In 1985, the Royal Ontario Museum hosted Glen Loates: A Brush with Life, featuring the artist’s nature and wildlife paintings, including The Bald Eagle, previously presented to President Ronald Reagan. Loates, a self-taught artist, shared his passion for capturing the movement and spirit of animals, often creating dozens of sketches to perfect anatomy and motion. He favoured watercolour and relied on field studies over photos, beginning each work with the subject’s eye and finishing with the background.