Biscuit Looking it
Over









Biscuit Searching
Downwind










Biscuit at the Fishing Hole










Merganzer 26 ducklings






Walnut Looking us Over

(Click on any Image to see a higher resolution version)

This year the paintings have emerged after tremendous struggle. The drawings come easier, as they are more specifically driven by a goal about how bear's communicate. Last summer, I knew my paintings were in need of development. It was time to move on but with the Moscow exhibition looming on the horizon, it was not a time for exploration. When in transition, I must paint from some gut-driven place, unidentifiable to my logical mind. During June, I painted and burned all my work. In July an abstraction emerged. By August I was back to an abstracted expressionistically painted landscape. I have included three of these last works with this web site entry.

I have again confirmed that being in an exciting location drives the power of my painting. With the painting, Biscuit Looking it Over, I spent the day at a favorite fishing hole of the bears in Ittleman Bay. Biscuit loves the spot and I filmed her doing a spectacular stalking on a big salmon. Brandy also favors this location. Her cubs sit on shore or on the snow bank above eating the remains of fish while she catches another. At one time the cubs, Lemon and Lime, were about 10 feet from us licking up the remains of some scattered salmon eggs. Brandy was across the small bay when they started to fight over their fresh caviar. She didn't even glance at us but chuffed and popped her jaws, running through the water, directly to them (with us nearby), to settle them down. It had me worried for a minute as I wondered if she thought we had caused the upset and what then? But no, she seems to trust that we had not caused the mishap. Ten minutes later she rounded the corner of the bay completely out of site. Lemon and Lime glanced at us and continued eating. Finally they followed in her direction. This is quite a change from two months ago when the sight of us sent them into uncontrolled flight.

The painting of Searching Down Wind was motivated by two excursions. One was with Biscuit checking down-wind, to see what dead, spawned-out salmon have been washed up on shore. She often makes a run for it knowing she is not alone with this knowledge, making it impossible for me to keep up. The bears have an intense look on their faces now. Eating as much as possible to gain large amounts of fat to tide them over a long hibernation is top-most on their minds. It is a serious business and we are careful not to cause any distraction. The second motivating excursion for Searching Down Wind was up into the north end of this valley. We were up there for the day. Not a cloud was in the sky. Wild rolling grassland stretches out in one direction. (I am always reminded of what it must have been like for early explorers crossing Canada seeing no sign of man wherever they looked.) In the other direction, waterfalls cascade down amongst the last snowmelt, eerily green moss and fuscia colored rhododendron. A big male bear wanders into view, sights us from a mile away and leaves hastily (Unusual behavior in our area this year. We thought he might have crossed in from the northwest and had experienced being hunted). I thought of how Biscuit would have loved to be up in there. When they were cubs, all three used to walk with us that far. The trip was so emotionally strong, another painting spit out, Biscuit at the Fishing Hole.

On the hike down Char Creek back to camp we ran into my favorite Merganser duck. She had her 28 ducklings safely with her. (Only 26 are in the picture). Another Merganser on the lake has 33! Over the last 5 years, Charlie and I have puzzled over the large numbers of ducklings in the family groups of Mergansers we see swimming in the lake. My favorite had her nest up under the alder by the Char Creek Fishing Hole. Late one evening as I was sitting watching char, she marched down the bank, followed by her unsteady troupe that happily plopped into the water for the first time. So, she hatched all 28. But did she lay all the eggs? We have tried to imagine her laying 28 eggs and keeping them isolated in the nest until incubation is to commence so as to assure that all ducklings hatch within hours of each other. Quite a feat if she did that. I wonder if Mergansers share nests with more than one female using one nest?

On the same hike down-creek we almost ran over Walnut. He was in the canyon area hopefully gazing into the creek to see if there were Pink Salmon running. This is not a Pink year. They run up Char Creek every other year and this is not it. Walnut was completely at ease with the near collision, only once growling softly when he wanted us to ease out of his territory. For him that range seems to be about 15 feet. This is a message we respect. We first met him when our cubs were 1 and 1/2 years old when they all shared the same creek for fish. He wanders by our camp routinely this time of year and similar to other bears, is respectful of our electric fence - a more visible boundary than the one he has!

- Maureen