A quick soft pastel sketch on coloured paper - 24 x 30cm |
Brown Bears - Kuntvaara, Northern Finland, near the Russian Border.
The brown bears were impressive - enormous animals, fat and shaggy ready for hibernation.
Unfortunately the day in mid September when we visited the hide the light was terrible, so I just did a colour sketch in soft pastels on coloured paper to pin down tones, and colours, and the general atmosphere. The animals were really too far away to make detailed drawings without using a scope.
Ravens, gulls and magnificent sea eagles competed for the salmon bait laid out just before our visit.
It was a privilege and an emotional experience to see Europe's largest terrestrial carnivore in the wild.
Absolutely wonderful!
It was clear from their behaviour as they cautiously came out of the woods that they were more afraid of the other bears - and some were huge - than us humans in the hide trying to keep our excitement quiet.
For details for Bear Watching: www.tunnelmamokit.net
For some better bear photographs click here.
A large male |
A female anxious as she had her cub nearby |
The female leaving with her cub following, as soon as the big males appeared - note the salmon bait on the pine trunk. |
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