Boyd makes grizzly pic into art

I am so old I often can’t remember how long ago certain things that I remember clearly actually happened. This week’s story started about 30 years ago. I am pretty sure it was before the Red Bench Fire in 1988.

Anyway, whenever it was, it was when Diane Boyd was doing wolf research on The North Fork and manning a lookout in the summer. I visited her when she was living in Frank Clutes homestead cabin at Moose City. She had just finished an oil painting of a white-tailed buck and it was beautiful. I asked if she would paint a wolf or grizzly bear for me. She agreed but said I was number 14 on her list and she was only getting time to paint three or four a year.

Well, before I ever got to the top of the list she was gone from The North Fork except for a weekend visit once or twice a year and I pretty much forgot about the painting. Until this year.

Diane had returned and is spending the winter in her cabin and I asked her about the painting. As a result she agreed to do a grizzly painting for me and we spent time the next week or so looking at photos to find the right pose and color.

We picked a photo that I took of the bear we call Betsy that I took in October 2013. Ironically, the next day Diane saw Betsy and her single remaining two-year-old cub on Trail Creek Road.

Just days before she finished the painting she spotted a grizzly on Trail Creek Road feeding on a gut pile. Diane watched if for hours from her car and when I arrived I took the picture that accompanies this column.

On Thanksgiving, Diane delivered the finished painting and it is better than good, it is terrific. It is currently at the Glacier Frame Shop getting properly framed. I would advise anyone who would like a wildlife painting to contact Diane soon — before you end up 14th on the list. Write her at Trail Creek Road, Polebridge, MT 59928.

In addition to getting the painting and enjoying the great food at Sondreson Hall we had one bad event in the Trail Creek area. An absent resident’s boathouse was broken into and his new rubber boat and new trailer were stolen. The saddest part is that the theft was done by the 50-year-old son of a neighbor. After several days everything was recovered except the oars, which the thief says he will replace.

The Sheriff’s Office has sent the information to the county attorney and I presume the thief will soon be arrested for felony theft. He has also been banned from the area by his neighbors.

We all know the risks of crime even in our remote special place. We don’t expect it from someone who has been a neighbor for decades. This is not the first time and I suppose it won’t be the last, but it sure is disappointing and affects families, not just the victim and the criminal.