A little out of place isn't it? Anyways here's the story:
I'm an artist from Northern Ontario. My dad is very much the outdoors man and loves the history of hunters and trappers. For this Christmas I thought I'd finally create a piece of art for him that he requested/hinted at many times, which is an old trapper (I guess in the pre-industrial era but I haven't settled on anything yet) in a mountain/winter scene.
I've gathered references and done some preliminary work and I think I have the composition hammered out: trapper and dog at the edge of a river set in front of mountains during winter sunrise. The problem is, the trapper on his own just standing there isn't exactly evocative imagery. I'd like for him to be working on some task, but unlike my dad the outdoors/fishing/hunting really isn't my thing and I'm quite ignorant in this area. I'm at a loss for what he could/should be doing. I don't know if a trapper has much need for trapping minnows, or even if it's plausible that it would be on his list of priorities.
So I searched around to try to find an active online fishing/outdoors forum to see if anyone could give me a little help with this. If you have any ideas about what a trapper in the 1800's -> early 20th could be doing riverside during the winter, I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions
Thanks for taking a look.