In Your Face- Cape Buffalo

In Your Face- Cape Buffalo is a painting by wildlife artist Daniel Smith from Bozeman, MT.  My friend Crystal shared a link to this picture with me a while back. I really liked the depth that the artist achieved in the painting.  I  wondered if I could get the same depth in a leather carving. I saved the link and kept going back and looking at it, not being able to get the picture out of my mind. Finally I decided to sent the artist an email asking for permission to try carving this picture into leather. I was happy to get a response from him saying it was okay and that he'd like a photo of it when I was finished.

This picture was challenging because  of all the different layers of depth and the different textures. The shape of the horns and the depth in the eyes are what intrigued me the most. You  have to wonder how the ear got mangled. The bird sitting on the nose was a fun addition and the shaggy hair was a neat texture to replicate. Finally, the little piece of grass hanging out of his mouth added the final bit of "attitude" to the finished picture. It was a lot of fun to do something different and use all of the techniques I've learned from Jan in the last couple years create this piece.