Enassamishhinjijweian

A black bear sits with its back to you at the edge of a northern lake, facing a sky that runs from teal through green to gold at the horizon, and the whole air is full of birds. Owls, ducks, jays, warblers and thrushes cross in every direction between the spruce trunks, with more settled on the lichen-red rock in the foreground. Tom Uttech took the title from the Ojibwe for hope of good things to come.

The graduated sky is a large, slow area and the birds crossing it are small and much alike, so colour bands do more work here than shapes. Finished size 63.5 x 63.5cm.