Even prior to finishing Dream Bucks II – The Missing Trophy, I was already searching for a subject for its sequel, Dream Bucks III. Living in Iowa and knowing many serious deer hunters, coming up with a list of potential candidates was not difficult. However, with the multitude of great bucks this state produces, deciding which particular trophy to paint can be a challenge.

Things got a little easier by late October 2008. Photos of a tremendous buck started appearing on the internet. At least a dozen friends forwarded the photos to me to ensure I knew about the buck taken by a bowhunter in eastern Iowa.

After a couple phone calls, I found myself talking to Kyle Simmons, a pleasant young man from Jackson County, Iowa. You can read the story of Kyle’s hunt in an article from North American Whitetail here.

After discussing the concept for the Dream Bucks series, Kyle was interested in the possibility of having his buck featured in the upcoming painting. We agreed on a time and place where I could see the buck in person and take photographs.

Once I arrived and Kyle pulled out the rack, it didn’t take long to realize I was looking at a remarkable set of antlers. The rack was not only going to score well, but more importantly, it was very impressive visually. It was everything an artist wanted!

Unfortunately, it had taken me longer than I anticipated to get to Kyle’s place, so I had to work fast to get photos before the sun hid behind a cloud bank moving in from the west.

The initial visit and photo-shoot was followed by numerous phone conversations, but it was challenging to arrange for a follow-up photo session while the rack was being cast for reproductions and being mounted by Joe Meder of Solon.

During this period, I considered, literally, dozens of compositions. I found a number of combinations I liked initially, but that would not work for this painting. I needed a strong composition, but the background had certain requirements beyond those of an artistic nature.

Over the years, I’ve partnered with many conservation groups. Since I now do my own color work and printing in-house, we’ve developed some creative ways to help conservation groups maximize their fundraising efforts.

Starting with Dream Bucks II, I have been customizing the painting and creating a unique image and edition for each of several conservation groups. For example, the prints in the Iowa Pheasants Forever edition have several added rooster pheasants, unique to this edition. The Iowa Ducks Unlimited edition has a number of wood ducks included, inconspicuously. Some editions include wild turkey. By offering a unique design, conservation group chapters have been able to raise increased funds for great causes.

That brings me to the complications introduced for me, as the artist designing each painting. It needs to be a composition that not only works well for the main focal point, the buck, but also one that provides a natural setting for turkey, pheasants, and waterfowl to share the scene, as well.

After many trials and much evaluation, I finally settled on one painting design. Also, I was able to see both Kyle and the trophy again at the Iowa Deer Classic recently, and I used this opportunity to take more photos of the rack in better lighting conditions.

[I will add some photos here as soon as they’re copied off my camera.]

I am currently in the process of painting the original, and I hope to have it done soon. After all, spring is coming soon, which means habitat management and prepping for this year’s food plots!

In my next post, I’ll show you the design for Dream Bucks III and explain how the particular composition was developed.

Good news! The third and final painting in the Dream Bucks series is on the easel and in progress.

I am hearing from many of you how excited you are to see this latest deer painting, so I will be working to post regular updates on the progress of the piece as it evolves. I will also share “behind the scenes” details on the inspiration for the painting and on the famous buck that is now the subject of aspiring hunters’ dreams.

The Kyle Simmons Buck

The featured buck for Dream Bucks III is a deer taken with a bow by Kyle Simmons in Jackson County, Iowa on Oct. 16, 2008.

This world-class buck is truly special and, I believe, a perfect subject for my Dream Bucks painting series.

Kyle Simmons’s hunting season was certainly a dream come true, as this was his first buck taken with a bow!

Dream Bucks II – The Missing Trophy featured the monster buck taken by Brian Andrews in 2003. At 253 1/8 inches, that deer was the state record non-typical archery buck for five years – until Kyle Simmons’s buck , scoring 270 6/8 (green), entered the scene and knocked the previous title winner off the podium.

You may have already read the story published in North American Whitetail magazine about Kyle Simmons’s trophy and the hunt that lead to success. If you haven’t, don’t worry, because I’ve embedded the story below for your reading pleasure!

I recommend reading the article in full-screen mode. Just click “Fullscreen” above the top of the article.

