Buffalo Moon

Animals, Arizona, Artwork, Beauchamp, Birds, Drawing, Extremes, Illustration, Prints Available, Professional Artist, Trees, Weather

BuffaloMoon

lunarI’d been looking through a bunch of historic photos and I decided to see what Winchester and Remington Arms Companies had for Advertising those bygone days of big game buffalo hunting. Nothing that I saw concentrated on the Buffalo. Looking at more photos showed enormous piles of buffalo skulls and deep piles of hides ready for market. There was a lot of waste for sure. These were amazing times with conflicting events. First airplane flights were being made while buffalo were still being indiscriminately harvested. America was surging forward and we all thought we’d never run out of Rubber Trees or Beaver skins or Buffalo? We’d seen photos of Buffalo herds so large that they eluded description. Run out of these things? Sure… Just like we’ll run out of clouds in the sky. It didn’t seem very likely. Ladies hats and Herons or Egrets… Surely we’d never run out of these vast natural resources. Redwood forests. moonbuffCarving homes out of the wood of a single giant. Keep the coal coming too. We’ll need to make more rails and power those trains that will bring our bounties home. Take it all and don’t put any back. Living off the land. The dust bowl. Take. Take. Take. 

There was and is a romance to hunting and fishing. The guy against the elements. Doing battle with the beast and bringing it home for dinner. Squirrels and Rabbits in West Virginia or Whitetail Deer or Black Bear. Opossum and Raccoon. We could never run out of all this stuff. Could we? Greasy luck to Whalers!

mug

Salmon in the Northwest and Alaska. Vast stores. Canneries. Thank goodness we learned how to grow Corn and really grow it well.  Oil bubbles right up out of the ground. How could you ever run out of that? Tuna Salad Sandwiches… Don’t have to worry about them right. All kinds of different brands right there in the grocery store. Even comes in seasoned pouches now.

I guess my bubble popped when I heard that there wasn’t a square inch on the surface of our earth that hasn’t been mapped and photographed now. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. There goes the romance of getting “off the grid.” Nothing is off the grid anymore. Every trail seemingly has an end. Things are not forever. Whether we fantasize that or not.

beachtowelJPG

This is also available as a Beach Towel… How ’bout that?

I will continue to dream of the good old days when Mother Earth was a Supermarket.
She still is – but the shelves need stocking again. Innocence lost…

I’d like to recommend another significant Digital Resource.

 

BellyUp for Blues

Awesome Blues of the Ass Kicking Variety…
I listen to it while I draw and write. I’ve discovered songs by Joe Bonamassa there, Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB Chung King, Thunderhawks, old time Blues by Robert Johnson, etc. It covers the entire Blues spectrum. Absolutely the best.

It is a station worth your time and worth your donation dollars too.

A bit warmish in Tucson, AZ… yes indeed

Arizona, Beauchamp, Extremes, Weather

fried

Monsoon Season will be starting very soon. The heat energy is amazing here. Have seen buildups a couple of afternoons now. Tomorrow we have a Fire Weather warning as we’ll have high winds to accompany the heat and lack of humidity. Tinder is everywhere. You know how it is when you blow into the fire to get it going…? Blowtorch.

All the little reptiles are running around and when I was walking to C3 Communications yesterday morning – the Geico Gecko was sighted running around. Honestly a nice sized Gecko took off into the garden in front of the Mall parking lot.

Not too comforting when you look at the 10 day temperatures shown above.

Memorial Day was toasty in Tucson… I went out and drew myself a tree. A Mesquite Tree. Just drew for about an hour or so.

Arizona, Artwork, Beauchamp, Drawing, Illustration, Trees

Mesquite Tree

I brought out my Fountain Pen and started to draw. It is an interesting, gnarled, old texture that these trees take on with age. Bark strips peel off and follow the cross contour shape of the old tree. Back in the Eastern United States, Mesquite was always observed on Memorial Day. Back there it was wood chips that I’d soaked and then tossed on the fire before closing the lid of my Weber Charcoal Grill. Cooking a nice steak on a real hot fire with mesquite or hickory chips made for an awesome meal. Baked potatoes that were nicely browned would also pick up that great flavor.

While I was drawing, I saw something bounding down the road and then stopping. I swear this thing sure looked like a Grey Squirrel from the East? I had no idea what it really was. It sure looked like a Grey Squirrel with a less than optimal tail. Even up close it still looked like the squirrels from back East. Maybe one got hijacked here? It probably thinks pretty much the same as I do of the heat. 

So, I suppose in memory of those previously grilled holiday meals, I drew a mesquite that was still supporting itself. Somewhere, way off in the distance, mesquite smoke drifted into me that afternoon and it sure smelled real good. 

Today – Looking off toward the horizon this afternoon in every direction are my favorite clouds, the Cumulus. Will it storm? Who knows? Not me… Just the potential puts me in a good mood. Bring in on.

rumble

With Memorial Day passed us… just a part of Summertime.

Go draw a tree.

The Ground Trembled… but it wasn’t an Earthquake… a moving sea of dark creatures headed in your direction from the horizon

Animals, Artwork, Beauchamp, Drawing, Illustration, Prints Available, Professional Artist

©2017 William C Beauchamp

The American Buffalo. A primary food source for indigenous peoples and source of hides utilized in manufacture of clothing and construction of the Tipi as well. Imagine if you will a herd when migrating that so affected the earth that clouds would rise to darken the sun as a Dust storm in the making. Such a monumental presence… As part of the Scorched Earth Policy… they were hunted to a point so close to extinction – it still is amazing that men with guns were so very effective in wiping them out. Without the Buffalo, there would be very little reason for the Native Americans to remain in the area. The hunting grounds were forever ruined.©2017 William C Beauchamp

It is this incredible loss that I wanted to commemorate by drawing the Buffalo Run image. It predated environmental impact studies. The prairie grasses that were their fodder are likely gone now. The fertilizer that fed the plants, buffalo dung, was also gone. It was the noticeable tip of the iceberg. ©2017 William C Beauchamp

 

North American Crow
Artwork, Beauchamp, Birds, Drawing, Illustration, Professional Artist, Uncategorized

I have always loved Crows. Everything about them. The chattering talk between a couple Crows sitting in the same tree but a distance apart. Just staying in touch. Andrew Wyeth’s image of a couple of Crows nailed to a woodshed… Both the pencil drawings and the paintings. Stuffed crows in a nature museum on display […]

via Very smart, mischievous, tool using creatures… that fly. — DRAWING Board

Very smart, mischievous, tool using creatures… that fly.

Arizona, Artwork, Beauchamp, Birds, Drawing, Illustration, Professional Artist

crow

I have always loved Crows. Everything about them. The chattering talk between a couple Crows sitting in the same tree but a distance apart. Just staying in touch. Andrew Wyeth’s image of a couple of Crows nailed to a woodshed… Both the pencil drawings and the paintings. Stuffed crows in a nature museum on display so that you can see them up close. The Crow that Trailside Nature Museum in Watchung NJ had in a pen near the Otter and the Fox that used to say “So What?” Crows are just very cool. Something quite mystical about the stark Black Birds. They are wonderful. 

 ©2017 William C Beauchamp