Just finished a brown bear in Alaska searching for clams….I think I will call it “Tides Out!”

This actually was taken of a bear in a zoo 8 years ago on a car trip on Alaska, I must have 200 photos of animals from that trip. They love to dig for clams when the tides out. Been thinking of this for a long time but kept putting it back behind the wolves, horses, foxes….So the other day I decided to get on with the process. I started by drawing the idea then printed off the bear picture I wanted to use. I must have the photo reference to be sure of the conformation, nothing is worse than seeing a painting of an animal with the wrong conformation.

John Fawcett came up with a measurement process on horses, and that has been invaluable. Not to say I don’t put a muscle the wrong size, but surely make an effort not to. Bears are easy…there is, thankfully, a lot of hair to cover up the muscle! Had to force myself to stop painting the hair, it could have gone on forever. I find that your eye almost edits out the minute details. So here is the finished picture painted on Pastel Premier with both Nupastels, pastel pencil, and my favorite Sennelier and Unison soft pastels.

This is the frame I chose…so off to the framer tomorrow.