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"Shelter Tent"
Oil on Panel, 16 x 20"
Price on request

I was inspired to produce this painting after reading Charles Sheldon’s accounts of hunting in early Alaska.

It is August 6, 1906. The hunting party, having skinned their brown bear, has settled back to enjoy a meal. They sit beneath a makeshift shelter tent and enjoy the view. Their horses are also enjoying a feed on the ample grass, and the men have gathered plenty of dry spruce for fuel.

Sheldon described this as the most attractive and convenient hunting camp he had ever occupied in the North. The shelter tent, which was canvas stretched over inclined poles, was, he said, well erected and provided good protection for themselves and their provisions.

Sheldon describes feeling guilty that he was not out exploring and scouting for sheep, which was the purpose of their trip. He was enjoying relaxing in front of the fire too much; watching the chattering ground squirrels darting through the camp; the red squirrels in the trees; the jays hovering looking for tidbits; but most of all the absence of mosquitoes which had plagued them elsewhere. Such is the joy of camp life.