Tim Jeffs Art: bear

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Bearing a White Out

Drawing a Polar Bear

Prints, posters, stationery cards, and signed fine art reproductions

are available for purchase in my Etys shop at:

www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Polar Bear. 11x17" Ballpoint Pen and Ink wash

With adult males standing 8-9 feet tall and weighting up to 1700 pounds, Polar Bears are the largest land carnivores in the world. There are an estimated 20-25,000 left in the wild, therefore classifying them as a vulnerable species. It's scientific name "Ursus maritimus" means "maritime bear" because they spend much of their time on the Arctic sea ice in search of prey. They are incredibly adapted for the cold with thicker fur than other bears, a layer of blubber under the fur for buoyancy and insulation, and a streamlined long neck for swimming in the water and warming the air that they breath.

Attempting to draw a completely white animal with only black ink is something that's quite a challenge. And unlike most of the animals that I draw the Polar Bear doesn't have spots or patterns, but only a stark white coat of fur. Therefore it felt like almost a test of "can I do this" animal. I hope I succeeded.

Polar Bear. original photograph by AA Rosenfeld

The inspiration for this drawing came directly from an amazing photograph that AA Rosenfeld took of a Polar Bear (above). Alvin is a friend and amazing photographer. He does wildlife photography all over the world, included underwater photography, and his work is just spectacular! He graciously gave me permission to use his work as reference. You can see and purchase his amazing photographs at Images of Old Greenwich here www.imagescenter.com. Thanks again Alvin for you generosity! The one aspect I decided to change from the photo was that I wanted to make the bear appear to be looking directly back at the viewer as he walked by. So I added in the turned eye to stare the viewer down! I hope you enjoy my take on this wonderful animal.

"Finding what is hidden beneath the surface, bringing the
unseen to light, uncovering the unknown."

-AA Rosenfeld

Here are some photos taken during my drawing process

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available

for purchase in my Etys shop at:

www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Sunday, January 5, 2014

The Bear Necessities

Drawing a American Black Bear

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available

for purchase in my Etys shop at:

www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Black Bear. 11x17" Ballpoint Pen and Ink wash

I've lived on the East Coast of North America all my life, and only once have I seen an American Black Bear in the wild. And unbelievably it was just last month. While driving my daughter back up to college in upstate New York we saw a black bear, sitting on a hill next to the highway, eating and watching the cars go by. In New Jersey, where I live, there are thousands of them, but amazingly they are hard to see. They range across North America, Canada and Mexico and their population is close to 600,000. Two subspecies, the Louisiana black bear and the Florida black bear are threatened. The Florida black bear's population dropped to 300-500 in the 1950's and was just removed for Florida's endangered species list due to land management and a serious recovery effort. Their population has recovered to almost 3,000.

So why draw a bear? Well, two words "Nature" and "Fur". They are such a beautiful animal that lives among us here in America, and to me the image of them just says "Nature". For me, they conjure up an image of leaving urban city life and going into the wilderness. And then there is the other word "Fur". Fur is still a struggle for me to draw, and again I wanted to challenge myself by attempting to draw an animal completely covered in a thick coat of it.

Harrison and Jane hiking in Maine. Notice Jane's shirt

Also, bears have been a popular and humorous topic in our house because my wife has a fear of bears and we constantly poke fun at her about this fear. Whenever a bear appears on TV we all scream, "It's a bear!" We buy her bear t-shirts to wear, bear coffee cups to drink from and advised her to read "A walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. Whenever we go hiking (in Bear Mountain) or mountain climbing everyone asks if she has her bear repellent with her. And after all these years, the only bear she has ever seen was from the comfort of our car last month driving on the highway to Binghamton NY. Her perfect vantage point.

Other family bear shots