“Moving On (Takhiin Tal Takhi Family Group) oil 18×36” price on request
I recently pulled out about a dozen paintings that for one reason or another I’d never gotten to “work” and can now see what I need to do. As I finish them I’ll be posting them here on my blog and also in my Fox Studio Facebook group.
“Moving On (Takhiin Tal Takhi Family Group)” was one of them. Spent my work day yesterday fixing it, which turned out to be an almost total repaint except for the horses, who just needed some tweaking, and the mountains in the background. In takhi/Przewalski’s horse family groups, as with American feral horses, the group (once called “harems”) they are led by the senior mare. She decides when and where they move to. The stallion brings up the rear which means he can keep a watchful eye on everyone, ready to defend them from predators like wolves, which are common in Mongolia.
I saw this family group of takhi at Takhiin Tal which is located at the upper eastern corner of the Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area, not far from where the last wild takhi was seen at a waterhole in 1969. I had permission to get out of the car and approach them, which I did slowly in a zig-zag pattern. They kept an eye on me while I took photos and finally moved off, giving me this great example of wild equid behavior.
“Moving On (Takhiin Tal Family Group)” oil 18×36″ price on request
International Children’s Day isn’t celebrated in the USA that I know of and suspect most Americans have never heard of it. It’s the exact opposite in Mongolia where it’s a big, big holiday. I just happened to be in Ulaanbaatar, having arrived a day earlier, and spent over two hours at Chinggis Khan Square, taking photos and thoroughly enjoying the day-long celebration.
Here’s a selection from the over 400 images I shot:
Now the long run to Takhiin Tal in the west began. We traveled through the deep Gobi with the Gobi Altai Mountains to the south. No paved roads, but mostly good earth roads, a lot of it graded and well-maintained.
Memorial ovoo, well-known in Mongolia. It was built by a son in memory of his father, a very famous wrestler who died in a tragic accident.
The Five Snouts. This little ribbon with hand-drawn heads of the five species of livestock the Mongols herd was unlike anything I had seen at any other ovoo.
Good earth road.
Gobi Altai mountains.
We turned south in the late morning and stopped for lunch here.
The boundary of Chandmani soum and a photo op!
We dropped down into a very large valley set between the mountains
Our next stop was the soum center of Erdene. One of the drivers need a part for his van. It turned out that our other driver had relatives in town and we were invited to lunch! Which included all my favorites: buuz, aruul, urum, suutaitsai (steamed mutton dumplings, dried curds, clotted cream and milk tea). It was a feast.
Not only did we get an amazing lunch, but the women made buuz for us to take with us.
Finally, it was time to go. On the left is Batmaa, who relatives these are.
A shot of Erdene with the typical mix of gers and permanent buildings. The Mongol dogs, called bankhar, are gathered around a female in heat. I got quite a few photos of this canine domestic drama.
On the road south again, we passed this very large herd of sheep and goats. Sustainable land use in a big issue in Mongolia. People can now have all animals they want, which was not true in socialist times. In many places the land is badly beaten up and overgrazed now.
Into the mountains again. At this point I was wondering what we would see. Would there be snow leopard habitat to photograph? These hills went on for miles and were definitely not what I have seen images of snow leopards in.
But rather suddenly, the landscape became much more rugged.
Now I knew. This had to be snow leopard country. I had our guide ask Batmaa, the driver who grew up in the area. He confirmed that the big cats are found here.
We stopped for a pee break and so Batmaa could look for a knife he’d lost three years ago. I had my camera with the 28-300 lens with me as I went off to find a large rock. Suddenly people called me back. I came running to them, looked up and, wow. there was a Siberian ibex nanny looking down at us.
I ran to the van, got the camera with the 80-400 and got some pretty good shots like this one, considering they were way, way up on the ridgetop.
A last look before they vanished.
As we continued down the canyon, it was magic light time on the mountaintops.
We passed a small ovoo.
There was a road of sorts, but with lots of rocks. The vans got us through just fine.
As we came out of the canyon, this gorgeous sight met our eyes. Our destination for the next day….Eej Hairhan Uul, the sacred mother mountain.
Our campsite near the shore of Boon Tsagaan Nuur; the dark square to the left is our toilet enclosure
My last post about the Expedition, which you can read here was about the leg of our journey that took us to the Gobi lake, Boon Tsagaan Nuur. Today’s post is an album of the birds we saw and that I photographed. We also had time to get our paints out and do some location work.
