Martin the Friendly Bear

Martin the Friendly Bear was created by well-known landscape artist Shirley Rose Cockburn. A well accomplished artist who loves to share her passion through art studies, art shows, offering workshops, and selling personal original artwork, Shirley has recently been experimenting with the subject of wildlife – particularly bears.  

Portraying simple yet refined paintings her goal is to have people who look at her work to be drawn into the beauty of our landscapes and to feel the tranquility engulf them as they remember how utterly wonderful life is to walk hand in hand with nature. Shirley’s art is displayed at Northland Traders Trading Post in Temagami from early May to late October and her working studio is in Sturgeon Falls.

Numbering upwards of 100,000, black bears live throughout most of Ontario. They primarily inhabit forested areas where they are best able to find food, refuge and den sites.

Black bears come in more colors than any other North American mammal and can be black, brown, cinnamon, blond, blue-gray, or even white.

With the heaviest brain relative to body length of any land carnivore, black bears are one of the more intelligent mammals and have excellent long-term memory.