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There are several reasons why I chose to paint Last One Out;  In my endeavor, through this series, to portray as many animals as I realistically could, I chose to use the rabbit to symbolize all of the small creatures that inhabit the park; secondly, although I’m a wildlife artist, I felt it would be a great disservice to my series not to represent, at least once, the human element that was an enormous part of the unfolding drama that summer (It also helped my inspiration, I suppose, to have worked with a fire fighter who actually saved the infant rabbit and have both consent to pose for me).

On August 20, known as Black Saturday, the security of the Old Faithful Inn was threatened by fire storms created by the North Fork Fire.  I depicted the rabbit and firefighter on that day, along the Firehole River about a mile north of the Inn.  The fire fighting forces in the park were comprised of both genders and all races.  By August 20, there were an estimated 9,500 people involved in the effort.  I chose to only portray the torso of the firefighter and leave the gender and color up to the viewer.

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