Albino Mist

The inspiration for this painting came from a photograph taken in 1996 by Diana Irish, a friend of mine. While riding her horse in the woods behind her home in southwest Michigan, she was confronted by a sight that took her breath away.

Near the edge of a foggy swamp, she heard something crashing through the undergrowth. Four white tail bucks came up the hill in front of her. This was followed by even greater crashing as, out of the mist, came the biggest deer she had ever seen. It was pure white with an enormous rack and dwarfed the other four bucks, all of which were average-or-better in size.

The bucks continued up the hill—three of them had already passed her—when Diana remembered that she had her camera. Shaking with awe at what she was seeing, she snapped a picture of the big white buck standing beside one of the others. For a moment they stared back at her in curiosity. Then they went up the hill, vanishing into the forest.

Diana said that the albino with its massive body proportions and huge rack, looked like a cross between a white tail deer and an elk. Albino white tails, as a rule, tend to be smaller than average with racks that are stunted. Also, albino does are much more common than albino bucks.

After seeing the photo and hearing the story of how she saw the big white deer, I was fascinated and felt compelled to make a painting of what Diana had seen. Using the photograph she took as a reference, to get the proportions of the white buck standing with the other buck, and adding the other three bucks to the scene, I modified the landscape for a more atmospheric setting. 

Making the painting was a labor of love for me. I am still filled with wonder at the idea that such a noble and magical creature could truly exist.

David Carrigan