I first learned of Buffalo Field Campaign in 2012, when I moved next-door to the co-founder and executive director Dan Brister. The BFC works in the field to stop the slaughter and torment of free roaming buffalo. The Yellowstone buffalo are persecuted and chased during the most detrimental time of year–when the young, the bison calves can barely walk, let alone run. The hazing kills them. It is just senseless. The buffalo are managed like cattle, worse than cattle.
Approaching Storm
After learning more about the bison’s struggles, I asked Dan for reference photos. I wanted to paint the buffalo. He gave me a handful of pictures, and there was one image that really struck a cord–a mother and baby bison. I begin the painting but it just wasn’t coming together. I scraped it back, back to nothing and went at it again. And Approaching Storm begin to take place. I gave the background a storm to enhance the drama and symbolize the controversy surrounding the Yellowstone bison. The painting begin to have more story and life than the already moving photo.
Wild N Free
On October 23, 2015 Approaching Storm will be available for auction during Buffalo Field Campaign’s Gala and Art Auction in Denver, Colorado. It is a wonderful feeling knowing it is going towards a good cause. The profits from the sale of the painting will directly support the very subject of the painting–the buffalo. It makes it bigger than artwork. I’m proud to be a part of helping this important cause.
Painting for a Cause
Reflecting on this experience, I hope my paintings, whether it is a glimpse of morning light on the Bitterroot River or a mountain-scape of the high peaks in Glacier National Park, remind people of the beauty of the natural world and why we should persevere to preserve and protect it. Pay homage and as Edgar Degas once said, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”