Stories Behind The Art

In 2006, my family and I were enjoying a great time in the Grand Tetons of Wyoming.  The last full day of our vacation came and Jason and Kyle wanted to know where we were going that day.  They had already crossed Jenny Lake and hiked to the wilds behind the falls and explored the depths of Death Canyon.

We had all become acculturated to the fact that if you really wanted to see the best of the Grand Tetons you had to be in the back country and off the roads.  We were all eager to go where the going got tough and the tough got going. 

Bill, a friend of mine, said that his favorite place was Paint Brush Canyon. He regaled me with a story of how he had been chased by a bull moose on the trail and barely escaped with his life by diving into a pile of dead logs that protected him from the demon eyed bull.

Kaye was eager to hike Paint Brush Canyon too because she is fond of the flowers. So we packed a lunch topped off our water bottles and headed into the back country.  Our hike was peaceful as only the wilderness without cell phones and traffic and mindless chatter can be.  We silently trod the trail with a sharp eye out for the venerable grizzly and the demon eyed bull moose.  We hiked all morning without seeing so much as a chipmunk when we came to one of the most beautiful spots we had ever seen. A waterfall was cascading off the granite cliff above us and a fine mist drifted its coolness over us. Some large table sized stones invited us to sit and share our lunch in cool solitude. Dappled sunlight shifted shadows around us and we all found our spirits filling with wonder at the perfection of this place.

After lunch the boys said to their mother, “Hey Mom we are about 8 miles from the Jeep by GPS, should we go on or back?” Kaye said, “You know your father. We haven’t seen so much as a chipmunk and he doesn’t consider it a hike until we see some animals.  We are going on.”  Without another word we pick up our packs and started up trail.

After a few minutes Jason and Kaye were ahead by a few yards and Kyle and I came to an earth berm.  I said to Kyle that I felt that there was a bull moose on the other side of that berm.  Would he run to the top and check it out.  He said that he didn’t really want to. I wheedled, “Come on Kyle humor your old man you young runner of marathons, dash to the top and see.”  He grudgingly said “OK, Dad, just for you.”  And in just a few seconds he had dashed to the top of the berm. “Dad, come here, quick!” he projected in a stage whisper. I dashed to the top of the berm and there was nothing there. I turned to Kyle with a bit of an exasperated expression and he said, “Got you to run old man!”  I replied, “You know Kyle it’s all about the animals for me and we haven’t seen a thing.”

“Well Dad if you have to have a picture of an animal, you go stand on that rock over there and I’ll take a picture of an animal in the Grand Tetons. But while you are standing on that rock think about this, “You Father, are an artist. You are hiking in the Grand Tetons.  You are in Paint Brush Canyon.  It doesn’t get any better than this.  If you see an animal or not, it doesn’t get any better than this. So stop whining and look like an intrepid explorer.”

As I was trying to figure out how an intrepid explorer would look in one of the most incredible places on earth, Kyle was backing into the willows to frame his shot.  Suddenly Wild and Wonderful roared a greeting and lumbered to his feet.  He had been sleeping just a few feet from us and we had disturbed his nap. At six feet two inches tall, Kyle’s head was about six inches below the moose’s eye. He was so close that his first picture of the moose was a close-up of his nose. 

Jason, our martial arts expert, came running down the trail followed closely by Kaye.  Jason called out, “Kyle, maintain eye contact, back slowly away, he’s too big. I can’t help you.”

The moose, unconcerned, turned away and started munching on willows. He was soon joined by another big bull and we spent the next couple of hours photographing and sketching the pair.

When I got home I couldn’t wait to draw Wild and Wonderful.  I spent about 650 hours detailing this drawing and when it was done I put it aside. Kaye took the image and entered it in the 2007 Paint the Parks Program where it was selected from over 2000 entries that year as one of the Top 100 and toured with the winners.

It doesn’t get much better than this.