This is the slightly whimsical side of one of this country's most talented painters of wildlife. Beecham takes the children's tale about a peaceful bull who'd rather sniff flowers than fight, and applies it to the North American Buffalo. This monstrous creature delicately munches prairie flowers and turns to look at us as if to say: "Care to join me? The prairie clover is delicious!"

Greg's artistic approaches are as varied as the wildlife he portrays, so when he told us The Cascades would be followed up by another bear portrait, we knew it would be distinctly different.  The title Polar Attraction suggests courtship, but as Greg explains, "these polar bears have a strictly platonic relationship.  They're siblings enjoying some gentle sparring to keep up their strength for the season of hunting ahead.  It was a challenge to work 'wet on wet,' making a transition from the cool colors below ultimately to the warm ones on top.  I also wanted to achieve color harmony between the background and the focal point, helping to convey the scene's peaceful, playful mood."

Against the breathtaking, panoramic view, two majestic mule deer Step into the Light.  "You really do get this kind of gold here," Greg says, speaking of the warm and vibrant light that touches the hills near his rural Wyoming home, "especially on a fall day near sundown."

A male red fox courts a female in this beautifully rendered and colored image from Greg Beecham. He observed these foxes in the wild, and then was able to capture both the kinetic energy of the animal's movements, and the way golden sunlight reflects off snow, fur and pine boughs.