There isn’t a good standard bird guide yet for Mongolia, although one is being prepared, so I sent a batch of photos to Axel Braunlich, who is probably the leading expert on birds in Mongolia. He was kind enough to take the time to identify them for me. If you are interested in birds, and Mongolia is one of the world’s hotspots for birding with 427 species (you can find a list here), I highly recommend Axel’s blog “Birding Mongolia”.
All of these species, except the bar-headed geese, which I had seen on the Tuul Gol (river) near Hustai National Park in early May of 2005 on my very first trip, and ruddy shelducks, were new to me.
As we arrived within sight of the lakeshore, we spotted bar-headed geese
These geese are famous for their migration route…over the Himalayas at altitudes approaching 30,000 ft, the same as an airliner. One can imagine them landing on Mt. Everest (28,000+ feet) and waving as a plane flies over.
Once down on the lakeshore we saw, at a tantalizing distance, this large group of birds on a sand bar. Unfortunately the ground between them and us was ultimately too soft and there were also flood-fed streams. Sharon and Odna did their best, but finally had to turn back. I was able to make out great cormorants, eurasian spoonbills, gulls and terns, plus some ruddy shelducks in the water. Yesterday, as I looked over my photos to make my choices for this post, I saw that there were at least sixteen grey herons out there also.
Wild greylag geese flew by at one point.
There was also a long-legged buzzard.
It was interesting and a little odd, since I live on the north coast of California, to see shorebirds in the middle of the Gobi.
Long-toed stint
Common sandpiper
Little-ringed plover
Kentish plover
Curlew sandpipers, juveniles
Mongolian gull
Black-headed gull, juvenile
Common tern; adult and juvenile (who was begging for food to no avail)
White or eurasian spoonbills
Pied avocets
Ruddy shelducks
Common shelducks
We didn’t just birdwatch, but got out our painting and camera gear.
Magvadorj and Tugsoyun taking advantage of the afternoon light
Little did I know until he was done that Magvandorj was doing a painting of me painting.
Tugsouyn’s expressive interpretation of the scene
Sharon and Odna took a stroll down to the lake to enjoy the sunset
The next morning, which was, shall we say, a bit brisk, found Magvandorj up catching the morning light.
Sunrise at Boon Tsagaan Nuur
A local dog showed up as we broke camp, hoping to find some food that had dropped to the ground. He’s the traditional herder’s dog, called a “bankhar” and is in his short summer coat.
Last photos of the lake before departure.
It wasn’t easy to leave this wonderful place. But, by golly, through flooded rivers and streams and a long detour, we got there and were able to have the best parts of the day, afternoon, evening and morning, when the light was the best for painting and photography and the birds were active. Now it was time to head west and farther west with the Gobi Altai Mountains paralleling us to the south. At some point we would turn south and cross over them through….snow leopard territory!
After a wonderful stay at Arburd Sands and Bayan-Onjuul Soum, it was time for the Expedition to start in earnest. Our first destination was Boon Tsagaan Nuur, a lake deep in the Gobi that is known for the excellence of its birdwatching opportunities, both in the number of birds and variety of species.
We headed west across country to join up with the main southern east-west road, parts of which are now tarmac. We hadn’t traveled for long when we came upon a herder’s ger just in time to see them milking their mares.
Milking the mares. The foals are tied to a picket line so that their mothers won’t go far and held near the mare so that she will release her milk. Enough is left for the foal to get a good meal. This process is repeated every two hours, 24 hours a day for weeks or months. One result is the famous fermented mare’s milk “airag”, which to me tastes like fizzy yogurt. I like it a lot.
Sharon takes a photo of Tugs-Oyun, who is riding in the other van. We all loved her spiffy yellow glasses.
Getting water from a local well with the assistance of a young local. An adult had entrusted the keys and the job to him, which he carried off in style.
Camping near Arvayheer
Sharon shows Magvandorj how she photographs flowers close-up
En route to Bayanhongor
Ovoo en route to Bayanhongor
When we arrived at the place to get our water barrel refilled in Bayanhongor, we found that this young boy and his horse-drawn water cart was there ahead of us. A small gift of candy and he was happy to pose for photos. Many of the residential areas of the city are ger districts with no running water. People fetch it themselves, pushing or pulling a wheeled metal frame that holds a water barrel. Or they can have someone with a horse cart deliver it to them.
Driving south out of Bayanhongor, which is located at the base of the Hangai Mountains, we traveled through a long stretch of uplands, passing a lot of interesting rock formations, but no gers and relatively few livestock.
Reaching the Gobi, we saw the occasional ger. There was rain across a wide swath of the horizon. As you can see, the Gobi is gravel, not sand, although there are isolated dune complexes.
