Fishing Hole - Grizzly

As with many of my paintings, what comes first is the landscape. We were on a fishing trip in a wild part of the northern British Columbia coast. The minute I saw this cliff and waterfall I knew I wanted to paint it. While the others fished for salmon I did drawings and of course took photographs for future reference. Beautiful salmon were there in abundance. We also saw tracks of large grizzly bears in the sand at river's edge. As with all of my paintings I try to create a moment in time which I did not see but which could have happened.

When the Endangered Species Act was signed by President Nixon in 1973 it created a stir both positive and negative. The positive was obvious because the modern, industrial world was wiping out biodiversity at an alarming rate in the 20th century. Because protecting endangered species primarily means protecting their habitats, conflict comes from those who make money from destroying that habitat.

Many people believe that the Pacific salmon should have been declared an endangered species. Many races of salmon are indeed endangered and in order to protect them and their habitat there would be huge implications for logging, agriculture and industry. Even though some activities would have to be curtailed, all of nature and the future of mankind would ultimately benefit.

This painting is based on a fishing trip we took on the north central BC coast. I did not see the grizzly bear in this particular pose but we certainly saw grizzly tracks.