I'm calling this painting "Passing It On" to tell the story of how wolf packs can claim a territory for many generations. Here the proud mother wolf is showing her pups the beautiful landscape within their pack's territory, a territory they may inherit and have to defend when they grow up.
18"x24"
Oil on Multimedia Artboard
The mother wolf was painted from a photo I took years ago at the Triple D Game Farm just outside Kalispell, Montana. I loved the stance of the wolf, and the dramatic lighting. But the background of the photo was pretty drab. For a long time I wanted to paint the wolf but couldn't decide what to do for a background. Then one day I was flipping through a book on wolves. There was an image of wolf standing on a ridge and the book talked about how, for unknown reasons, wolves seem to like to stand on high ground and gaze out upon the landscape.
Researches aren't sure why they like to do this. Perhaps they are searching for potential prey. Maybe they're scouting for intruders into their territory. We always assume animals only do things for the purpose of survival. But what if they are just enjoying the view? Could it be that animals sometimes do things just for pleasure? We'll never know. But the idea that a wolf mother could be viewing the landscape simply from pride and joy makes a nice story for a painting, anyway. :)
Researches aren't sure why they like to do this. Perhaps they are searching for potential prey. Maybe they're scouting for intruders into their territory. We always assume animals only do things for the purpose of survival. But what if they are just enjoying the view? Could it be that animals sometimes do things just for pleasure? We'll never know. But the idea that a wolf mother could be viewing the landscape simply from pride and joy makes a nice story for a painting, anyway. :)
Gorgeous work of art ... and I like your idea of animals doing this just for pleasure .. I'd like to believe that!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lois.
ReplyDelete