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Winter Bear

Winter Bear

Friends –

This world we live on is alive. Although industrial greed is doing its darndest to destroy that life, she still is with us and is struggling to do what is needed to nurture and care for us. I know this to be true everywhere I go, but it is really only in Bears Ears National Monument have I felt so deeply that every step I take is registered by Mother Earth. Or, perhaps, Mother Bear.

Bob and I had taken several backpacking trips into Cedar Mesa since the early '90s and well before the area was designated as a National Monument. Yet, even back then, the extraordinary sensation of being surrounded by something special – observant, all-knowing, benevolent, and cautious – has always been there for me. Maybe this sensation is what some refer to as 'spiritual'.

Earlier this month, in the freezing cold of winter, Bob and I had an opportunity to go to a sizeable gathering in Bluff in celebration of Bears Ears. It was rewarding to hear the excellent presentations, including those from Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute and Dine. I rejoiced in knowing that the sensations I felt when gently wandering what I imagine to be the back and shoulders of Bear, are understood by so many -- especially the Original People to whom this land belongs.

Winter Bear is a 16x20" oil on canvas and is available.

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