My Phone Rang

A View of Sheep Hill, Williamstown, MA. 12x24 inches, oil on linen panel.  Just as I was blocking in this painting my phone rang.  The property owner was calling to alert me that a bear had just passed by the house and was headed up the hill in my direction.  I now painted looking in two directions, forward and over my shoulder.  Nothing.  I continued to paint for a while.  Then I heard a branch break loudly.  Hello? What's that?  I was painting at the junction of two ATV paths.  I moved a little backwards and looked down the path into the forest and saw a big bear looking at me.  I may be reading a lot into what I saw, but he seemed embarrassed to have been so clumsy, or apologetic for disturbing me.  He was just trying to see what I was doing.  In any case, he turned around and ran off deeper into the woods and I continued to paint.

In the Other Direction

In the Other Direction. 9x12 inches, oil on canvas panel. 

This morning I wanted to paint the Hopper again but ended up painting in the other direction. As I walked to my painting spot, I wondered if the bear had returned.  I noticed that a large branch high up in the birch next to the apple tree had crazily lowered itself into the apple tree.  Then I saw the bear partially hidden about ten feet above me. The bear was quiet and still but then let out a snort and the branches moved.  What a klutz! Suddenly I realized maybe I was the klutz.  I moved gently away to another location where the view of the Hopper was not as good as the view in the other direction.  But from where I was, I could see the bottom of the birch and saw the bear eventually leave.  The bear left a mess up in the apple tree.

Scampering at the Hopper

This is the first of two paintings of the Hopper, done today from a hayfield at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA, on a day of clouds and sun.  When I was finished and started to head back to the car, I saw a young bear scampering away from me. I think I interrupted the bear trying to climb a nearby apple tree. He took a sharp left and headed for the woods. 9x12 inches, oil on canvas panel.

The Bear's Backyard

While scouting out new painting views this morning I walked up a dirt road with a muddy patch in it. It's nearby where I painted yesterday's painting of the trees in the hay fields.   The footprints you see are what you think they are: a big bear made them, along with a few racoon tracks.   I don't know what the diagonal slide mark is from.  I was with the painter John MacDonald.  That's his hand in the photo for scale.  Anyway, I may be paranoid about it, but I am always conscious that I'm painting in the bear's backyard.

Brook and Paw Spans

This time I painted from a small wooden bridge that spans the brook.  Sections of the bridge planks are pitched at different angles and not level at all.  Also early in the morning the planks are wet and slippery.  This morning I noticed something new, large scratch marks, from a creature crossing the bridge with difficulty requiring the use of claws to maintain balance.  The claw marks were as wide as my hand, so I suspect that a bear uses the same bridge, fortunately, at a different time of day.

A Pastel and a Bear

The image at the top is an 11x14 pastel looking up Stratton Road from the field.   Not too far from this spot I encountered the bear you see in the bottom photograph.   Fortunately she was going in the direction away from me, so I was able to move back out of sight.   When I had circled around and looked back I saw she was accompanied by two cubs who were not visible when I spotted mama.   Fortunately, she didn't spot me.