Bluebirds and Purple Coneflower by Larry Zach (c) 2008

I’ve been wanting to do a bluebird piece for a long time, but I was only recently able to finally gather all the reference material I needed to create a strong painting design.I was raised on a farm in eastern Iowa between the town of Swisher and the eastern-most colony of the Amana Colonies appropriately called, East Amana. The farm included some rich Iowa River bottom ground and nearby hills and valleys with a mosaic of timber and pasture. The timber included a number of ancient trees including old white oaks dating back to pre-settlement days. A creek ran through the farm. There were lots of places to explorer and learn about mother nature and I took full advantage of it. I’ve never out grown that passion, the excitement of exploring new country and learning about the natural world.

Though I was raised on a farm I never really wanted to be a farmer. It always seemed more interesting to me to study the natural world. At a young age I realized I wanted to live and work on a farm, not to make a living but to work with the habitat and wildlife. Of course that usually doesn’t pay very well so the dream stayed a dream for many years.

So owning a piece of land in Iowa and managing it for habitat and wildlife has been a dream of mine for most of my life. While teaching and raising a family funds accumulated slowly so I was almost 50 by the time I joined friends to purchase some ground in northern Missouri. I bought my current farm, a rather run down piece of ground in 1997. It showed a lot of use. The  CRP was all brome and the timber long neglected and choked with multiflora rose. But it was what I was looking for. Not much of a farm for traditional farming, but it was a great candidate for a wildlife farm.

The following 11 years have been a labor of love. Lots of tree planting, timber stand improvement, putting in food plots, ponds and a wetland, re-establishing native grass and prairie. The property is managed for a lot of diversity of habitat with the goal of appealing to a wide range of wildlife. Along with nest boxes for Canada geese, kestrels, wood ducks, wrens, and tree swallows, we have number of bluebird houses and the bluebirds take full advantage of them.

I was sitting in a blind near one of these bluebird houses one morning as the rising sun cut through the morning fog. I’d carefully placed the blind to get the angle of light I wanted and for once everything went right. A pair of bluebirds came by house hunting. The male looked it over from a number of different angles. Then the female did her inspection. Meanwhile, a very excited wildlife artist (that’s me) was enjoying the whole show and capturing it through a 200 mm lens for up-close results. That is how I captured the bluebird reference I subsequently used to paint Bluebirds and Purple Coneflower.

Along with building bird habitats, we’ve been working on re-establishing several prairie plots on the farm by seeding dozens of species of native grasses,  forbs, and sedges. Much of the seed used I had collected myself during my wanderings. I also included a bag of seed I bought from Carl Kurtz, who is an exceptional photographer and sells native seed raised on his farm. (We first met in the 1960s while studying Fish and Wildlife Biology at Iowa State University.) The seed bag was composed of up to 80 different plants, so each year I walk the prairies and see if I can spot any new members of the community emerging.

There are the plants that show up only after a number of years. Then there are the old reliables that show up every year. One that is very showy in the summer is  purple coneflower. I like to head out at dawn each morning with my camera and take photos while the light is prime. It was on several of these forays that I collected the purple coneflower reference.

Though I’ve taken out many of the interior fences on the property, I often leave old fence posts in place when they are not in the way. In southeastern Iowa, most of these were cut from hedge apple ( Osage-orange) decades ago. Hedge posts are extremely rot resistant and therefore last a very long time. The older they get, the more character they develop. This particular post sits along a lane which cuts through a little patch of prairie. Though I didn’t see the pair of bluebirds in that particular spot, it seems like a natural setting for them. It also provided the reference post for this painting.

Once I had the components I needed, I created the conceptual design, and then finally the original painting. I had plenty of reference material, so I experimented with various elements and compositions until I found the arrangement I liked best. It was fun to work the various colors up and down to find the right balance. Developing the atmosphere of the scene enhanced the sense of depth. These paintings, even though they may seem simple in composition at first glance, seem to always take longer than I anticipate to finish. It’s worth the work, though, because it’s final result that counts. I hope you like the result of my work this time: Bluebirds and Purple Coneflower.

Information on the Eastern purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ECPU

Information on the Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis)
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Eastern_Bluebird.html

Photos of the Eastern bluebird brooding process, from egg-laying to fledging (leaving the nest), from a NestCam
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/nestinginfo/nestboxcam/2007_cams/e_bluebird_heath2/index1_html