There are four highland cow kits in the store right now, and on every one of them the shaggy coat is the whole job. Horns, heather and sky are an afternoon. The fringe is the week. So this is less a list than a guide to the fringe: how each kit draws it, which colors do the work, and which one to start with if you have never painted an animal.

Highland Whimsy

Highland Whimsy is a fluffy calf with a long ginger fringe, sitting in a meadow of yellow, purple and pink flowers while two butterflies hover above it. The soft blue sky keeps the top of the canvas calm, which matters, because the bottom half is busy. The calf's coat is drawn soft rather than stringy, so the fringe comes out as rounded tufts instead of long separate strands. That is the easiest kind of fringe there is. The flowers below are small regions in bright colors, and they are the part that takes patience, but each one is a simple shape with a simple color. It is the kit we point beginners to, and it is also the one most often bought as a gift.

Highland Cow in the Heather

Highland Cow in the Heather is the classic picture: a shaggy adult cow with a long ginger fringe and wide horns, standing in purple heather with misty Scottish hills behind. The fringe here is the fun part and the long part. It falls across the face in strands, and each strand is its own region in one of the browns and oranges in the box. You are not blending anything. Pull the brush in the direction the hair falls and the texture appears on its own. The misty hills behind are wide, pale regions that go on quickly and give the eyes a rest between sessions on the face.

Highland Cow in the Bathtub

This is the joke kit of the four and it sells accordingly. Highland Cow in the Bathtub puts a shaggy orange cow in a clawfoot tub full of bubbles, with a fern in the corner and green tiles behind. Guests laugh every time they walk into the bathroom, which is where most of these end up. For painting, the bubbles and the tiles are large, friendly regions, and the tub is a few curves in white and grey. The coat is still the slow part, but there is less of it showing than on the heather kit, because the tub hides the body. If you want the cow without the full week of fringe, this is the one.

Highland Cow in the Winter Pines

Highland Cow in the Winter Pines is a shaggy orange cow with long curved horns standing in fresh snow among tall pine trees, misty hills behind. The brushwork is drawn loose and textured, so the fur has plenty of movement, and the orange coat against white snow is the strongest contrast in the set. The trees are the trap. Pine needles printed at the standard size become clusters of small regions, and there are a lot of them. If small regions tire you, buy this one in the 20x26 inch size. Same image, same number of regions, each one noticeably bigger. It is the kit for December, and it sits in the Christmas collection for that reason.

The two Highland landscapes

Two more kits carry the word Highland in the name and are not cow kits. Highland Panorama and The Highland Scene are landscapes of the Scottish hills. If you want the scenery more than the animal, start there. For a stag on a heather hillside in fog, there is Stag in the Misty Highlands, with a muted, cool palette closer to a Scottish print than a bright wildlife poster.

Which one first

Start with Highland Whimsy if you have never painted an animal. Start with the heather if you have done a couple of kits and want the classic picture. Pick the bathtub if the kit is going on a bathroom wall or into a stocking. Save the winter pines for when you trust your hand on small regions, or go one size up.

All four come in the same five sizes, from a 12x12 inch square to a 23.5 inch square, with 24, 36 or 48 colors. On a highland cow the 36 or 48 color option keeps more of the mid browns in the coat, and that is where the fringe gets its depth. Most people finish a kit of this kind over two or three weekends. For the general question of how long a kit takes, see how long a paint by numbers kit takes, and for the brushes we reach for on the face, the detail brush set is the one addition that helps.

Questions people ask about these kits

Do I paint the fringe strand by strand?

Yes, but each strand is a single flat region in one color. You are not blending. Follow the direction of the hair and the texture happens on its own.

Is the bathtub cow a different animal?

No. Same breed, same shaggy orange coat, sitting in a tub of bubbles. The tub hides the body, which is why it paints faster.

Can I get a highland cow from my own photo?

Yes. The custom pet portrait kit takes any animal photo, cows included. Send a daylight shot with the fringe visible and the outline will keep it.