Before New Life

From the window of the living quarters in Mammoth, I set up my paints for a quick alla prima sketch. My wife was working as a biologist in Yellowstone, and while she was out in the field, I had my own subject to study—a lone bison cow bedded down in the sage.

The paint was still wet on my palette when the scene shifted. Not long after I finished, she gave birth.

What began as a simple study turned into a record of the moment before new life arrived. It felt like Yellowstone reminding me again that the smallest pauses—the ones we almost overlook—can hold the most profound transitions.