Cougar — Gallery Canvas water Drawing was always the foundation

Drawing was always the foundation of his practice — long before the watercolours that made him famous

This is Glen's graphite at its most patient

his work hangs at the Smithsonian Institution and was personally presented to a sitting U

This is one of Glen's most serene compositions: the swans' white completely luminous against the blue of the water

the way they hold their bodies when uncertain

Cougar — Gallery Canvas water Drawing was always the foundationA cougar descends a rock face low and deliberate, its mouth slightly open, every muscle of the haunches visible under the tawny coat. The field notes at the bottom of the painting record the specimen: a female from the north end of Vancouver Island, collected in November 1932, now held in the ROM collection. This scientific context is not incidental Glen worked from actual specimens as well as field observation, and the anatomical precision of this