This is another larger painting and I would consider it my first self-portrait. During the time I painted this I had been having frustrations in the area of relationships and while working through my emotions this painting evolved. What started as a bear sleeping in huckleberry bushes quickly took a life of its own, developing into a very real and raw portrayal of my feelings. This brown bear expresses those feelings through his somber expression and pose against the storming Alaskan skies and sea.