Tag Archives: coyote

Monet’s Coyote

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It is a little known secret that I was a frustrated wannabe painter. In fact for years when I was sculpting I used to tell people that I was a sculptor because I couldn’t paint. Later on in life when I had reached a stage where I made grandma Moses look like a freshman cheerleader I went and took lessons from a well known plein air painter. She told me that after she trained me to hold the brush with the bristles towards the canvas and how to get the cap off the paint tube with out redoing the walls, that I might have potential. I defined potential as “No way in Hell” but I persevered. But in my persistence a funny thing happened, not funny in a grab your sides, milk coming out of your nose kind of way, but strange. Funny strange. The more I painted the more I loved paintings as an art form and the less I liked actually doing it. It turned out that I really loved sculpting after all but because of the lifelong dreaming of painting thing I viewed it more as a job rather than a soul satisfying art form that occasionally made me money. That realization however, did not diminish my obsession with the 2D art world. We artists talk like that, 2D, paintings or flatwork, as opposed to 3D, sculpture, it makes us look a lot smarter at parties and stuff. I had traipsed through most of the big museums and galleries here and in Europe and had a catalog of my favorite painters and their work in my head, and when I began photographing in earnest I was always looking for that Monet shot or the light in Rembrandt’s chiaroscuro work. It is surprisingly hard to find in real life. Rarely does chiaroscuro jump out at you when you turn the corner or the subtle light of Monet’s gardens happen every time you get ready to take a picture. But sometimes it does. And when it does, and you get to shoot it, it is like when someone comes up to you and says “I think you are quite the splendid fellow, here’s several million bucks. Take the rest of the day off”, that kind of feeling. That may not have happened to you yet but when it does, are you going to be happy. This image of a coyote in a meadow at Sheep lake in Rocky Mountain National Park was one of those times when Monet’s spirit was at work. If he had been a wildlife artist he would have painted this and been a happy man, just as I was for being able to have seen it.

Hard Case

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If coyotes could be people this guy would be Steve McQueen. We met one cold day in November in Rocky Mountain National Park where I was cruising the road to the Moraine valley and he was walking down the side of the road. I slowly coasted to a stop, rolled the window down and asked him “where you going?” That began a mostly one-sided conversation that lasted for nearly 45 minutes. Because it was the middle of the week and cold there was virtually no one else in the park, not a car went by and we had the day to ourselves.

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After he was asked where he was going he sat down on his side of the road and I stayed on mine and we had our conversation. He said his name was Hard Case because when he was younger he liked to fight a lot and that was how his ear got ripped.

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I asked him a lot of questions because I’d never had the chance to talk with a  coyote before and he answered some and others that perhaps were just a bit too personal, he disdainfully ignored. Things like who his  favorite ranger was, how many voles could he eat at a single setting (31) and whether or not he liked summer better than winter. It turns out that he had mixed feelings about that one. In the summer the tourists would throw him food, which he liked but knew he wasn’t supposed to have, and in the winter he didn’t have to worry about getting run over crossing the road.

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Since I was there to take pictures I asked if he would mind posing a little, nothing too strenuous, no jumping up in the air and slamming his nose against the ground to catch voles, no slinking, nothing that would make him look foolish. He wanted to borrow my shades but I thought that would look too staged. A simple look left

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and a look right and then he wanted to borrow my shades again. Things got a little testy when I refused. I was worried about getting them back actually, after all I had just met this guy and these were brand new Ray-bans.

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When I was firm about it he said some pretty uncomplimentary things, very rude things if you want the truth, and decided the conversation was over.

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I told him not to be like that. I tried to talk him back saying that I would bring a hamburger for him next time, but he was really cheesed off and said there wasn’t going to be a next time and I should go… well that part was impossible to do so I won’t even repeat it.

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So that was that and with no further ado he got up and left. I learned a valuable lesson that day, new friends can be really fickle.