The idea for this piece stemmed from a collection I’ve been working on exploring the grief process through metaphors of water and wilderness.

My sister Alexa once described to me a dream she had in which she was riding a white buffalo through the universe.

It’s part of the reason I’ve used the buffalo as a symbol in my work a lot as of late; as Alexa is no longer with us on this side of the earth, I consistently imagine her galloping around the skies with her white buffalo spirit guide - a luck dragon type creature like Falkor from the Never Ending Story!

This painting also feels like a self portrait of sorts…the swirl of complicated emotions just under the surface that somehow must be allowed to flow through or else come out crashing.

‘For scale’ I took pics of the painting next to a mini buffalo statue Alexa gave me, then realized how ridiculous and unscientific that was 😂.

Watch the process reel