Six Sense

By Dara Daniel

Piece description from the artist

"Sixth Sense" depicts a close-up of a single bear that I was inspired to paint because of its intense and aware demeanor and posture. My palette for this painting is predominately orange/red to exaggerate the colors of the bear and to imply the leaves of trees turning into warm colors before they fall. For the shadows and, to provide contrast, I used violets and vibrant blues. There is lots of texture in this painting, which I mostly created by applying squares and rectangles of handmade papers to the canvas before added my colors.

Who knows what this bear was thinking but, I believe in general bears are mostly thinking about what they are going to eat every day and, in the fall, where they are going to find shelter from the winter that feels like it is coming. I admire bears for their strength and endurance and consider them magnificent totem animals. May the bear give us the strength to endure and empower us to help us overcome and survive the hard times. Love to bears.