The Golden Bear

Here is a new painting that will be exhibited by Lahaina Galleries in Maui later this month.  It is titled The Golden Bear and was conceived many years ago, before I painted The Embrace, a painting that depicted butterflies surrounding and spiraling around a bear.  It is always wonderful to see butterflies in a woodland setting darting in and out of the light.  More often than not I have encountered these yellow/golden butterflies, rather than other colors.  I had imagined the bear as a wanderer in this dark and decaying setting and upon coming across the butterflies being uplifted and reminded of the light he would experience after coming out from the shade of the wood.