Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

Reposted from July 2022 newsletter.

Just a few days ago I sat fifty feet away from a 900lb alpha male Coastal Brown Bear (Ursus arctos horibillis) named "Lippy".  Yep, I did that.

It was the most amazing experience. Myself, my husband, and two friends from home went to Katmai National Park on a brown bear tour.

As part of a larger group, we flew from Homer, AK in six-person planes; flying over volcanoes and glaciers on the way.

The pilots, who were also our guides, were friendly, engaging professionals with ample skill and knowledge of the bears and the region.

Rest assured, this group walking by is not as close to the bear as it appears. The landscape is expansive. The camera can play tricks by condensing the objects within the landscape, making them seem much closer than they are.

The guides led us quietly as one, large mass towards Lippy.  They were constantly gauging the bear's comfort level based on body language. Their priorities were our safety, as well as comfort level of the bear.

You can see in the above image, Lippy does not seem to care about the group behind him. Our own body language can communicate to the bear in ways that put them at ease or create concern.

My anxiety evaporated as I started sketching.  All sense of time and space disappeared.  I was transported to a place where nothing else mattered at that moment; just me and the bear comfortable in our place.  To give a sense of how close we were, that's my foot in the photo to the right.

We also had the honor of observing a pair of sibling "blondies". Brown Bears, like Black Bears, show a range of coloration within their species.  Brown Bears can be black, brown, cinnamon or blonde.  Black Bears can be black, brown, gray, or even ashy-white.

This male and female are about four years old and have denned together during winter for added warmth.  It is likely their last summer to spend together, though. They have pretty much reached maturity and will move away from each other to find mates.

Above are few of my favorite sketches from this memorable day.  Later, in the studio, these could have been given a watercolor wash for added aesthetics and to build more form, but there's something satisfying about using only lines, in just the right amount to capture the essence of a life form.

My sketches from the trip are below in a slide show. Below that is a video recording of me sketching “Lippy”.