Paintings with Log Cabins - Hal Foster

Hal Foster is just one of my favorite artists period. And like many artists because of his chosen field he is often over looked.
Most people know Hal's work from his comic strip Prince Valiant (1937) and his work on the strip Tarzan (1928). Born in Nova Scotia in 1892. Much of his youth was spent exploring the outdoors.
He also worked as staff artist for the Hudson Bay Company for a while. In 1919 he rode his bike to Chicago to study art and soon found work as an illustrator.
While known mostly for his comic work soon of his early illustration work centered around life north of the U.S. border.

One of the first illustration I came across of his was an image of what a canoe portage was like.

If you have ever done any kind of canoe portaging you can understand this illustration.
Now imagine doing it with gear not as light weight as modern gear.

















A lot of his early works were illustrations for stories about the Mounties. And looking at one of his early works about the Mounties I came across one the had a couple of log cabins in it.

While images of Hal's other works are limited, there are a couple good books out there on his life offering a look into his early life.

A young Hal Foster with a Mountie painting in the background.