Here is the third and final piece for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center 2004 Art Auction. This is a "pencil" of William F. Cody in his later years. This piece was drawn using a very obscure photograph for reference. I located the photo that was obtained from a source in Washington, D.C. It was probably taken around 1915.

George Mongon of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center was floored with the reference photograph. Of all the hundreds of photos he said he has seen of Cody, this is one that he said that he had never seen. He sent the photo down to the museum's people in the their library and they said they haven't ever seen this photograph either. Their library of photos contains over a quarter of a million photos!

A national organization which had the photograph in their library asked to remain anonymous. They graciously supplied me with a hi-res photo that was so clean and clear. Right down to his stubble. It had all the looks of camera shots of the day. The camera had a very shallow depth of field. The very short depth of field only takes in the plane that includes Cody's eyes, mustache, lower part of his vest and lapel. Everything else has a slight blur to a total blur like his hat brim on the right side and his left shoulder.

This piece is 18" x 12" in size. It was drawn mainly with a #8 Faber-Castell drawing pencil. There is "compressed charcoal" in many of the darker areas. This is what is hand-rubbed to make the background. Messy but a nice effect. The total time to complete was 26 hours.

I am honored to have had the privilege to immortalize the memory of such an "American Legend." I sincerely hope that someone at the auction likes it enough to make it a nice donation to support the "Smithsonian of the West."