Weathering the Storm.

This one was a quick loose representation of the reference I have. One of my cousins took the photo of a small herd of buffalo hunkering down in a blizzard .  When ever I see these magnificent  Icons of the old west it is a bitter sweet moment. I am happy to get a chance to view one and a glimpse into Americas past, its bitter is knowing millions were killed for just their hide leaving the meat to rot on the plains.  Uncontrolled slaughter took the herds  of million down to the verge of extinction . I have read some herds were so large it took days to go around ,some herds were said to have a million heads thats a lot of bovine there. Now they are a rarity . One article states before 1492 there were 60 million yes 60,000,000 but by 1890 there were 750.

This is Pastel on grey Strathmore  pastel paper . It is 9x12 with hard and soft pastels .I used Nupastels , Blick artist pastels, Sennelier and Schminke Pastels.