Tag Archives: snow leopard

Mongolia Monday- WildArt Mongolia Expedition Destinations: Altai Mountains and Sharga

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Mongolia country map with destination area

Expedition destinations by species

I leave for Mongolia a week from tomorrow! 

I posted about one of the three WildArt Mongolia Expedition destinations here. Today I’m going to cover the other two- the Altai Mountains and Sharga. The difficulty is that I have never been to any of them, so I don’t have any images to share. For Takhiin Tal, I used a photo from Khomiin Tal, the newest takhi release site, which is to the north. So I’ll post a couple of my own images that show similar terrain, based on what I’ve seen for both on Google Images.

The Mongolian Altai Mountains in Mongolia are the extension of a range that extends east from Kazakhstan. I saw the Gobi Altai Mountains during my 2010 two-week camping trip when we went to Orog Nuur, a remote lake. Farther west they are much higher and more rugged. The Expedition is going in September to be there between the summer heat of the Gobi and snow beginning in the mountains. We will go to the Altai Mountains first, in early September, but snow is still a possibility, so I’ll have a down bag and thermals, just in case.

Gobi Altai mountains at sunrise, Orog Nuur, July 2010

The reason we’re going is to see snow leopard habitat. These elusive cats are essentially impossible to spot. Researchers who have trapped and collared them have walked away and looked back to where they know they left the cat and have been utterly unable to see it. But we’ll keep an eye out anyway.

Sharga was an area of Mongolia that I had not heard of until I added saiga antelope to the list of the Expedition’s featured species. They are critically endangered. Less than twenty years ago there were over a million. The population crashed to under 50,000 in ten years, the most extreme drop ever seen in a large mammal species. Poaching and lax law enforcement after the fall of the communist government in the 1990s were the cause. Intense conservation efforts are under way to save them and build up the population, something we plan to learn more about.

Steppe grasslands, July 2011, traveling north from Ikh Nartiin Chuluu to Gun-Galuut

Sharga has some of the last stretches of the vast steppe grasslands that once extended from almost the Pacific west into Hungary. It is an area also known for producing what are considered by many to be the best horses, called Sharga Azarga,  in a country that seriously knows horses.

Arrangements are being made for a local reserve ranger to accompany us to help spot the saiga since they apparently now run at the slightest sight of humans and understandably so.

One of the missions of the WildArt Mongolia Expedition is, by traveling to these remote, beautiful places, to use the art that we will create to draw attention to them and the wildlife that lives there.

Mongolia Monday- Announcing The First WildArt Mongolia Expedition!

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Bactrian camels, the Gobi, August 2010

I am excited and proud to announce an amazing artistic adventure! For the first time ever, American and Mongolian artists will travel to the Gobi of Mongolia for wildlife watching and then collaborate to create both an online and international art exhibition of the animals and their habitats, including endangered species like the Przewalski’s horse.

From September 1-22, the first WildArt Mongolia Expeditionwill travel to a part of Mongolia which is far off the tourist track…a nomadic journey to the southwestern Gobi, where we will visit the Altai Mountains, land of the snow leopard; the Dzungarian Gobi, where the last wild tahki (Przewalski’s horse) was seen in 1969 and where they were re-introduced to Takhiin Tal in the early 1990s; and a last remaining stretch of the legendary Central Asian grassland steppe, the Sharga, where one of the mostly highly endangered antelopes in the world, the saiga, is making a last stand. En route between these special destinations, based on my experience of six trips to Mongolia, we will see wonderful things every day since in the Land of Blue Skies, more than in most places, the journey really is the destination.

Khomiin Tal takhi, September 2006

Expedition arrangements are being made and staff provided by Nomadic Journeys, with whom I have traveled for five out of my six trips to Mongolia.

Updates on my own blog, a Facebook public page and a Board on Pinterest will help you follow along with the preparations and the expedition itself. I will do my best to help you feel what it will be like to travel to an extraordinary place and see the animals, land and people of Mongolia.

Coming up between now and departure will be the latest news, information and links on the featured species and the scientists who study them, profiles of the participating artists, information about gear and logistics and more.

Ovoo with the Mongolian national symbol, the Soyombo, Gobi, August 2010

Excerpt from the Expedition prospectus:

Expedition Mission: To travel to the southwestern Gobi and visit the habitats of and, with luck, see the following endangered species: snow leopard (very highly unlikely, but not totally impossible), takhi (Przewalski’s horse), khulan (Mongolian wild ass) and saiga antelope. There will also be many birds that we may observe, including lammergeier, steppe and golden eagles, cinereous vultures and a variety of songbirds, along with small mammals such as tolai hare and two species of foxes, and probably small reptiles such as lizards.

