Close Encounters of the Bear Kind

6" x 8" Oil Painting on Gessobord

Pardon the glare of the photograph -- Yes, I am uploading a photo of it taken while the paint was still wet!

Titled by my husband Byron, this scene depicts one of four encounters we had with a black bear in the wild along the Highline Trail at Glacier National Park in September 2023. I originally intended to complete several mini paintings on gessobord en plein air on this trip; excitedly so, I had prepared my panels the week our flight, packed a tripod table to hold my new plein air set up, and traveled through the airport with my paints wrapped in a clear box -- complete with a sign for TSA stating my materials were considered "artist pigments in vegetable oil" and that they were safe for travel. 

Upon officially landing in Montana and beginning our trip, however, we were met with many warnings regarding black bear encounters and attacks this year that I was quickly deterred from my plein air painting plans. I opted instead to take many photos and take in the majestic scenery with every sense I have -- letting my eyes trace the mountain edges in the landscapes, listening to the soft thud of my boots on earth as we hiked, tasting the berries and Clif Bars we packed as we sat in a naturally carved edge of rock on High Line trail, felt the edges of soft, colorful Autumn leaves tap the palms of my hand as I walked along, and breathing in the chilly fresh mountain air. What an absolutely thrilling hike.

And, sure enough, we came across a wild black bear. What I captured here is the second enounter we had with him. The bear had come up along the trail from behind us this time, just as we were approaching a group of maybe 15 fellow hikers looking in our direction along the trail but just over shoulders... at the bear. We all clamored off the trail and stepped through thick, long grasses and bushes only to turn back to see the bear was following us off trail. Our group seemed to be all on the same page and knew not to run but to talk to him (saying "heyyy bear") and make ourselves look big and have our bear spray out and unclipped. I don't know about the others, but I'm sure they were also holding their breath a bit too as we watched the bear continue to amble along... past us... and onto the higher edges of the mountainside we were gathered on. (I included a clip of the encounter my husband caught on video in one of my Instagram reels @missmeikei if you'd like to check it out!)

This painting is based on a snapshot of the video my husband took and, of course, on the fantastic memories of this thrilling experience. Byron has let me borrow the title for his video clip to use as the title for my painting of our memory too.