Tag Archives: South Dakota

Commissioned paintings, Murals, National Park Service, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Wind Cave National Park

I submitted this painting a few days ago – I think it’s close to finished and thought I’d show it off here. Wind Cave National Park is in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a fantastic place with patches of prairie, rolling tree-covered hills and an amazing cave network. Somehow it all had to be jammed into one painting, along with the bison, prairie dogs and all the rest of the amazing wildlife most see there when they visit. This bit of art is going on the back of the new park map, meaning an Eifert painting gets to go home with most of the 650,000 people who come each year.

This is the map publication with art in place. I like the way the critters overflow the black NPS band on the left. And below is the original first draft concept sketch I did on location, one of seven. Quite a difference from the final art.

So, how does this all happen? While there on the site visit, I tend to take photos while drawing, LOTS of photos. I don’t really know how the painting is going to evolve, so I take ground shots, close-up details like the two below. That little dung beetle was working hard and eventually made it into the final art. These little guys roll up the bison poo and then just continue on to who-knows-where, rolling their little ball along. The ponderosa was the one I used for the main feature on the entire right side of the painting, as well as the foreground reference to the forest duff.

There may be more small changes as the park takes a look, but I think I’m about there on this effort. I have art is many nearby parks near here, Badlands and Devils Tower, but this one beautiful place has eluded me until now. Yahhh.

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Thanks for reading this week.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

And Instagram is here.

Click here to go to our main website – with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Commissioned paintings, Murals, National Park Service, Wildlife

Wind Cave NP Site Visit

What’s this big guy doing on our hood? Attacking a brand new rental car – starting with licking the bumper and then advancing to the really fun stuff. Damage! See that foot-long horn (one of a pair) on top of a 2,000lb creature with the manners of a child? I loved every minute of it.

Here we were at Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We’ve been on a site visit, researching, photographing and sketching for a new and really interesting project. Wind Cave has one of the most amazing caves we’ve ever been in, 150-some miles of it, and also super high-quality mixed grass prairie up top with hundreds of bison, elk, pronghorn, deer and prairie dogs. A feast for our eyes.

This is pre-sketch drawing number 8, placed in the design grid on the back of their new map guide. 750,000 people come here each year and this will be the handout they all take home.
And this is drawing number 1, beginning with some vague notion of underground vs. above ground prairie and Black Hills. Compare this to the top one and it shows how things progress and evolve in my head as I do these things on location – no studio time, no time to think, just draw – and then I have to present this as a program to park staff at the end.
Nervous? I used to be but it’s just life on some higher level now.
National Park Service staff and me, left, at the highest point in the park. We were discussing how often this location gets struck by lightning, which was happening. Photo by Nancy, who took hundreds of others. Melinda, next to me, came from the East Coast to help on this.

Stay tuned as this painting develops. It will be about 5′ x 4′ and be filled with many more critters, flowers and details – especially in the cave where some of the most interesting hang from the ceiling (no, not bats). If you follow me, you’ll see the entire progression from this messy beginning to a finished ‘thing’. 

Thanks for reading this week.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

Click here to go to our main website – with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Stay tuned as this painting develops. It will be about 5′ x 4′ and be filled with many more critters, flowers and details – especially in the cave where some of the most interesting hang from the ceiling (no, not bats). If you follow me, you’ll see the entire progression from this messy beginning to a finished ‘thing’. 

Thanks for reading this week.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

Click here to go to our main website – with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.