Keeper of the Sacred Spirit

Buffalo have always been a shock and awe type of animal for me.  They are beautiful, powerful and frightening all in the same creature. I first got my inspiration when observing an older bull at the Denver zoo. He later passed away and I was so glad that I had captured his pride in his prime. The picture gave me my pose; I wanted to depict mystic, regal, iconic and majestic to show my admiration for this great animal.

 I have had the opportunity to see them by the hundreds in Wyoming but even better I live about 2 miles from a ranch specializing in buffalo.  The Spoomer Ranch has a large male that I could take my pedestal and work in clay behind the safety of a fence to get up close and personal.  I felt sad he was not roaming the prairie but fortunate to be close to that kind of strength. The picture above gave me the inspiration to do a proud piece that showed the strength and dignity even in old age.

Keeper of the Sacred Spirit

 This sculpture was actually started from a piece of blue contractors foam and went rather quickly mainly because of the love and passion I feel for this animal.  The models name was Aspen and a gorgeous animal.

I love texture and playing with the Chavant while it is warm is how I came up with the woolly hair look .

I also chose the sandstone for the base to lend itself to the ruggedness of the piece. This is a limited edition and luckily I am down to the last few of this edition and then the mold will be destroyed. I have sold two that insisted on having a wood oval under the buffalo because of furniture issues and preference. I don't mind accommodating that kind of request.

Sculpture has increased in value and become an even better investment in recent years because of the  metals found in bronze such as copper.