About this Painting

Title - “Returning”

A banana slug looks on at the legacy of a grizzly bear, whose skull now rests in front of the nurse log on the forest floor, surrounded by mushrooms. Read the story of the other 7 paintings in the Forest Floor series here.

This is a fantasy painting of a bear skull and mushrooms, part of the Forest Floor series.

This is a listing for the original. Original painting is acrylic on canvas, 16”x20” with 0.75” canvas depth.

This painting is signed in paint at the bottom right corner by the artist, and on the back with the artist’s custom aspen leaf stamp. The wrapped edges are painted black to match, so you can hang it without a frame.

Hanging hardware will be attached for shipping. This painting is unframed, but you can contact us after purchase for framing options.

You can also shop prints of this image. Choose from canvas prints, paper prints or embossed foil prints.

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This item ships from British Columbia, and may take several weeks to arrive. Prices are in US dollars.

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About this Species

Much artistic license was taken with the Forest Floor series, and composition often won out over biological correctness, However, here are a few of the species Kathryn chose to honour in this painting:

Grizzly bear (skull)

Grizzly bears are omnivores who cover large territories in Canada and Alaska. Coastal grizzlies tend to be larger than the ones in the Rocky mountains, due to a richer diet that includes salmon and shellfish on the coast. Grizzlies also forage in rotting logs for grubs and tubers in the forests.

Chanterelles

Chanterelles are one of the most common species of wild edible mushrooms. True chanterelles do not have gills like other mushrooms, but intricate, branching folds that run parallel to the stalk. Chanterelles grow in a variety of coniferous and deciduous forests, and have a rich and complex flavour.

Coralroot Orchid

These pink and white orchid flowers do not photosynthesize like most plants - they instead use nutrients from mycorrhyzal fungi, in a process known as myco-heterotrophy. As a result of this process, the strange, beautiful Corallorhiza flowers have never been successfully cultivated and can only be admired on the forest floor.

Fly Agaric Mushroom

Amanita muscaria grows in many deciduous and coniferous forests in the Pacific Northwest.  Its distinctive red mushroom caps are speckled with white.  Although beautiful, it is poisonous and hallucinogenic to humans. 

Banana slug 

Banana slugs are important detrivores, or decomposers of the forest floor.  They can be many shades of brown, yellow, green or even spotted, to blend in with the leaf litter.  Banana slugs live 1-7 years and are common in coastal forests from California to Alaska.  

All images remain copyright © Kathryn Beals.