We came to the soum center of Baatsagaan, located not far from Boon Tsagaan Nuur. No petrol available and I think at this point the drivers found out what was ahead of us…
A lot of rain in the Hangai Mountains had poured down into the Gobi creating temporary rivers and streams. This was between us and the lake. So close, yet so far, since neither of our drivers could find a spot they felt confident taking the vans across. Now what?
Batmaa, the driver of the van I was in, grew up in this part of Mongolia and knows it well. He led the way north for quite a distance and then west. We passed really narrow spots like this and I wondered why we didn’t just zip across. But I learned many trips ago that things are often not as they appear to a non-Mongol and that we were going far out of our way for a reason. I had my suspicions though….
So benign looking and so tempting….
And then we came to this, clearly an established and well-organized operation of some kind.
And of course the answer was that Batmaa had brought us to the ford. I would guess the only one for many, many miles around, judging from the number of tractors, gers, and vehicles waiting to cross.
We got a preview of what was in store for us.
Uh. Oh.
Through the deepest part.
Piece of cake, right?
Now it was our turn. Here’s comes “our” tractor.
Last minute directions/instructions. Sharon and I made sure all our gear was up off the floor, just in case.
Here we go.
Mid-stream.
On the other side. Whew.
Our hero.
On to the south and then east in the setting sun.
We drove on and on, hoping to get back to the lake, but finally gave it up and set up camp in the dark with a stiff cold wind blowing. Here we are the next morning. Not too bad for just picking a spot at random. That is part of the Gobi Altai Mountain range to the south of us.
Catching up on my journal. Did I say it had been windy?
Packing up. The pump sprayer was for both washing our hands and, with an enclosure set up around it, our shower. It worked great and one could get hair and body washed with only a half liter of water, important now that we were going to be traveling through countryside where places to get water were at least a day apart.
At last! Boon Tsagaan Nuur!
A final stop so that our drivers could consult with local herders. Solar panels and satellite dishes are very common sights now at herder’s gers, along with motorbikes, mobile phones and small flat panel tvs. But this is still a tough environment to live in and only the knowledgeable and smart thrive.
We drove along the north side of the lake back to the east end, where the birds would be.
The classic landscape of Mongolia….
We hadn’t even gotten to the lake yet, having come to a series of interlaced streams we needed to cross, when we spotted bar-headed geese!
This species is famous for its ability to migrate from Central Asia to India. Over the Himalayas. At close to 30,000 ft. Which is the height an airliner can fly. Got some great photos from which there will be paintings.
One more river to cross. Our van stalled out in the middle, but Batmaa got it started again and we made it across.
Our cook, Soyoloo, and guide, Tseegii, walking down to the lake.
We had only meant to stop this close to the lake for lunch, but decided to camp overnight. The mosquitos weren’t bad at all, just annoying for a relatively short time.
The “I was here” photo. And was I ever glad to be. You’ll find out why in the next installment.
You can read Part 1 here. The Expedition schedule was planned to coincide with the naadam (festival) that is held at Arburd Sands ger camp every year to celebrate the camp’s anniversary. Since we were going out to a part of Mongolia, the far western Gobi, where there were very few herders I knew this was the perfect opportunity for the participants to get a taste of Mongol culture and just have a fun time, which we certainly did!
We set up camp the afternoon before, having driven about five hours from Ulaanbaatar.
Camp Central at Arburd Sands, cook tent on the right, dining tent on the left
Was this a great campsite or what?
We had time the next morning to get in some painting and sketching…
View from the dunes
Magvandorj working on a landscape
Tugs-oyun added the camels to her piece
Sharon Schafer worked on recording the various plants in her sketchbook
Time to go to the naadam!
Some of us helped with the set-up, including putting up a ger
We took a few minutes to get a group shot
The local people had started to arrive, many on their horses. Here’s an example of Mongol leatherwork.
Magvandorj and I sketched the horses
Our drivers, Batmaa and Sendag, helped with the real Mongolian BBQ….khorhog (mutton or goat cooked with extremely hot rocks in the metal containers)
The tails of the horses who will be racing are wrapped part way down.
The centerpiece of the naadam site….a big maikhan (summer tent)
The opening festivities included a performance by a morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) player and a long singer who had a wonderful voice; and their brocade del were spectacular
I’m presenting a painting I did of our host’s father some years ago. I had brought it to Mongolia for my exhibition at the National Museum of Mongolia and decided that it needed to stay in the country and with the family, which has shown me great kindness and hospitality over the years
The procession that starts the horse race. The jockeys are all singing a song to their horses that tells them that soon they will get to run and run and run.
