Painting with a big brush and lots of paint

I just pulled in last night at 11:00 pm from what was one of the best trips I have ever taken. Sometimes our best trips aren't necessarily the trips to far off and exotic locations, although those are fun as well. Sometimes the best adventures are to be had within hours of your home. I drove down to Fort Wallace, Kansas to see a museum I had never seen, visit with a friend and take advantage of some possible reference opportunities for western painting. I was treated to fantastic hospitality and met and chatted with some of the most dedicated re-enactors I have ever met, the Buffalo Soldiers of Co. F.

These men have researched the United States Calvary, the Buffalo Soldiers and have put together tack and uniforms to accurately portray this unique and important part of American history. I was glad for the time I had to talk with them, learn from them, and create connections for future research and reference opportunities. 

The next few days I spent traveling to South Dakota to Custer State Park where I have always enjoyed watching the bison in this incredibly beautiful and accessible part of the Black Hills. Normally, I find the bison this time of year in the valleys where the grass is abundant and the temperatures are slightly cooler. I use my pickup truck as a base and pull off at one of the pull outs and get into the bed of the truck where I can sketch and photograph. I do this in a location I anticipate the bison will move towards as the morning or afternoon progresses. It is a bit of an educated guess, but still a guess because the older dominate cow in the herd will ultimately make the decision when and where the herd will go and it isn't always where I would like, but with bison they are making the decision and not me.

Sometimes I see some really stupid behavior on the parts of visitors. We have all heard or perhaps seen people on foot approach bison, sometimes with disastrous results. I have attached a video which I took from my vehicle or two things. One, the beauty of these wild animals as they move about grazing, the bulls roaring in preparation for the rut, and towards the end of the video a person making an incredibly stupid and potentially life threatening decision. Generally, I don't post such things, but my hope is that others will see just how bad human judgment can be. I hope anyone watching this will understand that the ignorant behavior of just a few can seriously jeopardize opportunities for the rest of us to enjoy our Parks and wildlife in a responsible fashion.

In addition to historical reference and wildlife field studies my trip allowed me time to paint sky studies in different locations under all sorts of weather conditions. I added many studies to my 100 Watercolor Sky Challenge collection and really enjoyed painting the skies over the Black Hills, Devils Tower, the Northern Cheyenne and Crow lands as well as the wide open spaces of South Eastern Wyoming. I also had a fantastic time with my family exploring, and watching my son catch his first trout on a fly rod!

 I hope each of you will take time to go see what the West has to offer, take your own adventure, but until then thank you for coming along on my journey and enjoy the ride!

JR Monks

jrmonks.com