Though now confined to the studio, visions of grizzlies (and other wild creatures) still dance in my mind’s eye, itching to be painted. I take thousands of reference photos during my encounters, but draw as much from memory—recollections of chance meetings with the bears in their wilderness habitat or rescue animals in sanctuaries. I had seen their lumbering gaits, their curious yet cautious watching. I seek to recapture those fleeting moments in paint.

In these studies I work quickly, not trying to recreate the exact bears I saw, but the spirit they emanated. The sketches portray but modest echoes of the majestic creatures I briefly witnessed out in the wilderness. Yet through inspired recall and suggestion, the grizzlies’ essence is invoked in artistic fashion. This is my attempt to share the awe from our chance meetings by giving form to the visions that still linger. Though the bears themselves remain in their habitat, hopefully their spirit stirs within these painted reveries.

These rapid vignettes serve as preliminary guides and exercises for more meticulously rendered paintings to come. I try to remain loose, energetic studies capture my initial impressions of the bears, fresh and improvisational, but often I an drawn into the animal’s expression and presence and continue into detail farther than anticipated.

These sketches allow me to freely play with compositions, poses, and techniques for portraying the grizzlies’ spirit. From there, I can take the most successful sketches and develop them into full-fledged paintings. The ones that truly capture the essence of the bears in a dynamic way may become the bases for more polished pieces. With the preliminary work done through these quick studies, I can focus on the finest details, precise anatomy, and advanced techniques needed to complete a finely crafted grizzly portrait. These sketches provide the chance to experiment and zero in on the most compelling portrayals before committing to far more time-intensive finished paintings.