Grizzly and Cubs

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24" x 36", acrylic on board, 1992

There are many plants and animals -- in fact, countless species, I fear -- whose futures are not guaranteed. The idea of continuing generations of all the living creatures presently enjoying life on the planet earth is a tenuous one, indeed.
 

The little grizzly cubs are doing what comes naturally to almost all young things -- they are playing around, which gives one a sense of joy. The cubs, of course, are learning and practicing the skills of life while they are having fun. And, like all higher mammals, the mother bear is hoping to teach them a thing or two.
 

Luckily, the alpine meadow is unlikely to be developed by man, but the forested parts of the grizzly range and any areas near civilization are being exploited at an alarming rate. Across the bottom of the painting is an eroded bank. I deliberately put the cubs wrestling precariously at the lip of the bank as an allegory for eroding grizzly bear habitat and tumbling grizzly bear numbers.