Howes produced these painted studies in order to mock up large-scale dioramas he planned to install at the Bruce Museum. Howes painted several of these works en plein air, or outdoors, working from direct observation. Others were completed later at the Bruce Museum based on black-and-white photographs Howes produced on his expeditions, as well as detailed sketches of plants and animals from his notebooks and swatches of colors he mixed in the field.
