Mountain Myth
1995
oil, 29 1⁄2" x 42"

Many explorers, scientists, and hunters have sought in vain to see an elusive snow leopard in the wild. This fierce, hardy cat, hunted for its spectacular pelt, inhabits some of the world’s most inhospitable terrain—the high mountains of central Asia. Traveling in the company of an American field researcher, high in the rugged mountains of Mongolia, my host captured a snow leopard in one of his traps. After fitting it with a radio collar, this magnificent animal was released and within seconds had melted into the rock, snow and stunted scrub.