In August a massive black male began sleeping during the day in the century old spruce tree ten feet above the children’s bedroom window. The spruce was a stout old conifer with five-inch diameter branches fanning out from its massive trunk. It was ideal for supporting a 350 pound slumbering bear. By his size, it was clear he was a very successful forager and seemed to care little if the kids played nearby in the back yar. His demeanor was always calm. He would pry an eye open for a relaxed survey of the humans below. Perhaps he knew it would be a waste of precious winter resources to tangle with us when he could easily forage all night in town with little interference. For the most part people and the bears coexisted peacefully that summer and our backyard bears seemed surprisingly uninterested in entering the house or pursuing the kids playing in the backyard. But, in my mind, if this large older bear became desperate for food he might, in an opportunistic moment of starvation, snatch one of the kids playing in the yard. That would be rare, but it happens sometimes in Colorado. And if he did snatch one of the kids he would be gone in fifteen seconds, moving quickly into the woods faster than I could possibly pursue him. That horrible thought made me wary.
I have illustrated this image of a bear using cool blue colors in contrast to the intensely focused eyes of the bear. It communicates the proximity of an intense five minute interaction I had with a large bear in the house later that summer.
“There is one thing a painting or photo must contain – the humanity of the moment.”– Robert Frank
- Framed: 12 x 12 x 1 in
- Subject Matter: portrait