Rocky Mountain Wildlife

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is also the
author of The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek, and
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Hom

Rocky Mountain Wildlife is a beautiful art book that celebrates
Canada’s Rocky Mountain wilderness and the creatures who inhabit it.

Parker, who is now in his mid–50s, has been painting wildlife for the
last 20 years. He was first inspired by the bird paintings of J. Fenwick
Lansdowne. Many of his wildlife paintings have become limited-edition
prints and been widely reproduced in books and national magazines. Rocky
Mountain Wildlife depicts 14 bird and animal species, including elk,
moose, black bear, red fox, lynx, cougar, mountain goats, Canada geese,
the great blue heron, and the loon.

The settings are magnificent, the compositions superb. Each double-page
color plate is accompanied by a brief natural history written in an
engaging style. The personal tone, the seeing eye, add intensity to the
work: “Looking into the eyes of a wolf facing me in the mountains is
one of my most thrilling experiences. The eyes are intelligent and
curious. They cast an aura of independence that makes you realize, here
in the wilderness, we and they are equal” (“Grey Wolf”).

Parker’s preface sketches the seasonal features of the Rockies, and
the changes that passing seasons bring to the animals. In moonlit,
predawn mornings the artist pursues his quarry, camera in hand. The
paintings capture his love for the creatures and their habitat. It is
surely that loving reverence that marks these fine paintings. Rocky
Mountain Wildlife is a special achievement, a book for all ages.