When I saw a National Geographic article on island wolves of the far Northwest, I was captivated to see wolves on the beach. Then Cheryl Alexander’s extraordinary photos of the lone wolf, Takaya, completely inspired me; she gave us a sense of him, and my heart broke when he died. One image of Cheryl’s with Takaya looking over the Salish Sea towards city lights caught everything I’m trying to say in my paintings. My version changes it to our local landscape, but keeps the heart of it, the view from his perspective, nature looking back at us.