Pastel and Colored Pencil on paper

16 x 20

 

The Bighorn Sheep that live in Yellowstone National Park are not to be confused with the domesticated sheep that you see living on farms out in the country.  These animals are tough, wirey creatures that can manage to survive even under the harshest conditions.  This is a female of the species; she does not have the long curling horns that you see on the rams and neither do the juveniles.

 

You can never be unaware of where the animals are in Yellowstone Park because any sight of them along the road is bound to be accompanied by a long line of cars and people with cameras. On one particular instance, I stopped to join in with others and saw three of these sheep walking in the middle of the road.  Everyone stood very quietly while the animals walked very close to us and then up a slight embankment towards the woods.  The group was composed of a Ram, a female and her baby and just before they disappeared from sight, back into the wild places of the Park they all three turned back to the group of silent human admirers as if to say farewell.  It was a memorable experience to encounter these self-reliant animals and share in a moment of their wild existence.