Artwork--"Aces and Eights"

With a show at an expo called "Outdoorrama" coming up at the end of the month, I decided I should have at least one game animal. This show covers everything from guided hunting trips, outdoor gear, fishing and hunting supplies etc, to boats and things for your cottage. I've done the show the past couple of years and I can't tell you how many times I've been asked if I have a buck.

Well, folks, here ya go:



I usually try to come up with some clever name for my pieces, although I don't always succeed. This one I was struggling with. I wanted something to do with eight, since he's an eight point buck. We tossed some ideas around, then I mentioned one that had come to mind a few days ago--"aces and eights". Lori liked it right away, and while I knew it had to do with poker I didn't know why I was familiar with it, so I looked it up on Wikipedia. Turns out it is the "dead man's hand", the cards Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot by Jack McCall in Deadwood. I was delighted! What better title for an eight-point buck, who carries his dead man's hand on his head in the form of those gorgeous antlers.

I haven't done a mammal in quite a while so this was a lot of fun. The main pose came--ironically--from a taxidermy at a nature center, but most of the detail is from some photos of a doe I took several years ago at another nature center. She, I am happy to say, was alive and well.