Robert Bateman

"Like a massive shadow, the eagle sweeps along the coast. Finding a vantage point, he lands. Facing into the wind from the sea, he adjusts his wings. Once the king of the sky across the continent, the bald eagle has been forced to retreat because of the pesticides and development pressures, but in coastal areas as far apart as Florida and Alaska, he is not only surviving, but thriving. He is noted as a bold or clever hunter or fisherman, and so the edge of the sea provides easy fare for his diet. In this painting I wanted to emphasize the thrust into the wind of the bird, the uprooted tree, and the rocky spit. These elements project into space toward an endless horizon. In contrast is the rich tangle of mosses and other plants which have colonized the stump. I was almost suggesting a Japanese bonsai garden with a little hemlock tree dwarfed by the elements."