Majestic Migration

In July of 2014 I was driving through the Grand Teton area of Wyoming when I happened upon a small herd of bison wandering along a ridge. No one else was in sight and I had them all to myself! I snapped a series of photos and combined them for this painting titled "Majestic Migration".

So many people are interested in the process of building a painting so I stopped at times along the way to take a picture so I could share my process with you. Well at least the progression of how this particular painting came together. Not all come together the same way.

 Charcoal Sketch

 Blocking in

The initial laying in of the color can be a bit boring for the viewer. These are very basic and large color blocks that will be refined in later stages. But it is important to get the relationships established early throughout the painting so values and temperature can be constantly checked. I often like to keep my initial color a bit raw and somewhat bright. It is always easier to gray it down later. I also want the background around the bison to be wet when I paint them. This makes it more interesting with the treatment of the edges between them to avoid a cut and pasted look.

 This is where the real fun begins for me...painting the bison! More often I paint all of them simultaneously, but this time I decided to work one at a time. I began with the benevolent leader who pauses to glance back in patient encouragement to his fellow beasts. I will go back into each one later and refine once I get them all laid in.

 Moving across the canvas I had particular fun with the next two bison. I didn't want them to appear as if they were marching in a straight line along the ridge so I changed their angles to break it up. Also it was important to have the creatures vary in size and demeanor to create a more natural story. Another mistake would be to have space between each one so this was a perfect opportunity to connect 3 of them. The "ghost herd" is beginning to come alive!

 Not long after I had painted the 4th bison my son dropped by for a visit. I had to chuckle when he sarcastically commented on the albino buffalo. The group is still looking a bit "cut and pasted" so once the "albino" is given full color I will work the landscape and background which is still very roughed in. Also I will spend time refining each individual bison.

Now all 5 bison have been painted yet I still need to "tweak" each one to be certain they are as accurate as I would like and are "reading" the way I want them to. Next I will be working on the surrounding landscape and sky. Below are closeups done after I refined them.

"Majestic Migration"

11x46 oil on mounted linen

Finally the finished piece! As you can see I did a fair amount of work around the bison figures....the landscape was detailed and deepened in the foreground to give it depth and the bison were grounded by their cast shadows. I simplified the sky so it did not compete with the rest of the painting. The mountain peaks were challenging with their white peaks. They had to be downplayed considerably otherwise they would become the focal point and I wanted the bison to be the stars here! Speaking of focal points (as artists we can be obsessed with this), usually there is one specific area that is designed to draw the eye, but I don't always adhere to this principle. In this case I wanted the focal point to be the entire group and what they represent individually but more importantly as a whole. The majestic mountain peaks echo the majesty of their own living, breathing forms. I hope you enjoyed this process as much as I do!