Sharing the gift of art

BRILLION, Wis. — With the stroke of his paintbrush, Jose Pineda is brightening up Shiloh Dairy LLC. It all started when this self-taught artist saw a need to make a calf trailer a bit more colorful.

“The trailer was going to be painted one simple, neutral color, but I told my supervisor, ‘That’s boring; we should do more,’” Pineda said. “We were going to buy the paint ourselves and surprise everyone.”

Pineda has worked at Shiloh Dairy for almost two years as a member of the calf team.

The farm is owned by Gordon and Cathy Speirs and their son, Travis, who milk 2,900 cows near Brillion.

“We were pretty much just going to paint the trailer under the radar and not tell anybody,” Pineda said. “We knew we might get in trouble for not asking for permission, but we didn’t want to see a bland trailer. We were too focused on worrying about getting in trouble that we forgot the camera was there.”

When Shiloh Dairy’s farm manager, Danielle Ware-Dreier, saw what they were doing, she said she was amazed and bought brushes and paint for them.

“It was an old, red trailer that was in bad shape,” she said. “I always called it the sad trail-er. It became a team effort. Every time someone had a day off, they would come and work on it or they would work on it after they punched out for the day. It really helped build the calf team as it gave them something to do together, and a sad trailer became a happy trailer.”

The trailer is painted in black and white spots, and a cow’s head adorns the front. Flowers and a butterfly in honor of Ware-Dreier add doses of color. The Shiloh Dairy logo is built into the design as well. Pineda did freehand drawings on the trailer with a pencil, while his teammates helped paint it. Calves now ride in style when they are transported from the maternity area to the calf hutches.

“I told my supervisor, ‘That’s the future of the farm — we have to treat the calves like princesses,’” Pineda said. “I want to make sure they arrive in a nice carriage.”

Next, Pineda put his artistic talents to work creating individual nameplates for special calves. The first one was made for a bull calf named Ferdinand.

“Everyone was trying to come up with names, but Danielle didn’t like any of them,” Pineda said. “She finally picked ‘Ferdinand,’ and I decided to paint a name board for him. Danielle liked it so much that I’ve been making more signs for certain calves.”

Ware-Dreier names the calves, and Pineda paints the names.

“I don’t like seeing just the name, so I’ll add things to make it pop and look nicer,” he said.

Designs are derived from the name. For example, a calf named Lucky Charm has a sign featuring gold coins, four-leaf clovers and a rainbow.

Sharing his artwork is important to Pineda, who has also made pieces for others on the farm, including Ware-Dreier and Gordon, which are on display in their respective offices. When Pineda presented Ware-Dreier with a painting he made specifically for her featuring birds and flowers, she said she was shocked.

“Here’s a guy who works on my team, but he doesn’t owe me anything; he doesn’t have to spend his spare time making a painting for me,” she said. “It shows how big of a heart Jose has. He’s a good guy, and his values really show through with the paintings. He is someone  who brightens your day.”

Pineda started drawing at a young age and did paintings at home in Nicaragua, but it was not until he got to the U.S. that he started painting on canvases. Pineda prefers drawing over painting and is new to painting, with the trailer being his first project.

Artistic talent runs in Pineda’s family. His brother also draws and paints, and his 6-year-old niece is starting to do portraits. Pineda continues to sharpen his skills with help from his brother and by watching videos of different techniques, such as how to blend colors or learning what colors to use together. Pineda finds inspiration on the internet, studying pictures that he can incorporate into his own artwork.

Once he has an idea in mind, Pineda said he goes with it.

“I already know how it’s going to turn out because I visualize it,” he said.

This approach works better for Pineda than painting little by little. The artist incorporates heartfelt meaning into every piece he creates for someone.

“It’s something that grows from my heart,” Pineda said. “If I feel that a certain person would like this, then I will gift it to them. I don’t do it for monetary gains; I’m not trying to make cash off of it. Art is a way for me to give a little part of myself to someone else. It’s like a little form to say, ‘Thank you.’”

Pineda draws a lot in his free time at home and said ideas originate from within.

“If someone asks, ‘Can you make this or that?’ it’s kind of hard because I have to think about it, versus if it’s just an idea that pops in my head,” he said. “Sometimes, I’ll be lying down and get an idea, and I’ll get up and start drawing or painting.”

Pineda said he likes to keep busy.

“I bought a book and started drawing,” he said. “I will start drawing out of nowhere.”

Pineda’s flair for creativity is bringing splashes of color to his place of employment.

“I like the name plates a lot,” Pineda said. “You can go to the calf shop area and see the tags. It’s the calves’ personal homes; it’s their environment. The signs are something people like to see every day. It makes you want to come to work. I don’t believe any other farm lets their employees do that.”

Ware-Dreier said she has enjoyed seeing Pineda use his God-given gifts in this way.

“It all started with the trailer, and now he has offered to paint a mural for us,” she said.

The mural would appear on a wall at the school the dairy bought and turned into an apartment building for employee housing.

“We told him he can paint something on that wall, just make a sketch first and show it to us,” Ware-Dreier said. “He shares his talents with everybody; he simply makes you smile.”