Nature is a funny character.   You never know what she will do.   Humans have evolved into an animal who likes to control.  We live walled off from the natural world in controlled climates, controlled air quality, controlled lighting, even controlled mental stimulation.   But in reality it is nature who is in control.  I quite like that about her.

We have not had a hard winter this year here in eastern Kansas.  In fact, it has been downright nice out.  The world around us had decided to come forth in vibrant color just as it does every year at about this time.   But nature had one last surprise for us.

Two days ago it started to rain.    Grasses can green up literally over night with early spring rains.   But a strange wind accompanied this rain, wind that was swirling in circles, and then the temperature began to drop dramatically.   The rain began to freeze on every  surface outside.   Although this is a nightmare if there is somewhere that you need to go, it is quite beautiful if you are able to stay cozy and warm in your home.  The ice came on a weekend.  That was fortunate.

The freezing rain eventually turned into sleet which turned into snow.   It was strange to see ice and snow covering tree blossoms and spring flowers.

By the next day the weather front had moved on and left only bright sunshine behind.  This is when the layers of ice are the most beautiful.   This photo below was taken at the base of our driveway.  The tree blossoms look HUGE as they are encased in a fat layer of ice and snow.

It is strange to see delicate blossoms encased in ice and snow.

The sun shining through the ice creates wonderful abstract shapes.

The red bud trees are just starting to emerge in color.  Hopefully the ice will not stunt their blossoms this year.

Below is a view of our deck that overlooks the icy woods.    Our home is surrounded by woods, so we have this crystal ice castle view on all sides.

The daffodil blooms likely will not survive this wintry assault.   This one below is encased in an icy coffin.

I recently enjoyed one of my favorite things about being a wildlife artist.   That is spending time with the animals that I portray in my paintings.   This past weekend I traveled to visit my wolf friends who live in a captive pack in Indiana.   Wolf Park was established in the early 1970’s by a research biologist.  The wolves are raised as pups by humans and thus are habituated to them.   They are not domestic.  They are “tame”.   But a tame wolf is still a WOLF, and it is important to know how to behave around them.   I have been most fortunate to join the pack inside of their enclosure.   There is nothing quite like actually putting your hands on the subjects that you paint.

The fellow in the photo below is Reudi.   He is a lower ranking male in a pack of six wolves.  He has atypical blue eyes.   He has the cutest face!  I’ve always adored him…

Actually going inside of different wolf enclosures gives an artist the unusual and magical experience of not only photographing and observing an apex predator up close, but also the chance to feel the “energy and spirit” of such an amazing animal.  I have had a life long passion for wolves.  I remember as a very young child searching the local library for a single book that might have just one photograph of  a wolf in it.   Even with the help of the library staff, I was not ever successful.   I couldn’t possibly have imagined as that wolf crazy youngster, that I would one day have a real wolf licking me in the face and asking for a scratch behind the ears.   Life is wonderful, isn’t it?

(Photos by Monte Sloan)

Hey Joni…He’s right behind you…

Below, Ayla asks for a tummy rub.  It is important to remember that although wolves have so many dog like characteristics, they are indeed NOT dogs.   Correct protocol is important when sharing time and space with wolves.   Ayla did get a tummy rub…all of the wolves at Wolf Park are spoiled rotten (in a GOOD way).   Look at that CUTE Ayla face!

Wolves are no match for healthy bison.   Below,  Renki strolls past a group of bison that are ready for him.   Nothing more than “testing” ever results from the wolf-bison demonstrations at Wolf Park.  It is a rare, up close look at the relationship between  an apex predator and a prey animal that has evolved with unusual toughness…

My painting “Wolf Portrait” is one of my earliest wolf paintings.   The inspiration came from an experience at this wolf facility.    The point of this painting was simply to showcase the beauty of Canis Lupus.

Wolves are individuals and their physical features can vary tremendously.   In my painting entitled “The Eyes of a Hunter” I wanted to capture the intensity of that amazing wolfy stare.

Every king looses his crown…eventually.   The neat thing about the whitetail king of our woods “Broad Beams” is that he just grows back a new crown on the top of his head each spring.    He is old now, very old.  He has haunted our woods for the duration of our time in this home.  My husband and I have grown more attached to him than any of our other deer, perhaps because of his enormous size and charisma or perhaps because we simply know him the best.    Each and every time I see him, my heart beats just a little bit faster.

Broad Beams comes by every day.    He is shy around “strangers” and will lay low if he hears voices other than ours inside our home.  But he knows Alan and I, and if we are here alone, he just strides right up to the house.   Below is one of my favorite scenes through our hearth room window…Broad Beams approaching on the deer trail.  When he sees me standing in the window taking his picture,  he will often stop and pose for me before proceeding.  Then he emerges onto the scene like the great titan that he is.

