This is a concept sketch from about 3/4 of the way done to finish I did this past Monday (MLK Day) while hanging out in a café near my house. I've been doing drawings of buffaloes a lot as of late, and my thoughts always turn to the way early American and European "sportsmen" decimated the American Bison population to the point of near extinction. And, to add insult to injury, mainly did so just for buffalo hide leaving the carcasses to rot in the prairies. Now, buffalo only roam on protected areas, such as ranches and preserves, their numbers not even close to what they once were. I know why this bothers me. It's the narcissistic, tyrannical attitude that people, especially in first world countries, seem to have in them. I don't know why though, if you have a brain and a heart and aren't a psychopath, you wouldn't care that this has a history and continues. So many creatures that make our world a really cool place to live are being brought to extinction, or near it, for what? Delicious soup, a nice rug, a trophy, more land to build more structures that will remain mostly empty. So many reasons and all of them bullshit. It saddens and shames me beyond belief sometimes.
This concept I've called "Goodbye Buffalo" but have also been toying with naming the actual mask, if I make it, "American Domestic Policy." My concept was to have a tired buffalo, with his head cover in blood and the beard made out of used rifle casings.
These were done in watercolor pencil, ink and gouache.
Music obsession: "Dulcinea" by Isis
Color of the Moment: Burnt sienna
Words that make ya sma'ta': Verisimilitude
