In one of America's beautiful national parks, I saw a sign warning tourists: "The bears are where they can find you!" It is nice to know that they are there, but you don't want to cross their path when you're on a hiking trip. Bears don't like surprises. They cover a lot of ground and can appear any moment at any place. The eternal advice is to make noise to make them aware of your presence. But if there is something in nature I especially like. It is just the silence and the fragile sounds around you, like birds, frogs and insects, and on a rainy day, the drops of rain in the water. Because of your awareness, your imagination works, and you expect to see a bear at any moment. An encounter with a grizzly bear can have a dramatic end. The only safe way to meet him is in a painting. That's what I did in this one. I wanted to portray the thrill of meeting this big male and share that feeling with you. - Carl Brenders