Each year the antlers  on Broad Beams have grown back a bit differently which is typical for whitetail deer.   The  size of his antlers is on the decline now because of his advancing age.   He is a magnificent, battle torn warrior, wearing the scars from many, many years of maintaining his reign as King.     These post-rut pictures (above and below) were taken this January at age 8 1/2.  Indeed he is quite old for a wild whitetail deer.

Alan and I  hike in our woods each March, looking for antlers that have recently been shed by our deer friends.  It is like a treasure hunt.  We find something every year, but usually don’t find the antlers from our big guys.  Last year my husband found one of Broad Beam’s antlers.  After much searching, we were never able to find the other one.  Antlers usually don’t drop off at the same time.  So if a buck is on the move while they are loosing them, the antlers can be miles apart.

This year I noticed exactly when Broad Beams lost his antlers.  I saw him in the morning with them, and then saw him in the early evening that same day without them.  So we surmised that they must be nearby.  My husband and I set out on our late winter treasure hunt.   It didn’t take long to find both antlers.   They were only about 100 yards apart which means that he lost both of them at close to the same time and he had not covered much ground in between.   What a wonderful gift our boy has left for us this year!

Wildlife artists often try their best to balance what is in their hearts with that which will sell.  We all love the idea of painting whatever it is that moves us but let’s face it, we are also trying to make a living.   Each artist paints certain animals that are sought after by collectors.    Paintings of these animals sell quickly.   So it is easy to see how there could be temptation to paint those animals over and over again.   I try my best not to fall into that trap.   A recent event proved to me that in the end, you can not ever really predict what images will be the most popular with buyers.

A couple of years ago some friends invited my husband and I to join them out on the Kansas prairie to watch the mating rituals of the Greater Prairie Chicken.   I didn’t know much about these birds at the time and it sounded like a fun and interesting time.   Long before the sun pushed upward on the eastern horizon, we went out and sat in a wooden box in the middle of the prairie.  It was early spring.  It was cold and dark in that box.  We nearly froze our fannies off!

The sun finally rose and illuminated the Flint Hills of Kansas in a brilliant pink glow.  We could hear strange thumping on the top of the box that we were huddled inside of.  These were male Prairie Chickens arriving to defend a little patch of grass that they each had decided was theirs.  They flew onto the ground one by one.  All was calm on the prairie.  That is until the females began to arrive!

Watching male Prairie Chickens take part in their “booming” dance is quite a spectacle.  When they  fiercely begin competing for females, things really liven up on the prairie.  I knew at that moment that I just had to paint this spectacular event.  And I really wanted to capture the magical light of the Flint Hills at dawn.

Sure enough I did start a painting of this most unusual scene.   I wanted to portray a male booming to impress a female.  I wanted the viewer to decide on their own whether or not this particular male was able to woo her enough to “get lucky”.    I got about three-quarters of my way through the painting.  Then it found itself in the bottom of  a drawer.  Who in the world is going to want a painting like this?

Many months passed.  I stumbled onto that painting again and decided that I did indeed like the start that I had gotten on it.  I told my husband that I would finish it “just to get it out of my system.”… So I did…  End of story, right?

Wrong…

I am most fortunate to have been included as an exhibiting artist in the NatureWorks Wildlife Art Show for the past five years.  This show takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is currently one of the premier wildlife art shows in the country.    And it is a WHOLE LOT of FUN!  I take a collection of new paintings there each year.  Somehow the Prairie Chicken painting was thrown in as a last minute decision.    I decided to entitle it “Prairie Passion.”

“Prairie Passion” attracted a surprising amount of attention at the show.  The painting sold on opening night and there were several collectors who wanted to purchase it.   The person who ended up buying it decided to pick it up at the end of the show on Sunday.   It remained in my booth and attracted attention throughout the entire weekend.

Greater Prairie Chickens are a member of the grouse family.  The North American species was once abundant, but has become extremely rare or extinct over much of its range due  largely to habitat loss.  We were most fortunate to see these birds on that beautiful morning.

Prairie Chickens prefer undisturbed prairie and were originally found in tall grass prairies.  They can tolerate agricultural land mixed with prairie, but the more agricultural the land the lower the Prairie Chicken population.  The Greater Prairie Chicken was almost extinct in the 1930’s due to hunting pressure and habitat loss.  They now only live on small parcels of managed prairie land.  It is thought that their current population is about 500,000 individuals.

Currently, human interactions are by far the greatest threat to Prairie Chickens.  The conversion of native prairie to cropland is very detrimental to these birds.  It was found in a radio telemetry study conducted by Kansas State University that “most prairie chicken hens avoided nesting or rearing their broods within a quarter-mile of power lines and within a third-mile of improved roads.”   They also found that the chickens avoided communication towers and rural farms.

Prairie chickens are most famous for their bizarre mating rituals, called “booming”.   It is said that native Americans found inspiration for many of their dances from the dances of the prairie chicken.  I could definitely see a parallel here.

Two males face off (below).  They boom and then leap into the air at each other.  This bizarre dance lasts for several hours until the females leave.  Then the prairie falls silent again.