The Lone Wolf At Bay

January 21, 2017
   When I was growing up in Kingman, my grandmother, Louise Guess—everyone called her "Guessie"—had this painting in her living room and whenever I stayed with her I used to study it intently:

A Lone Wolf at Bay (my made up title)

   I always assumed it portrayed a New Mexico scene, perhaps somewhere around Silver City (my grandparents had a ranch near Red Rock and later in the Animas Valley of New Mexico). I found out a few years ago, the painting actually portrays a rural scene in Europe and this print was widely sold. Ha. That's so crazy. Funny how we can infuse a picture with an entire back story of our own. The theme, of the lone coyote, or wolf, always being an outsider, alone in the cold, appealed to me as a kid and perhaps even more so today.

Another take on the lone wolf, pondering his estrangement. Or, more accurately, we ponder the lone wolf's estrangement and give the scene power through our incessant anthropomorphizing.

   And here's one more along the lines of this theme:

Lone Wolf in the Snow - Stepan Feodorovich Kolesnikov (1879-1955)

"Every picture tells a story. . .don't it?"
—Rod Stewart