“Life can mean nothing worth meaning, unless its prime aim is the doing of duty, the achievement of results worth achieving.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
Teddy later said, “After all, the saddest thing that can happen to a man is to carry no burdens. To be bent under too great a load is bad; to be crushed by it is lamentable; but even in that, there are possibilities that are glorious. But to carry no load at all — there is nothing in that. No one seems to arrive at any goal really worth reaching in this world who does not come to it heavy laden.”
Royal Lineage Whitetail Deer is a fine art oil portrait of one of the most regal of all animals. Just their stature gives you a sense of their royalty.
Their ability to evade trouble in a split second going from standing still to full throttle away from harm is symbolic of a leader’s ability to avoid entangling circumstances. They can reach speeds of up to 36 miles per hour.
The buck is more of a social animal than the doe most of the year, forming a hierarchal dominance tier which changes often and disbands shortly before the rut begins. The beginning of rut is marked by bucks losing the velvet on their horns and increased sparring for dominance. During breeding season a buck tries to dominate other bucks.
A crown fit for a king they wear with great pride, holding it high and regally often with a gleaming stare at competitors. It also blends extremely well in the woods as a tree like structure. A buck’s antlers have the main beam jutting forward and several unbranched tines behind with a small brow tine. The antler spread can be as much as three feet giving the whitetail a crown indeed. They use their crown to make rubs, polished oblong scars left on sections of trees, bushes, and saplings low to the ground; made when a buck lowers his antlers to rub against a bush to mark territory. A buck leaves his scent on these rubs through glandular secretions. This buck was a seven pointer and had some big rubs (yes I added a few tines) that marked his domain well. Well-used trails are easy to spot as they are wore down considerably with tracks, broken twigs and bare spots. They are often spotted around my area out grazing with the animals on the farms of North Georgia.
The color of a whitetail varies in summer when their coat can be a tan or reddish brown and in winter a grayish brown. I photographed this buck in late October and it still had a lot of reddish brown which I emphasized in the painting to make him pop off the background as he is gradually revealed from his atmospheric surroundings.
Bucks as large as this one definitely protect their territory as any king would his realm challenging all comers.
In true chiaroscuro fashion this whitetail dramatically comes off the page revealing a regal carriage and demeanor. Even the background color was chosen to heighten the royal appearance of this grand animal having traces of Ultramarine Violet. I often get such great enjoyment from watching these gorgeous animals close to my home. My creative realism technique is well suited to paintings of this size. The drama just drips from the painting allowing the viewer to gain some new perspective each and every time they view it.
Royal Lineage Whitetail Deer was designed to hold a person’s attention riveted to the painting. Just as he rises up off the painting he sinks into it blending into his surroundings subtly and softly. The blended edges lead your eye around keeping you attracted to this grand portrait of royalty.
Some information used in this blog can be found in the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals by John O. Whitaker, Jr. (1998).
Thank you for stopping by Boyd Greene Fine Art for a browse.
Friday, January 28, 2011 at 4:33PM 
King George’s Quarter Horse 36” x 48”
