We are going back for just a moment. Way back to the year 2007 when my dad took the whole family to Yellowstone. None of us had ever been there before. Only pictures in books and television nature documentaries fulfilled our wee little brains before.
The landscape and wildlife grabbed my senses as if it were a dog on a bone. Everywhere we looked were in pleasant shock. A culture shock. A culture of almost timelessness. I heard “Land of the Lost” theme creeping from the back of my head. Aside from the enormous landscape (they don’t call it Big Sky Country for nothing), the wildlife we saw could not be match. I didn’t realize it then, but that whole area would come back and bite me. In a good way.
Last year I was able to take my own family to the area. Yellowstone not withstanding, this time, we were able to hang out a little south in the Grand Tetons and found a fun little break, called Moose Pond. The West sunk its teeth in deeper. Below is an excerpt I wrote about the moose encounter:
“We made eye contact as I slowly backed away with a few steps. He began to emerge from the pond to start sniffing around to forage off the land. He calmly and carefully marched right in front of us as he made his way to some greenery on the side of the hill. My heart raced as I quickly snapped shot after shot, careful not to forgo the experience itself. I captured his movement in my camera and then continued to step back as I simply took the experience in along with my son and wife behind me.”
You can read the whole experience here.
During this recent trip, I picked up a copy and of Bozeman Magazine. As we ate toast with huckleberry jam at a local diner, I flipped through magazine and came across a quick ad requesting submissions for cover art. I of course took note and once I had handful of my moose paintings completed, I submitted the work. And so I am thrilled to announce that Moose Pond 3 is the cover art for Bozeman Magazine, February edition!
There is a neat little added Athens love in that local musician favorite, Kishi Bashi is in this issue as he is performing with the Bozeman Symphony. How cool is that?!
Add sprinkles,
Will
p.s. Grab the original Moose Pond 3 right here to add some colorful “big sky”!
