Mongolia 2011

New Painting Debut! “Yak Herder-Hentii Mountains, Mongolia”

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Yak Herder-Hentiii Mountains, Mongolia 18x14" oil (price on request)

And here’s the step by step process by which I created this painting:

The reference photo I used of a local man who hauled water to the Jalman Meadows ger camp where I was staying with another artist this past August.
I started out with a raw sienna toned RayMar canvasboard and began with a loose brush drawing for placement and position of the head and features. I've already changed him into a del instead of western clothes.
Next I established the light and shadow areas.
I re-drew the features and started to add some color.
I went darker with the background and launched into modeling his head.
I was using two or three other photos for the del and continued to model his head, paying particular attention to the features, value relationships and the various colors in the shadows.
At this point I realized that the del was opening the wrong way due to the other photos i was using and that I needed much better reference for it
I'd had del made for myself and my husband in 2009. He was kind enough to model for me in his.
I decided to finish the bottom to the edge of the canvas and I also lightened up the background. So, once more, "Yak Herder-Hentii Mountains, Mongolia"

Mongolia Monday- The Journey Is The Destination, Part 2

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The next leg of the artist’s tour was from Ikh Nart to Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve. I had only been there once, in 2009, driving east from Ulaanbaatar. This time we were going to go almost straight north…we hoped.

Great bustard we spotted not long after we left the reserve. It was the first time I had ever seen one.

We got back to the main tarmac road between Ulaanbaatar and China and traveled on it for awhile. Then we passed a spot where a dirt road went off to the right at an angle. Khatnaa started to drive on, spotted a white van coming toward the tarmac, stopped, backed up, got out and walked over to them as they slowed down and then stopped. After a short conversation, he came back to the car, backed us up and off we went onto the earth road. He had been able to get enough information about weather and road conditions that he felt ok about  taking the “local road”. As usual, this made me very happy.

Why you don't just pick up a rental car at the airport and head out into the countryside in Mongolia on your own. You can now get a good road atlas, but it's deceiving because this is what the roads are like all over the country except for a very few wide gravel roads and a slowly increasing amount of tarmac on main routes.
We drove through a small soum center.
As we headed north, there was a dark storm front to our left and fluffy white clouds and sunshine to our right. The road going north was running right along the front. We were out in steppe countryside with no one else around...not a single other car, not even a ger.
After some spatters, we found ourselves traveling in pretty heavy rain for about 15-20 minutes and then came to a stream that we had to cross. Now I started to wonder what the road conditions would be up ahead of us.
The light was really spectacular, though, as we went up some in elevation and started to see gers again. It had stopped raining where we were, but was still stormy to the west and north of us.
Dropping down into a valley and, crossing it, we encountered something I'd seen before....really hard greyish dried mud combined with many very deep potholes. Khatnaa, with extreme care, had almost picked our way through it when we felt the rear end on the passenger side drop down hard, accompanied by a noise that didn't sound good at all. He pulled over on a level spot and crawled under the car. The verdict? The spring (new and Chinese-made) was broken. What to do? We drove on very carefully. VERY carefully.
What Khatnaa knew, that I didn't, was that over the rise that you can see almost in the middle in the above photo was our destination, the Steppe Nomads ger camp at Gun-Galuut. With much creaking and care, we made it over the pass and across the valley to the camp.

Next week: what happened next….

Mongolia Monday- Not MORE Argali? Four Great Days At Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve

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Those of you who have followed this blog for awhile know that I’ve been going to Ikh Nart since my first trip in 2005. This time I had the pleasure of sharing the reserve with a fellow artist, Pokey Park.

Wildlife being what it is, one never knows what one will see on a given trip, or even if. But this visit exceeded our every reasonable expectation. For two of the four days, it seemed like we could hardly go an hour as we drove around the reserve without seeing argali, ibex, argali and ibex in the same place or cinereous vultures, a golden eagle or other birds. And we had sightings both other days, but not nearly as often.

The universe being what it is, on our way out of the reserve we drove through one of the areas where we had had multiple sightings of argali and ibex the previous morning and saw not a single animal.

We stayed at Nomadic Journey's Red Rock Ger Camp
Ikh Nart landscape
Scanning for argali and ibex
But I was the lucky one who first spotted a single ram, who then joined up with a big group making ten all together. What a sight they were!
We maneuvered through the rocks, caught up and re-sighted them three times
They've seen something, we had no idea what
Golden eagle
A herder's winter shelter for his livestock
One of the pictographs on the rock cliff
We went to the valley where the research camp is located and got great sightings of a large group of ibex
And for a bonus, a beautiful sunset
We also were able to follow this group of ewes and lambs
How many sheep can you see?
They are totally at home in these rocky uplands
Black kite
We drove south to see the pictographs and Tibetan inscriptions on the cliff in the background
Pokey helped fill the troughs; it's a Mongol tradition that passersby will fill them if they are empty
Ibex pictograph; researchers have just started to catalog and study the cultural resources of the reserve, of which there are many
Argali ewe and lamb
Argali ram

Next week, it’s on to Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve.