Expedition Goals:
- To observe these endangered species and explore their habitats, gathering reference for creating original art

- To teach Mongol artists (at least two of which will be coming with us) how to use their art to support conservation and to share our expertise in wildlife art fieldwork and drawing/painting outdoors, but also to learn from them about their country through their eyes as artists

- To meet the scientists who are doing research on these species, have an opportunity to learn from them and apply that knowledge to the art we will create

- To gather reference for a joint American-Mongol art exhibition which will be exhibited in both Ulaanbaatar and the United States

The Gobi after rain, grazing horses, August 2010

The WildArt Mongolia Expedition is “A Fourth Neighbor Initiative” of Art Partnerships for Mongolian Conservation (APMC is my non-profit association which works through the Conservation Biology Department of the Denver Zoo.) “Fourth Neighbor” refers to the government of Mongolia’s Third Neighbor foreign policy through which the country pursues close connections with countries like the USA, Korea and Japan as a counterbalance to being located between Russia and China. The US Ambassador, who I met with in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, last September, reacted with approval to the concept, as did the Director of the Arts Council of Mongolia. I see artists and other creative people as potentially important “fourth neighbors” for Mongolia, a country with an incredibly rich artistic heritage and many artists working today in a variety of media.

Maps of Mongolia and the Expedition area:

Mongolia country map with destination area

Expedition destinations by species

Note: The photos used to illustrate this post are from my previous trips to similar areas.

To Finish Yesterday’s Post….

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I ran into serious problems posting the images of the kittens yesterday and finally gave it up and wrote to tech support. Turns out, doesn’t it figure, that it was something I had done with a setting that I shouldn’t have. But the reason I bring it up is to pass on how quick and great the tech support was! Three Cheers for WordPress!

So, since it’s the next day, here’s a new ART THOUGHT FOR THE DAY, one of my all-time favorites for truth and pithiness, from Edgar Degas, who knew a thing or two about painting:

“Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.”

NORTH COAST OPEN STUDIOS

Had a good turnout this year. Lots of nice people, many of them first time visitors. Here’s a photo of the studio ready to go, with Niki also ready to help with hosting. He appointed himself Official Escort To And From The Cars, much to the amusement of the attendees.

HOT OFF THE EASEL

Just finished this one yesterday. The reference was a print photo that I had been meaning to paint for ages. It’s important to see the warm tones in the snow leopard’s coat, which is similiar to polar bears. It’s an oil on canvas on board and is 24″x18″, so the head is life-sized or maybe a little larger. If you are interested in snow leopard conservation, check out the Snow Leopard Trust at www.snowleopard.org.

Great weekend and more to come!

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I had a terrific time doing North Coast Open Studios this year, not the least because I sold the coyote painting shown below in my June 3 post. The title is now “Double Check”

Lots of nice people, most of whom had not been to my studio before. On Saturday afternoon, one couple stopped by who had driven all the way from Ukiah just for the event. She had researched the artists and chosen the ones they wanted to visit, since, with over 100, there wasn’t time to see them all. I was very flattered to make the cut!

I’m now in prep mode for the Marin Art Festival and will head south on Friday. Really looking forward to it. Temperatures are supposed to be in the 80′s, though. I paid an extra $25 for electricity, so the portable fan goes with me. I ain’t suffering for my art if I can help it.

Today I’ve been scanning drawings for new notecards. Here’s three of them, a jackrabbit, spotted hyena and a snow leopard:

The next big event for me locally will be Wild Visions 2, a group show consisting of myself, Paula Golightly, John Wesa, Linda Parkinson, Shawn Gould. This time we are showing with Meridian Fine Art at the Umpqua Bank Community Gallery. There will be a reception the second Friday in August, so save the date! More as it gets closer.

What a trip….

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Finally got a chance to sift through my images from my trip to Missoula and Denver. Here’s what it was like at Denver International Airport on May 1, which was my outbound leg. The airport was closed down for almost an hour due to heavy, blowing snow. Then we were number six in line for de-icing at twenty minutes per plane. Had never seen de-icing before, won’t mind if I never do again- Happy May Day?

My camera luck ran out in Missoula. Digital SLRs and lenses don’t go well with pavement, so one of the Nikon D70s and the 28-300mm go in for repairs today. In the meantime, I couldn’t stand the thought of going to the Denver Zoo sans camera, so I went to a nifty camera store in Missoula and bought a Nikon Coolpix S10. Same file size as the D70, 6mg, 10x super zoom, decent “shutter” speed, supposedly. Well, we’d see about that. Fifty bucks for a 2gb card and I was set, I hoped.

I really put it through its paces and I’m very impressed. It wouldn’t do the job out in the field, too slow, but for anything that isn’t moving too fast, it did great! Here’s two images that will show what it can do. The first was through plate glass with no polarizing filter. And yes, those are piranha. The second is a snow leopard who was pacing back and forth waiting for mealtime. I couldn’t get quite what I wanted in terms of variety of leg position, but the focus was decently sharp. The image is more than good enough to use for reference.

And finally, A RECENT VISITOR, at 7:30 in the morning a couple of weeks ago out by the pond. Niki and two of the cats came out with me to see what was going on. We all went our various ways without incident or excitement.