Private Collection
SOLD
 
My thanks to the collectors of this oil for their Colorado home.
 
About this oil:
Very early one morning, I decided to go for a hike in the high country of Colorado. I set out from the trailhead just as the sun crested the eastern horizon. Seven foot high willows lines the trail, creating an alleyway that led past a lake and eventually off into the forest. Since I wasn't using my headlamp, I could barely see the trail. About 50 yards from the trailhead, something big and bulky seemed to be on the trail in front of me. I stopped, barely in time to avoid walking right into this moose who was grazing on the willows along the trail.
 
He looked at me once and went back to grazing, apparently unfazed by the presence of a relatively puny human. I retreated to a safer location to wait for the sun to rise. As the morning light began to stream into the valley, I started photographing this magnificent animal. He put up with my presence (from a respectful distance) for a couple of hours before finally moving off into the depths of the willows.