Mongolia Monday- The Journey Is The Destination, Part 1

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While I had planned an itinerary to go to specific locations to see wildlife, I knew from experience that over any hill or around any corner one can encounter sights in Mongolia that will take one’s breath away and result in many requests for the driver to stop or at least slow down.

This trip was no exception. We left Arburd Sands for Ikh Nart, heading, I believed based on previous conversations and planning, almost due east across an area that I had not seen before.

We weren’t on the road for long when the “Stop!” requests started. Here’s what we saw:

Typical mid-morning light on the steppe
The fields were covered with asters almost as far as we could see along both sides of the road
We started to come down into a valley and spotted a herd of Mongol horses
Then we came upon more, in beautiful morning light
A young herder in a very nice dark red del carrying a very long urga rode over to have a chat with our driver
We drove over the ger where he lived and I got a few quick shots of what was clearly quite a horse operation in a spectacular setting
Driving on, we quickly came upon even MORE horses, including these two young stallions mock-fighting
By now we'd dubbed this area the Valley of the Horses. They were everywhere we looked! And they were in great condition due to good rains creating excellent graze.
It was absolutely idyllic. We could have stayed there all day. But Ikh Nart beckoned.

A few hours later I saw a largish-looking city up ahead and couldn’t square it with what I had seen on the map. We drove around the edge of it.

Zuunmod

When we came to the railway line and I saw the tarmac road, I realized what route we had taken. As it turned out, Khatnaa was not able to get reliable information on road conditions or weather on the route we were going to take and Jan had pointed out when we were discussing it back in UB that along the way was a type of mud that, if it rained (and it had been raining quite a lot) was very easy to get stuck in.

So Khatnaa did the sensible thing, which was to take the longer, but certain route north back towards Ulaanbaatar. The mountain behind Zunnmod in the photograph is Bogd Khan. On the other side of it is Ulaanbaatar.

We crossed the railroad tracks and picked up the main paved road south, which literally leads to China, and that I have traveled on quite a few times now.

Even though it at least tripled the distance we drove, it actually took less time to get to Ikh Nart because we could travel at 50-60 mph instead of 15-30mph that is all one can safely do on large stretches of the earth roads. Such is travel in Mongolia. If we had followed the original plan, we would have missed the Valley of the Horses. But I do want to check out that other route some day ’cause I know there will be something good there, too.

Mongolia Monday – Arburd Sands Ger Camp And An Interesting Side Trip

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The next stop on the “artist’s tour” was Arburd Sands ger camp. This was more a “cultural” stop, than for wildlife viewing, but we got some of that, too.

This was the third time I had stayed at the camp and it was great to see owners Batbadrakh and his wife, Densmaa, again.

Arburd Sands ger camp; the dune complex behind the camp is about 20km long and is one of the northernmost extensions of the Gobi.
Exercising a young Mongol race horse; the owners of the camp are members of a prominent horse racing family.
We took a day trip to two local sacred mountains; this is Baga Hairhan Uul (Small Sacred Mountain).
Scanning the mountain paid off with this sighting a few female Siberian ibex; you can just see one on the lower right side of the second pointed rocks from the left, the head and half the body are visible.
Nearby, to the left of where we were sitting, was a cinereous vulture nest with an adult and fledgling.
Our second destination...Zorgol Uul, one of my favorite mountains.
On the south side is this lovely stupa; the fence is festooned with khadag, blue offering scarves.
On the "front" facing the main road south was a cinereous vulture nest that I don't remember seeing on previous trips.
At the base of the mountain is a small seasonal lake; to the left of the khadag is a large rock with a Tibetan inscription and if you look up to the top you can see a black kite perched on another big rock; quite a composition.
The family that runs the ger camp is known for its horses. One came in third in the State Naadam race this year, which is a big deal since the first five are considered almost equally winners in a 35km race that may have over 400 entries; I asked if the horses were nearby and could we take pictures of them and, yes, they were only a kilometer or so away. The stallion's manes are allowed to grow and grow and grow....because that is believed to give them strength. We got some great shots!
While we were there, three men, probably relatives or friends of the owner, came by to check out the horses.
One of the highlights of the entire trip was seeing Sodnam again; I "met" her when my husband and I were at Arburd Sands in 2008 and we took to each other immediately even though we couldn't speak each other's language. She's 92 now and I'll bet she's caused some mischief in her time. She's Batbadrakh's brother's wife's mother. The lady on the right is the mother of Batbadrakh and the widow of Choidog, his father.
Then it was our turn to ride; I really liked this sarel (grey) gelding and asked Densmaa if they could box him up and send him to California; a joke since I don't think Mongol horses would do well at all in our higher humidity sea level climate.
The Arburd Sands ger camp is set up in a new spot every year or so to protect the land; this year Densmaa grinned at me, pointed to the table and lounges and said "How do you like our beach?" We liked it a lot even though it's a bit far from the ocean.
And one of the reasons is that it was a great place to watch spectacular sunsets like this one.
There really is nothing quite like storm light over Mongol gers.

