Open Ridge

"This painting depicts some timber wolves coming out from the cover at the shore of a lake right around dusk. I've actually had the reference and the idea for this painting for a while. It was just a matter of putting the animals and the location together.

"The whole idea of the piece was to set up the wolves in a situation that would accentuate the backlighting. That is why I went to Killarney National Park. I wanted something dramatic with a cliff or a ridge behind the wolves and I knew the park had a lot of great cliffs.

"I studied wolves at a compound in Nova Scotia. The best thing about this compound is that they let me go right into the animal areas. I'm able to sit on the ground and the wolves come right up to me. Now that's an eerie feeling."