Cathie Richardson Illustration

A few years ago, I was painting at Tahoe City happily in my own little world. I was sitting on a bench near a fence and heard rustling on the other side of the fence.  I listened and looked for a bit and a small black bear peeked around the end of the fence not too far from me. We stared at each other. My heart seemed to stop, and he turned around. I forgot about him and went back to my painting. Then I felt something looking at me . . . The little bear had wandered around the other side of the fence to where I was sitting and was  stopped right in front of me. We stared at each other again. He seemed to be asking me, "are you still here?"  This was his turf, and he was getting impatient with me. He turned around again and wandered off. He was a little guy but I was terrified and could only muster this quick photo with my trembling hands. The bear has been my totem animal ever since. I collect photos of them, my sketchbooks are  decorated with stickers of them, and I...