Three New Paintings From My Latest Mongolia Trip

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It’s always interesting to sit down at the easel again after a “lay-off”. This time it was over six weeks. Things feel awkward and thoughts of “Oh, jeez, will I remember how to paint.” flit through one’s head.

But it always works out. I get back in the saddle by doing a few small, warm-up pieces using my newest reference. This time I picked three different subjects that I thought had great light, so that I could work on light/shadow and value relationships. The first two were done in two sittings with a some additional tweaking after I’d let them sit overnight. The third took somewhat more time since I was also working to catch a likeness and keep the shadow somewhat high key.

Shar Mor (Yellow Horse) 8x10" oil
Light On Hills 9x12" oil
Yak Herder 12x9" oil

Mongolia Monday: Flora And Fauna- Hustai National Park

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The next ten or so posts will cover all the places I visited on this past trip, some familiar and well-loved and some new.

The two-week trip with Pokey emphasized the best wildlife viewing places that I’ve found. We headed west out of Ulaanbaatar on a sunny August morning….

and spent two productive days at Hustai, seeing lots of takhi and other wildlife. The wildflowers were still in bloom, too, which was lovely.

These horses were part of a group approaching a water hole right by the road; you'll have to wait for the painting to see the rest...
At first this harem was a long way off
But as we watched from behind a line of rocks, they drifted closer and closer
Finally, they grazed their way right past us in the fading light; it was quite wonderful to have them come so close
Marmots generally run straight for their holes when spooked, but for some reason we will never fathom, this one ran for a long way right down the middle of the road
These darian partridges were a new species for me
Black kite in a birch tree; "Hustai" means "birch" in Mongolian
Cinereous vulture, the largest Eurasian vulture which can weigh up to 30 lbs.
This grasshopper suddenly appeared on our windshield
Saw more spiders on the trip this year than ever before, including this one on a member of the phlomis family
Deep purple globe thistles
Edelweis

Mongolia 2011 Location Sketches

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Little by little I’m getting caught up, but there are a couple of really interesting irons in the fire that I’ll be posting about in the weeks ahead that have taken a fair amount of email time.

In the meantime, there’s this trip I just took, during which I managed to find some sketching time, both in my journal and in my iPad.

First are the ones I did in my Moleskin sketch journal. They were pretty much all done in five minutes or less for the small ones and maybe twenty for the one that crosses both pages. Some were done during lunch stops, some at camp between drives. The cows and sheep were done at the home ger of my driver, where I got to stay overnight. That wonderful experience will rate its own post:

...we're going and that's ok.

Since no one pestered me while I did the above sketch, I got out my iPad and did a couple more quick studies.

Parliament Building
Three of a large group of women who were meeting on the square, some wearing beautiful del

Before we left on our “wildlife tour”, Pokey and I had time to wander around UB. I took her to the Museum of the Chojin Lama. Since I had been in the temples before, I got out my iPad and did a little sketching of a few of the statues flanking the entry stairs of the main temple.

Home Again. And Album Of “I Was There” Photos

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Five wonderful weeks in Mongolia just flew by. I managed to spend three of those weeks in the countryside: two weeks doing the “wildlife watching” tour with nationally-known sculptor Pokey Park and then a week of camping with a guide/cook and driver.

Lots of great reference and stories to match will be posted here in the weeks to come, but for now I’m still catching up and working on a couple of new projects, about which  more later.

In the meantime, here’s a collection of the photos that have me in them, most taken by our great driver/guide, Khatnaa, who brought his own camera and who definitely has an eye as a photographer.

Lunch up in the mountains of Hustai National Park
Mongol horse ride #1 at Arburd Sands ger camp
Stupa at Zorgol Uul, a mountain not far from Arburd Sands
Probably my favorite photo from the trip; I met these women in 2008 when my husband and I went to Arburd Sands and I was thrilled to see them again this year; Lkhamsuren, on the right, is the widow of famous horsetrainer, Choidog, whose son, Batbadrakh, is now family patriarch; Surenjav, next to me, and I somehow connected in 2008 even though we couldn't talk to each other due to the language barrier. She's 92 now and is Batbadrakh's brother's mother-in-law. Being Mongolia, neither expressed any real surprise at this western woman who they met three years ago walking into the ger one morning to say "Sain bain uu"
Orphaned argali lamb at the Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve research camp
Happiness is a nice ger and comfy del at Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve
After the second longish hike up a steep slope in one morning, I was rewarded with this great view of the valley of the Kherlen Gol; Chinggis Khan almost certainly knew and rode through this place
Mongol horse ride #2 at Jalman Meadows ger camp, up north in the Hentii Mountains, and overlooking the valley of the Tuul Gol, which also flows through Ulaanbaatar
The second night of the camping trip, I got to stay overnight with a herder family for the first time. It happened to be the home of my driver, Puugee, who on the right. Next to me on the left is Hashchuluun, his wife, then a lady who I did not catch the name of and, finally, Puugee's oldest son, one of three