If you follow my blog, you know I live in Banff, Alberta, Canada, in the Canadian Rockies.
I am very fortunate to live in the mountains. The fresh air, clean water and stunning mountain vistas are a delight.
With Banff being in the heart of the mountains, we always bump into wildlife. Deer, elk, coyotes....and sometimes bear, are a common occurrence to cross your path. Last week, early in the morning, I was driving down Banff ave., and a coyote was walking down the center of the road. It was as if he was checking out his kingdom, oblivious to me or anything else that was in his path.
I do some contract work for CMH Heli-skiing, and this morning was up early, heading to one of the lodges with food. At 5:30 am I was just about to leave the industrial compound where our warehouse is, and a cougar ran across the road in front of me. The average road is 30-35 feet wide. The cougar jumped from one side, landed in the middle, and then was on the other side of the road bounding into the woods. For a second my breath stopped, I rolled down the windows to see if I could see or hear it as it bounded into the forest.
As I drove down the road listening to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young , I tried to envision the cougar moving thru the woods. I have just begun to paint the wildlife in my world. After this short encounter, I think a painting of a cougar is next on the list. This will be a challenge, as many of my paintings are created either on site or from photos I have taken. Seeing a cougar for 30 seconds does not give you enough time to do sketches etc. I'll have to do some research to get the right image.
Robert Krysak
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