Moose in Pastel

Miss Moose
original pastel painting

Another beautiful animal we see frequently around our house is this moose. Just this afternoon, she was eating bushes across the road - in our neighbour's yard for a change!


This pastel painting is from a photo I took of Miss Moose when she was chomping on my Mountain Ash tree last winter. I opened the door and told her to stop destroying my tree, and as she stared at me, I took her picture. It was rather scary because she is so VERY tall, and I wasn't sure if she would charge at me. I've seen her charge at my dogs before - so I know she does that when she's frightened pr annoyed.


She just ignored me though, and continued "pruning" my tree up to about the 8 foot mark. Oh well! She's so beautiful that I guess I have to not mind what she eats. And, the tree did just fine this summer, so no real damage was done!

WHAT A DAY!

My dogs were going CRAZY barking this morning, so I went out in my pajamas/housecoat to see what was happening. (It was windy and cold, especially on bare legs and feet!) There they were, in the trees, charging a female moose. I got them to come up to the studio, and shut them in while I ran for my camera. As I went back outside, I realized there were 2 moose - a momma and her baby. I got as close as I dared (flip flops are not good for running away from a charging moose!), all the while talking to the momma, assuring her I only wanted a couple of pictures. This was the best one I got of the baby in the trees, with the darkness of the mother behind it.

click to enlarge images

After going inside again, I saw the moose come out of the trees and across the backyard. Here is the baby standing next to our greenhouse which is 8 feet at the peak. I took this one from INSIDE the house! (The mother was already jumping the fence to our neighbour's yard.)

And finally, a bit of a profile as the baby began to follow its mother.

This afternoon the dogs were barking again - but this time they were being challenged by several large deer. Glad it wasn't the HUGE coyote that is prowling around the neighbourhood, looking for our cats as snacks. The coyote is not afraid of humans - a very dangerous situation. It has actually circled people out hiking on Saturday, and ignored the clapping and yelling that usually scares them off. I'm not going out walking alone after dark for a few days!

Have a great weekend all!