WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
In the Studio: Where the Wild Things Are
My mom always sends the best bear videos.
“Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.”
A tempting collection title. In “The Office,” Jim as Dwight was onto something when he declared black bears are best. In our corner of New England, they are everywhere. That may sound alarming if you are not used to it, and I’m pretty sure our town population shrinks with every bear video we post. But to many of us who live amongst them, we look forward to a sighting. From behind windows and at a safe distance, of course.
My number one pointer for living in black bear country: you won’t hear them come up on you. Isn’t that comforting? Seriously. When you walk in the woods and hear a rustle and get all paranoid, it’s a waste of worry. Squirrels are 10 times louder than bears. You’ll hear them coming from the next county. But bears? You’ll be working away in your garden and look up and see one meander by 10 feet from you. So we keep our head on a swivel and it’s second nature to scan the woods each time we round a bend. That brings me to my second tip for black bear country: the color of their fur is darker than the woodland shadows. Because of this they are usually not that hard to spot–it’s amazing how our eyes can catch the nuance from 50 feet away. When it comes to being bear aware, your eyes are much more helpful than your ears.
Which brings me to my new series: The Wild Ones. I mentioned in my past note that I’ve been working to stop the clear-cutting of 20 acres behind us for development, so I guess it was a natural outgrowth of that advocacy to paint the animals who live back there. I knew from the start that I wanted to paint them as I usually find them, from my own interactions in our woods and waters. I have a deep love for these moments, and I knew the love would show in the paint. So you’ll see the mother bear paused mid-step, because she just heard you and you are both checking each other out … the deer in our 100-year-old meadow (which they are trying to build on) appear likewise, popping up their heads from the long grass to make sure you are safe and the fawn is safe … the heron hunts in our dark brown pond waters … the fox looks you in the eye as he sneaks along the field edge … the eastern box turtles make their way over roots while foraging for partridge berry … the barred owl is hard to spot and he likes it that way. Have you ever heard his yell or the loon’s wail? Have you been driving home from friends’ with leftover food, and spotted a gaze of raccoons on the forest edge and been unable to resist tossing out some crumbs just to see those tiny hands?
These paintings live in those connection points. They are glorious because of their rarity. And utterly worthy of protecting.
—JF
Thought you might enjoy some in-process photos.
Scroll through below to see the development of my raccoon painting.
On the Website
5-For-the-Price-of-4 Calendars
It’s that time of year: buying presents for special groups of people. Your kids’ teachers. Your closest neighbors. Your sibling group gift. That’s why I love my 5 for the price of 4 calendar offer.
You can take care of those special folks in just a few clicks.
And coming in TWO WEEKS…
My new collection.
Wednesday, November 19
10 AM EST early access for email subscribers, 12 Noon to public
I’ll be sending out my night-before email with password for early access as usual.
Making final edits on my heron painting. The way the reflection worked out gives me goose bumps.
Around the Sphere
On L.L.Bean.com
Insulated Camp Mug
Beautifully textured, intricately rendered images of my Maine wildflower paintings.