Portraits in Gray – American Bison

Sometimes keeping colors muted and values toned down creates a more interesting image. That is what I am exploring in my new series, ‘Portraits in Gray’. I’m working on portraits of North American mammals primarily using various tones and values of grays and browns. The first in the series is ‘Portraits in Gray-American Bison’ featuring an old, bull, American bison sometimes called buffalo. American bison are the largest living mammal in North America and along with the European bison the only surviving members of the group. In this painting, I’ve captured an old bull doing a lip curl or Flehmen response. This is a common behavior in many mammals whereby curling their lip, they are able to transfer odors to an organ at the roof of their mouth known as the vomeronasal organ, or Jacobson’s organ. By doing this they can check to see whether a cow bison is nearing or in heat. To see the second image in this series, 'Portraits in Gray – Bull Moose,' click here. To see the second image in t