Switching Gears...

So I sat and painted yesterday on the "Yeti" (which I aptly named "Gerpu Chenpo", supposedly meaning "Big Big" in Tibetan) - I've always liked painting animals about as much as painting Cowboys...can't say why, just do.  The bigger the animal the better.

This made me pull out a set of miniatures for a diorama I'd planned to do in the future, but am now starting on it as of today - "David defending his Sheep from the Bear" (because the bear is a Big animal : )

Anyway, started my initial research on this and was fascinated to find that the bear David faced (I Samuel 17:33-37) would have been a Syrian Brown Bear, a smaller cousin of sorts you could say to the Grizzly Bear.  They are unfortunately said to be extinct in Syria and Israel, although some believe a few may remain.  Today they are still found in Turkey, Iran and Iraq.  They are a beautiful bear and much larger than I had anticipated.