‘Beary Season’
Hand Burned Original
My largest and most intricate piece to date,
Inspired by a summer spent getting lost among the wildberries,
Featuring over 30 different hand burned plant and animal species,
’Beary Season’ is an embodiment of my life in the Kootenay Mountains.
[Scroll down to check out the gallery]
I started this piece on August long weekend, and I predicted it would take maybe a week or two at most; I figured I could probably get two of these big pieces done.
I seriously miscalculated.
I worked on this piece for minimum ten hours, every single day from the beginning of August until mid September. Hundreds of hours.
There is not a single square inch of this piece that I have not obsessed over, not a single detail that I have overlooked or left out. There is no filler spaces, filler plants or blurs- everything is depicted accurately and with great detail: From the veins on the plant leaves, to the hairs on the mice.
It was important to me for this piece to be accurate as far as size proportions for the animals and plants in relation to one another, as though you're viewing the undergrowth and the canopy at the same time from a slight distance, with the bear looming in the background. I wanted to ensure that everything was cohesive and accurate: the mice are slightly smaller than the chipmunks, the bugs are smaller than the mice, the berries are all accurate sizes compared to each other, as are the leaves, and the plants to animals and vice versa.
I had no solid plan laid out for this piece; I started with the bear and then I slowly added the rest of the plants and animals one by one as I went along. Spending a lot of time in the woods allows me to easily reference how these plants and animals would intermingle, drawing from the sights I see daily.
This piece is expertly textured: giving depth and realistic details, and no coloured mediums have been used; the different shades have been accomplished by burning and sanding the piece only. The piece seems to transform throughout the day, highlighting new details or creating shadowy depth as the natural light moves across the room and across the textures.
There are over 30 plants and animals species included in this piece: all ones that I have personally encountered out in the wilds around my home, some on a daily basis. I have used many of my own photo's for reference as well as using the physical plants.
A black capped Chickadee perched on a chokecherry bush.
Another Chickadee, perched on a branch of elderberries. For sizing perspective These birds measure about 3" each on the piece.
Squirrel among some mountain ash berries.
A bear was the obvious choice for me as the main subject when it came to berries. A Grizzly can eat about 200,000 berries per day- that's almost as much as me.
Hummingbird among the Lewis Mock Orange Blossoms. These large fragrant blossoms appear in the late spring, colouring the hillsides bright white.
A bumblebee near some saskatoon berries that almost didn’t make the cut if I’m entirely honest: I’m just not a fan of them.
A pacific tree frog among the thimbleberry bushes, one of my favourite berries.
Swallowtail butterflies- These only appear for about 4 weeks out of the summer. The berries are "Saskatoon" berries, and are members of the rose family.
A field mouse on a clump of Black Raspberries, with some oxeye daisies.
Chipmunk and Ghost Pipe- a unique bright white plant that uses nearby mushrooms for nutrients instead of photosynthesis.
Huckleberries, Thimbleberry leaf, Oxeye Daisies and a wasp.
Swallowtail butterfly and some huckleberries. Huckleberries cannot be cultivated as they rely on unique and specific growing conditions involving fungal connections within the ground.
Chipmunk on a stump with a polypore and turkeytail mushrooms, wild strawberries, a spider, oxeye daisies, and Oregon Grapes on the lower right.
A polypore- the species I use for my Kootenay Conks, as well as turkeytail mushrooms, A ten lined June Beetle, Oregon Grapes, and wild Strawberries.
A field mouse and A blue tailed skink near some kinnikinnick, and a Short stemmed Russula- this is the mushroom that feeds nutrients to the ghost pipe on the far laft of the piece.
The background of this piece has been burned- but has also been darkened using a homemade 'India ink', a paint made from the charcoal of the trees we lost to last years fires in the Slocan Valley.
Huckleberries- My favourite berry. They grow in the mountains and are similar to blueberries, but with a darker staining juice and more tartness.
Fieldmouse and some kinnikinnick- A hardy berry that can be dug from under the snow during winter. It's not very tasty.
