Pronghorn

Outdoor pronghorn painting: First Friday Art

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Outdoor pronghorn painting by Siobhan Sullivan August 2020

Here’s an outdoor pronghorn painting I did in our backyard. It’s the first Friday of the month so it’s time to share your First Friday Art. If you have artwork you would like to share, use the First Friday Art tag.

We have an 8 x 16 foot shed in the backyard and it had a boring blank west-facing wall. It needed something to make it more interesting. I thought of painting a pronghorn, one of my favorite critters.

Out building prior to painting near Bend, Oregon August 2020
The shed prior to painting

I developed an appreciation for pronghorns many years ago when I did fieldwork at Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in southeastern Oregon. Pronghorns, AKA antelope, are native in parts of western North America and they’re common at the refuge.

Steps taken to create the outdoor pronghorn painting

First I brightened up the side of the shed with some leftover light blue paint. Then I sketched out the pronghorn from pictures I had taken, supplemented with other source materials.

Sketch of pronghorn July 2020
First sketch

For some people doing the initial sketch is easy, but it’s not for me. Do you know what the picture below is?

Eraser dust on plywood July 2020

Eraser dust! I did a lot of erasing and redrawing.

The next step was back painting the silhouette of the pronghorn. I used an off white paint – more leftovers – to help the colors pop.

Back painted silhouette by Siobhan Sullivan July 2020
Back painted pronghorn

Next I sketched over the white paint.

Sketch over back painted painting by Siobhan Sullivan August 2020
Sketching over back painting

Then I painted in the big blocks of color and added shading. The last thing I paint is the eye. It can give a painting life.

Outdoor pronghorn painting by Siobhan Sullivan August 2020
The finished pronghorn painting

A dead juniper branch and igneous rock collected from my property helped the painting fit in with our High Desert setting.

Juniper branch, rabbitbrush, & rocks near Bend, Oregon August 2020

There will be more High Desert creatures added to this piece. I’ll start work on a badger, black-billed magpie, and golden-mantled ground squirrel.

I filled up some of my empty space (and empty time) creating this outdoor pronghorn painting. Hope you are finding time to be creative!

Where the pronghorn roam: Monochrome Monday

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Where the pronghorn roam 1November2017
A large herd of pronghorn near Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, Oregon

Monochrome Monday

Pronghorn herd in the High Desert

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Last fall, we saw a pronghorn herd on the drive to Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in southeast Oregon. This herd consisted of about 100 bucks and does.

You can see Hart Mountain peeking out in the distance. A storm was moving in. Here are pictures of the storm as it developed. Storm Clouds over Hart Mountain.

Pronghorn herd near Hart Mountain, Oregon 1November2017

Can you find a big buck watching over his harem in this picture? Both bucks and does can have horns, though the does’ are small or sometimes absent. Males have short black manes, a neck patch, and black markings across their forehead.

Weekly Photo Challenge – A Face in the Crowd

Pronghorn beneath a grassy rainbow

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Herd of pronghorn at Malheur NWR in Oregon 14Sept2017

Here’s a serene scene of a herd of pronghorn at Malheur NWR in Oregon. The grasses and shrubs behind them form a rainbow of varied color.

Weekly Photo Challenge – Serene

Dissipating clouds: Remembering the pronghorn

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Pronghorn near Antelope, OR 12-11-2015

Sometimes you can be trudging along with a little dark cloud hovering over your head and you almost walk by something intended for only you to see. I had one of those moments years ago at Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge. I had been doing research there and often saw pronghorn on sagebrush covered hills in the distance.

Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge

Hart Mountain National Antelope RefugeThe refuge was created in southern Oregon in 1936 to protect pronghorn, otherwise known as antelope. This icon of the Wild West is an interesting creature. More closely related to giraffes than deer, their uniquely shaped horns have a bony core that is covered with a sheath that they shed every year. They are capable of running at speeds as fast as 55 miles per hour for short distances.

On that long ago day, I took a hike by myself to sort out my thoughts. I walked on a trail that bordered a willow-lined creek. My head was down, focused on the gravelly trail ahead of me.

Pronghorn at Hart Mountain

A close encounter

I almost didn’t notice the pronghorn next to the trail. It was so close I could have stretched out my arm and touched it. I stopped and looked at it as it stared at me. Pronghorn have enormous eyes shaded by long lashes. The pronghorn looked at me curiously with those expressive eyes. The disc of white hair on its rump started to stand up as it does when they are alarmed. I stood stock still.

I’m not sure how long we both stood there regarding each other. The pronghorn eventually made a soft snorting noise and moved on its way. I stood there for a while and the thoughts of anger I previously had disappeared.

Pronghorn at Yellowstone

Steps in the right direction

Sometimes you just need to move on from things that make you angry or sad. I had a big loss this week but I decided to try to focus on some of the good things in my life. I also took steps towards more happiness.

Here are some of them:
• Rejoiced at having 150 followers on my blog as of this week (Thanks followers!)
• Joined a new children’s book writing group that meets locally
• Joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators group
• Signed up for eight springtime hikes
• Took pictures of wintery scenes
• Continued “research” on coffee shops in Bend
• Wrote, wrote, and wrote some more

I hope you find ways to dissipate the dark clouds in your lives!   sunclipart