Bighorn sheep are among the most typical animals of North America. Wild sheep species are found throughout most mountains of the world, but the Rocky Mountain bighorns are my favorite. As I paint mostly forest scenes, the challenge in this painting was to eliminate all the green and create a nice painting with nothing but brown tints. I wanted to give the feeling of being up high in the mountains, above the timber line. In most of my paintings, you cannot see the sky, but this one is an exception. I have shown a lot of sky just to create that special feeling of being up high in the mountains. The field work for this painting was done at Glacier National Park, where the sheep are very tame and easy to spot. The worn look of the rams' horns, caused by their numerous combats, was one of the nice things to paint. - Carl Brenders