Here in Montana during the past week, the low temperature with windchill factored in was a balmy 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.  As world leaders meet in Copenhagen to discuss regulatory and market strategies for slowing the human causes of climate change, I've heard neighbors complaining that Al Gore's prayers must have been answered as their vehicles refuse to start.

So it goes.

Every year about this time, I have a ritual of flooding an ice skating rank in the back yard.  I should tell you that the ice is perfect and if more of you lived in the neighborhood, Wildlife Art Journal publisher Jared Swanson, our ace graphics guru Anna Dingman, and I would gladly have you over for a skate and a cup of hot cocoa.  

For the last couple of weeks, I've been absent from tending to this blog while simultaneously preparing the next round of stories and images.  Please keep checking back.  Jared Swanson will soon be making an announcement about WAJ in the year ahead that we think you'll be excited to hear.

The reason for my brief recent sabbatical is no mystery:  the truth is that I'm nearing completion on a book project that has occupied my time for much of the last five years.  It's a biography that examines the environmental legacy of the American "media mogul" turned "bison baron" and eco-humanitarian Ted Turner.  It should be out in 2010. 

Apart from making ice with a garden hose in the back yard, I've been somewhat distracted from thinking about the art of nature.  Instead, I've been submerged in thinking about how Mr. Turner, as a private citizen, has gone about protecting imperiled species, amassing huge land holdings, and, at the same time, trying to address global issues that relate to ecology such as:  climate change, nuclear proliferation, and human population.  (Another part of my non-art writing is serving as a correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor and writing about world events such as this recent story about former mountain climber Greg Mortenson who builds schools for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mortenson has his own take on the role of U.S. military intervention in Central Asia).

All of these issues serve as backdrops for the living artists we celebrate at Wildlife Art Journal.  As a group, artists who embrace natural themes and subject matter in their work are among the most well-travelled, insightful, and educated lot I have known. The art of nature involves more than the pursuit of fine art.  The great works, the masterpieces, that have withstood scrutiny and critical analysis over time bring the viewer into a deeper zone of contemplation.

In the weeks ahead, this very theme will be addressed in a beautiful essay written by the eminent British scholar on wildlife art, David Trapnell, who has had an influential role in building the Nature In Art Museum to a position of international renown.

Look for Mr. Trapnell's essay, with images, in the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, happy holidays to each of you, wherever you are.  We look forward to meeting many of you in the year ahead.