"On Red Alert" oil on linen, 20"x 30", Sold. Giclee prints available. This painting was a commissioned piece. I used the Taylor Peaks at the head of Taylor's Fork, in S.W. Montana for my background. With the rut in full swing, this bull is in a hyper aware state, trying to keep his cows from being harassed or stolen, by some interloper satellite bull...he is "on red alert".
"Springhill Sunset" oil on canvas, 12.5"x 20", sold. Giclee prints available. One 4th of July evening, we were invited to some friend's home to play some volleyball and to watch some fireworks. As the sun began to set, I left the party and with camera in hand headed across the road to get some photos of the real fireworks I was interested in!
"Winner Takes All" oil on linen 30"x 40" Available for sale, contact artist. Giclee prints available. This is a scene along the Gallatin River, where Sage Creek flows into the Gallatin. I had intended to paint on location, but the temperature dropped to below zero during the day as a cold front moved in, so I contented myself with taking photos, and saved the painting for the warmth of my studio. This bull is looking back to make sure that the bull he just thrashed, doesn't get any foolish ideas. The cows on the other hand, are not too worried, they've found their breeding bull!
"Into the Lime Light" oil on linen 20"x 30", Sold. Giclee prints available. Even from a distance, when a bull walks into evening light, he can be easily seen and distinguished... his tan, almost white sides, and antlers, flashing. It is quite a thrilling sight, and like this bull, a thrilling sound! After all the time I have spent every Fall, in close proximity to elk, with either a bow or a camera, I still never get tired of hearing a bull bugle, or cows and calves calling back and forth with meows and whines. They are such majestic animals!
"Bedroom Bugler" oil on linen 30"x 24", Available for sale, contact artist. Giclee prints available. With the evening light filtering through the trees, this bull decides it is time to leave the lodge pole pine patch, that has been his bedroom for the day, and follow his cows out for an evening and night of feeding and fending off the competition!
"Looking for Greener Pastures" oil on canvas 10"x 14" Available for sale, contact artist. A bench overlooking the Jefferson River valley, with the Highland Mountains in the distance. This buck has his sights set on an alfalfa field to the north, and is willing to travel quite a ways to get there.
"Crossing Them Over" oil on linen 36"x 48" Available for sale, contact artist. Giclee prints available. This bull I called the "Gibbon River bull...he kept his cows around the upper Gibbon Meadows in Yellowstone N.P.. He gave me more good photos over the course of several days than just about any other bull I have ever photographed. When he got tired of posing and modeling and putting on a show, he would just cross the cows over to the other side of the river, and disappear for a few hours in the shade of the trees. In the late afternoon he would be back, ready for another show.
"Sage Creek Surprise" oil on linen 32"x 48" Available for sale, contact artist. Giclee prints available. This is the trail along Little Sage Creek in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness in S.W. Montana. This bull, we called "Freight Train" more for his bugle than his actions. He had a beautiful, long drawn out classic bugle that was very recognizable even from a distance. He inhabited this area in Sage Creek for several years, and was always the dominant herd bull. Even today we see the effect of his genetics on the herd in the area.
"When the Storm has Passed" oil on linen 28"x 36" Sold. Giclee prints available. This studio painting, was inspired by a little field study I painted standing in the frozen over creek bottom. The cabin is at the trail head of Porcupine Creek drainage. I love the affect of freshly fallen snow on a landscape, "when the storm has passed", the wildlife all come out to feed, the warm colored evening light washing over the quiet, hushed world. The cold high pressure air that settles in after the storm, causes ice crystals to form in the air, that sparkle in the setting sun!
"Room to Roam" oil on linen 32"x 48" Available of sale, contact artist. Giclee prints for sale. This -20 below zero morning, with the frost sparkling like diamonds on everything in the early morning light, was not at all suited for painting outdoors, and even the camera battery didn't last long in the cold, as I attempted to capture the beautiful light of the scene. The buffalo, on the other hand, seem to be built for this harsh climate, and go about their business as if it is just another normal day to roam across the vast, seemingly endless landscape.
"Morning Serenade" oil on linen "30x 44", sold. Giclee prints available. This was my second version painting of the same setting in the Spanish Peaks area. The first painting was a 40x60 painting "Spanish Creek Bull" which was destroyed in the Montana Trails Gallery natural gas explosion, in March of 2009 which destroyed the gallery and half a city block in downtown Bozeman. In this painting, I added some Fall color quaking aspens, in the background, and then set the morning lit bull more against the cool colors of the shaded ridge.
"Spanish Creek Bull" oil on linen, 40"x 60". Giclee prints available. This was the first version I painted of this scene. It was destroyed in the Montana Trails Gallery gas explosion in 2009. Originally, I hiked up to this spot, in the dark and set up my painting gear, and then started painting fast and furious, as the sun came up and started bathing everything in beautiful morning light. I was only able to get about half the field study done before the light had changed too much to be able to continue. But even half done, the field study had enough vital information to be able to start the studio version.
"Something in the Wind" oil on linen, 16"x 22", Sold. Giclee prints available. This is a view from Wapiti Ridge, with Sage Peak in the background, all of this country being in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness area. When we first discovered this beautiful area, in 1989, it was an elk paradise. After the reintroduction of wolves in "95" little by little the elk have pretty much disappeared from this landscape. With a predator like the wolf, the elk just could not survive in this country they obviously preferred. One by one the elk were being picked off, being in smaller groups in terrine where they could not see the wolves coming. Now the elk congregate the first part of Sept. in large herds out in the wide open private ranches in the Madison Valley, where they have a better chance of survival against the wolves. It is heart breaking now, to go back to this beautiful elk country, and then to hardly see a single elk or hear a single bugle!
"Three of a Kind" oil on linen, 24"x 36", Sold. Giclee prints available. This was a commissioned painting. A surprise gift for an avid bowhunter husband, who specialized in scouting out and going after "freak antler" bulls. These were 3 of the bulls that he had harvested that qualified as freak antlered. The background is Fan Mountain of the Madison Range, above Ennis, Montana.
"Out of the Shadows" oil on canvas, 16"x 22", Sold. Giclee prints available. I went out and started this painting on location. It is near Waterloo, MT along the Jefferson River, with the Tobacco Root Mountains in the background, being lit up by the setting sun. Though this buck did not pose for me, there was plenty of sign that he was in the shadows somewhere close by.
"Looking for Trouble" oil on canvas, 16"x 20", Sold. Giclee prints available. I painted this scene completely on location. I went on a two week painting trip to Banff, AB living out of my Ford Explorer. With the barest of necessities, I ate, drank, slept, and painted, which is to say, it was an artist's dream trip! I came home with some of the best field study paintings I had ever done. On this painting, I started the painting in the early morn light and when the light had changed too much, I packed up and went to another painting site....then returned and finished this painting the following morning. I added the elk when I got home.
"Firehole Sunrise" oil on linen, 20"x 30", Sold. Giclee prints available. Staying on location for several days, really is a huge advantage. We camped in Yellowstone for most of a week, and so when finding the perfect spot, it was possible to return the next day when the light was also perfect, which was before sunrise in this scene! Being in Yellowstone after most of the hordes of tourists have gone away, is also a huge advantage, but now that too is becoming a rare occasion!