Bear Studies

I've been interested in bears for several years and have painted many black bears, but this fall we took 2 trips to observe and photograph grizzlies in their natural habitat. The first was to Silver Salmon Creek Lodge on Cook Inlet, Alaska, where the grizzlies fish for salmon on the beach at low tide and then dig for huge razor clams as the tide comes in.

Then we revisited the Great Bear Rainforest  ..  such a magical place. We stayed in Klemtu at the Spirit Bear Lodge, and with the help of a wonderful guide  we saw a dozen grizzlies in Mussel Inlet.  One confident mom and 3 cubs came quite close to us but our guide assured us that if we stayed crouched on the ground she would ignore us. He had been watching her all summer and admired the way her 3 cubs were thriving. He had even witnessed her playing with her cubs! Her photo is below, along with my large portrait of her.

A special visit with Gordon Smith

I met the brilliant and energetic Gordon Smith recently .. at the Equinox Gallery unveiling of his large reflection painting for the entrance of the newly renovated Canada House on Trafalgar Square.  He invited me for a visit in his studio.  I took along some work as requested, and he was tremendously encouraging. What an inspiration he is, painting for many hours every day in his mid nineties. May we all be that excited to get out of bed and get to work at that age!

Bear Drawing .. from adults in Whistler to 4 year olds in NYC!

Everyone likes to draw bears, including our grandson's class in Manhattan. They were such fun to teach, and added lots of great details such as cubs, long necks for reaching high fruit, grasses and ponds. Hope they invite me back!

Some of my paintings at the Mountain Galleries reception in March

 This was a few weeks ago but I just got some nice new photos to post.  Good thing too as a couple of paintings were immediately bought and taken away! Below is Jurgen who took Bear back to Germany where they have no bears left.
I had a week of inspired production painting in the hotel lobby.. who would have guessed?!

Teaching 'How to Draw a Bear'

I taught a lovely group of seniors 'How to Draw a Bear' at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler last week. They were part of a tour group that returns annually for a few days of pre-Easter fun. It was the first time I've tried to articulate how to draw a bear, and I think it went quite well as the results were good and everyone seemed to have fun! 

We started with a square paper, either black, gray or white, and I had gridded where to place the eyes, muzzle, ears etc. Drawing materials ranged from charcoal sticks or pencils, conte, pencil crayons, Graphite crayons (excellent on newsprint for my demo), soft pastels, and even finger paints although no one chose that option. I had a few square mats to show how, as Bob Genn says, you can turn a 7 into a 9 with good framing. Looking forward to having another opportunity to hone my art teaching skills!

                    Artist in Residence at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler    March 24-31

Just finished Day 3 of seven straight days of painting  in the lobby of the hotel on behalf of Mountain Galleries. The Fairmont Hotels and Mountain Galleries are reviving a tradition from the last century, when Canadian artists (including the Group of Seven)  would spend a few days painting at the CP hotels in the Rockies to show the surrounding beauty and encourage visitors to come. The Fairmonts in Banff and Jasper started this again last year, and Whistler signed on a few months ago. What an honour for me, and a great learning experience!