Well, as a child I loved to read and I especially was fond
of looking at the illustrations. Being a very visual child I loved the magic
that the illustrator created with their drawings and paintings.
As a mother I loved to read to my children and watch them
light up as I read the stories and point to the illustrations and talk to me
about them. One of their greatest joys was to go to bookstores with me and
choose books that I could read to them and eventually they could read for
themselves.
As an artist I have been lucky to go to some wonderful places
to paint.
Such is the case of the beautiful Medano/Zapata Ranch in the
San Luis Valley of Colorado, where I have the privilege of being invited to
paint each year. It is home of a herd of over 2500 American bison. Most of the
time you can't get close to these magnificent American icons so when a little
bison was found alone out on the range and needed to be rescued everyone
on the ranch couldn't stay away and talked of nothing else. One of the ranch
hands gave him the name Gordon.
Pictures from Zapata Ranch
I was immediately intrigued. As I've said before,
I'm an artist and I suppose that is why the book started taking shape with
paintings of Gordon. Sometime later when I began thinking about a story for a
little bison it came to me that this little bison didn't know what he was
because he was not with a herd and there was no other bison around to teach
him. He couldn't go back into the herd, it would be impossible to get them to
accept him. So he had to go on a journey of self discovery and find a place
where he fit in and could be happy. This is how “Gordon”, my first attempt at a
children’s book, was born.
The Medano/Zapata Ranch is protected by the Nature
Conservancy and dedicated to preserving the animals and their habitat. So, in
developing the story it was great fun to discover animals that were indigenous
to the land and have them meet Gordon. Through them he would learn about the
ranch and find out eventually who he is.
I loved drawing and painting Gordon but I had to learn
something about baby bison first. I soon discovered that baby bison are born
sometime between April and June. A very young bison is reddish in color and is
called a calf. They are also known as “red dogs”. It is easy to pick them out
from the adult bison, who have dark brown coats. The baby bison stays close to
its mother for about one year and she protects and teaches it many things to
help it survive. Around September it’s coat begins to turn darker brown, it’s
shoulder hump begins to appear and it’s horns begin to grow. It begins to eat
grass and plants. The young bison continues to grow for three or four more
years, until it becomes an adult.
It’s scary to think how close we came to no longer having
this awesome animal around today. The herds that once numbered in the millions
were reduced to fewer than one thousand by the late 1800s. Due to many people
who worked hard the herds have grown back to where the bison are no longer in
danger of becoming extinct.
So if you do travel west during the summer months take the
time to look for the red colored babies in a bison herd. Have fun watching them
run, jump and play as all baby animals do and give thanks that this magnificent
animal is still here and once again roams parts of the west.
Also remember you can visit the real Gordon at the Zapata Ranch like I did this earlier this year.
PS: I’d like to thank Barbara for letting me share this
story on her blog. Hope you enjoyed it!
You can find out more about "Gordon" at: Gordon the bison
or buy the book at Gordonthebison.com
Thank you so much Martha your illustrations are beautiful. I would love to visit Gordon and the other
animals at the Zapata Ranch one day. Barbara