Bison
Step into a world where the bison roams free, captured in breathtaking detail against diverse backdrops of nature's canvas. This curated collection showcases the timeless beauty and resilience of the iconic bison, each portrait a testament to its enduring presence in various landscapes and climates.
Field of Buffalo , Oil on Canvas (2018) A friend and I were walking in the “Old German Town” district of Columbus Ohio. The streets are all lit with gas lanterns and one of the buildings was an antique book store. We went in and it was dark and musty. I found a book of western scenery. In it was a photo of highly overexposed bison so that the only thing you could see was their outlines. I was immediately inspired. I went about taking photos of bison and studying outlines of different bison. I drew the painting out full size in pencil and paper. The intent is that the bison merge into the grass in the distance As the herd gets closer to the viewer, the buffalo become more apparent, but not completely separate from the grass. I also wanted to paint "Mount Sheridan," near Meers, Oklahoma, a seldom appreciated yet strikingly beautiful mountain in the Wichitas. So I combined the two subjects. Similar to other reductions, this was painted with only one color, yellow.
Buffalo in Pasture, Oil on Canvas (2020) This inspiration to this is the “Bison viewing point” in the CNRA near Sulphur, Oklahoma. I drove by this viewing point thousands of times. This is a painting of a location I saw every morning driving to school as a kid. But, I was unsuccessful in getting a good photo of the bison at the viewing point, so I used a photograph of a bull bison, in a wallow, in the Hayden Valley of Yellowstone National Park.
Blue Bison, Oil on Canvas (2022) After struggling to capture the essence of a bison in a prior painting, I decided that from that point on I should always paint from a photograph. I discovered over the years that subtle details are impossible for me to paint from memory, so I wanted to paint from picture as I did for the trout. We have a family friend who raises bison, so in early 2020 I spent an entire windy afternoon (carefully) walking with and through his herd of bison. A full day of photography gave me one photo that was perfect. I then took the photo and converted it to blue by computer software and painted the blue buffalo from my photo. Blowing snow was added along the ground and over his back. His sides blend into the background, and he is overexposed so that one side is white and the other side is black as if there is a spotlight in the wind. I wanted the painting to give the viewer the feeling of being cold and standing in blowing snow.
Brown Bison in Snow, Oil on Canvas (2020) This was the first of the series of bison. I wanted to paint a bison walking toward the viewer. Snow on his back and on his nose, with an abstract background. His front coat is covered in snow with ice stuck to his legs