Whispers of Winter

Whispers of Winter  9" x 12" acrylic  $1100

In Whispers of Winter, I take you into the eastern slopes of the Cascades, where winter arrives without fanfare, just the hush of snow settling over the land. A bull elk stands alone in the open, his breath rising in a faint cloud that lingers in the cold air. The rut is over, and he now faces a new challenge—surviving the long, unforgiving season ahead.

Meadow grasses and sagebrush surround him, their colors fading beneath the first falling snow. Behind him, dark Ponderosa pines hold their ground, a steady presence in a shifting world. The sky is heavy, the air sharp. You can almost hear the silence, broken only by the muffled crunch of hoof against frozen earth.

This painting is about that quiet fight—the grit it takes to make it through winter. The elk’s body holds power, but it’s his stillness that tells the story. Strength, earned and honest, standing against the cold. It’s a reminder of how wild places demand respect—and how the creatures that call them home endure with a kind of quiet dignity that doesn't need to be loud to be fierce.