. The same could be said of Paula’s creator, Val, who has been painting cow art (and more) through her business, Steel Cow, for two decades.
The artist has been “obsessed” (her word) with cows since the age of 17. Though she was raised in rural Waukon, home to many cows, it was a family trip to Switzerland that instilled the deep appreciation of the creatures. She was riding on the back of a Harley motorcycle when she first heard the jingle of cow bells through the Alps. “We stopped for a picnic in a meadow, and several giant and gentle Brown Swiss cows came up to us there,” recalls Val, the trip photographer. “They were the most beautiful things I had ever seen, and from that day forward, almost all of the photos I took were of cows!”
The fascination wasn’t fleeting. When Val began her studio art major at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, she started painting cows. That was in 1998, and she hasn’t stopped since (even during her later studies at the University of Iowa to earn a bachelor’s degree in marketing). Today, her original works of cows – each, like Paula, bearing an equally original name – grace the walls of homes, shops, galleries, barns, and street corners across the United States and beyond.
“Twenty years ago, almost no one put pictures of cows on their walls – at least not mainstream, non-farm people anyway,” says Val. “It was fun to paint something that most other image makers overlooked, and I have really liked bringing attention to this amazing animal.”
Over the years, she expanded her subject palette to include an array of other animals, including pigs, chicken, sheep, goats, and various wildlife. “I pick which animal I want to paint next, make an appointment to go find that animal at a farm somewhere, go meet the animal, and take lots of mental notes and photos,” says Val. “Then I bring the photos back to look at, pick the one that speaks to me, make a pencil drawing on my canvas, and start painting.” The unique names come later. “I always give my paintings of animals new names and alter egos, even if they have their own names in real life,” she continues. “And I never name them until the painting is finished and I can see what fits.”
The process may not be quick, but it has worked well for Val, who operates out of a brick-and-mortar studio that she and her husband, Josh, a sculptor and cabinetmaker whom she met at Bradley, opened on Allamakee Street. Back then, they worked downstairs in the gorgeous gallery and studio spaces, and lived upstairs in an apartment largely designed by Josh.
The beginning wasn’t easy – “We started Steel Cow scared, before we were ready, at a time when many people said to our faces we shouldn’t start something until we had more experience or we had money in the bank,” she admits – but the couple’s talent, tenacity, grit, and resilience have long since made them a fixture of the small Iowa town. And Val is grateful for that. “I’m so humbled by how our community has embraced us over the years,” she says. “Perhaps the biggest success is knowing that we are home, that we have always been home, that the people who live here are so wonderful, and that we didn’t have to move away to have our dream come true.”
The couple’s resilience and the community’s support clicked into overdrive in April 2021 and again in February 2022, when two successive fires at the studio building (built in the 1920s by Val’s ancestors) threatened to destroy the dream Val and Josh worked so hard to build for one another and their three active sons, Edison, Harrison, and Ellison. Luckily, the family had moved from their downtown apartment to an acreage outside of Waukon in 2018, so they still had a place to lay their heads after long hours working through the damage. The first fire broke out on the main floor of their building and took a solid eight months to “get back to normal.” The second consumed two buildings next door and left theirs with heavy water, smoke, and structural damage that took even longer to repair. “We didn’t know for over a year if our building was even going to be able to stand the test of time or would have to be torn down as the structural stability of our outside wall was in question,” she says. “…It was hard.”
And while it would have been easy (and understandable) for Val to live in a victim mentality, she refused. “Navigating the fires and multiple years in a row of their physical, financial, and momentum losses – and not letting the extra work or negativity sink into my happiness and sense of self – is what I would consider a great success on a personal level,” she says.
As she was coping with those unexpected setbacks, Val dove deeper into a passion she and her family had discovered quite unexpectedly in 2020: flowers, both growing and painting them. That summer, as businesses were forced to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic, she decided to take a break from painting to plant flowers and open a self-serve flower cart. Val soon felt far less lonely and far less frustrated, feelings that had been building before the pandemic even started. “While the world was falling apart with Covid and most everyone around me was…getting mad at everyone and everything, I was getting better, loads better, every day,” she says. “I largely ignored what was going on in the outside world around me and listened to podcasts and trainings on mindset while I was out in the garden.”
Flowers became a new obsession – especially pink peonies, which she calls “the perfect flower.”
“When I look at them, I see so much beauty that I never feel sad,” Val explains. “They are fluffy and comfortable. They are exciting and unpredictable. They start off so small and then get so gigantic. The petals look like they are dancing.”
How could she not be inspired by these flowers? She took and studied photos of peonies and other flowers and delved into various resources on how to grow and cut them. And, eventually, she began to paint them in 2024. “I took photos of flowers daily for about three summers, but I resisted painting them because I thought they would take up so much time,” she says. “Ultimately, though, I realized I’m a painter and I should actually paint them.”
The happiness she finds from flowers, along with the mindset work she did in recent years, inspired Val to start an online painting club, “Garden Art Therapy,” in which she helps beginners create garden-themed paintings. “I realized that I have a lot to share and to teach and that I wanted to guide others to use painting as a way of stress relief,” Val says. “Painting is how I make sense of the world.”
And as if growing (and painting!) flowers, painting farm animals, running a business, and raising three boys weren’t enough, Val and Josh have launched yet another endeavor: a lavender farm. Why lavender? “I love it and all the products you can make from it,” Val says.
The couple has more than 1,000 lavender plants (in addition to cut flowers and wildflowers) growing on their 11 acres outside Waukon and are working on a building to house a future lavender farm shop. They’re not ready to open the farm up to visitors just yet, but folks can watch steelcowlavenderfarm.com for updates.
In the meantime, Val continues to find happiness and fulfillment in her life’s work by following what she loves.
“Being an artist is really the only thing I have ever wanted to do,” she says. “And I am thankful to be living my dream – I have more dreams now, dreams I’m working on side by side with that first one, and I am finding fulfillment in working towards something new.”
Sara Friedl-Putnam
Learn More
Val Miller’s artwork can be purchased online at steelcow.com and at Agora Arts in Decorah, Iowa. While the “Garden Art Therapy” club is currently closed to new members, it will open up again at different times throughout the year. Information can be found on Steel Cow’s social media (Facebook & Instagram) and at steelcowlavenderfarm.com.
See Val’s studio in person during the 27th Annual Northeast Iowa Artists’ Studio Tour, October 11, 12, and 13, 2024. Find details at www.iowaarttour.com.
8 THINGS ABOUT HOW WE ROLL & WHAT WE BELIEVE IN
By Val Miller (edited for length – see the full text here)
1. Family is at the Top
We choose family as our top priority and continue to do so.
2. We are Playful
We don’t take life too seriously – it’s TOO SHORT. We are finding out what makes us happy and doing more of that.
3. Memories are Powerful
Memories have the ability to transport us to places we have been and to people we have been with. Which is a lovely thing.
4. Local Blooms are Amazing
They have completely knocked our socks off – be careful – they may knock yours off too!
5. Flowers are a Powerful Way to Connect Us All
We connect with the sun, rain, soil and nature when we grow flowers. When we share them, we connect with people.
6. Art Should be Part of Everyday Living and It’s for Everyone
We NEED to feel inspired and awed – and art does this.
7. We are Good at What We Do
Basically – WE CARE. We have a combined 40 years of art experience and two art degrees between the two of us and have shipped tens of thousands of prints all over the country and world.
8. You’re Never too Old (or Young) to Learn Something New or Remember Something you Once Knew
Time is a funny thing and most of us have preconceived notions about what we should or shouldn’t be doing at various stages of our lives. I have awakened so many things just by trying something NEW.
