A very emotionally-driven personal piece I've been working on on and off for months now. This is my biggest, full on gouache painting yet.
The setting is based on the last amazing night I was in Alaska. We slept outside on the dock, watching the stars reflecting in the water, then at about midnight the aurora borealis show started.
The subject is based on a bear we encountered at Russian Creek inland from Lake Iliamna. He was catching sockeyes in a pond when we noticed him, then we yelled and he noticed us. He lifted his graceful head way out of the water on his long neck to see us, then quietly lumbered on to the shore and in to the spruce trees.
Gouache on watercolor paper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY-N5mbPyXA

Alaska was the most enchanting place I've ever been. It left a scar in my being, and a few on my body.