Three of the jockeys were young girls
Heading out to the starting point
In the meantime, the anklebone shooting competition had gotten under way
The target…stacked sheep’s anklebones; if hit they fall off the back into the box
The competitors holding the piece of wood from which they launch an anklebone. You do not want to get hit by one if it goes off-line
At last the horses and riders came back into view
Racing to the finish line
The youngest riders were accompanied by at least one adult the whole way
One of the girl jockeys. She exuded determination and seriousness
The after-race feast…khorhog, salads and various dairy products like cheese, aruul (dried curds) and…
The legendary mare’s milk of Mongolia….airag
Then it was time for the wrestling, Mongol bokh. He’s doing the traditional Eagle Dance before a bout.
And this youngster did a great job with his own version.
The wrestlers in the traditional garb are more experienced and have probably earned rankings in the soum or aimag. Any local guy can enter and see what he can do, but the highest ranked wrestlers get to pick their opponent, so the odds aren’t good. There is no weight division. It’s everyone against everyone. The rules are very simple. First part of the body to touch the ground other than the feet means you lose. Within that simplicity is an infinite complexity of tactics and mind games. I’ve really become a fan.
I found myself making a tough choice. I wanted to watch the wrestling, but a demonstration of catching and riding young horses had begun. The horses won out because I really needed more reference of riders using the urga (the long catchpole)
We saw how 2 year olds are caught and ridden for the first time. It was a rodeo. This good-looking sturdy horse is feeling a bridle for the first time and he’s pretty sure he doesn’t like it
He really would rather not
The punctuation point and a moment later the bridle fell off, but all to no avail
Protesting in vain. As you can see, we could get as close to the action as we wanted. Some were a little too close, but no one was hurt
Maybe not so bad after all
Just love this photo of a young Mongol girl, totally at home on her horse and in her “nutag”, the land where she was born
One of my favorite catch photos. The horsemanship we saw that afternoon was jaw-dropping, but nothing special for people put on a horse at age three. They ride like we walk.
Siberian ibex, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu- Annigoni toned paper, Sakura Micron pen and white gouache
During my week-long solo exhibition at the National Museum of Mongolia in August, I was there every afternoon except one. While there was a constant stream of people, over 100 each afternoon (I kept a tally), I was still “stuck” sitting there. So I took my MacBook Air, which is my primary image storage when I’m traveling, a sketchbook, a Sakura Micron pen and some pencils and, working from some of the photos, sketched and drew when I wasn’t chatting with visitors. It also gave them a chance to see an artist at work and many were quite interested.
So here’s a selection from that week, some of which, like the one of the baby marmots below, are intended as preliminary explorations for future paintings. Some are from previous trips, but the images haven’t yet been deleted from iPhoto.
Baby Siberian marmots, Hustai National Park, 2013
Siberian ibex and lesser kestrels, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu, 2012
Expedition members and staff, from left to right: Oidoviin Magvandorj (Mongol artist), Sendag (driver), Odna (Mongol photographer), Tugsoyun Sodnom (Mongol artist), Susan Fox (American artist), Batmaa (driver), Tseegii (guide), Sharon K. Schafer (American artist); photo by Soyoloo our great cook
Two years of planning all came together on August 23, 2013 when the first WildArt Mongolia Expedition departed from Ulaanbaatar in two Russian fergon vans, heading south and then west for a nineteen day adventure that combined art, endangered wildlife, Mongol culture and spectacular scenery.
We began in this:
View looking south to Bogd Khan Uul from my 12th floor room at the Bayangol Hotel
And within a few hours, found ourselves traveling through this:
Heading south into the steppe-Gobi transition zone
Just one of those things you encounter on the road in Mongolia, local livestock
I had in mind a very special place for our first camp…But first we needed to fill our water barrel from a local well. We also got lots of great horse photos.
Getting water with assistance from local herders and a generator
Then it was on to our campsite…near my favorite sacred mountain, Zorgul Hairhan Uul.
Zorgol Hairhan Uul
Once camp was set up, we relaxed and had afternoon tea in the maikhan (Mongol summer tent).
Chatting in the maikhan; from left to right: Guide Tseegii, artist Tugsoyun, artist Magvandorj, artist Sharon Schafer, photographer Odna
The next morning we were up in time to catch the first light on the mountain.
First Light
Magvandorj set up his easel and went to work.
Magvandorj painting on location
There was a small lake at the foot of the mountain, which we explored that morning.
Morning light on the small lake
Odna, Sharon and I took lots of photos.
Odna and Sharon
There was a white stupa at the base of the mountain.
The white stupa backed by a great rock formation
And a sacred spring on the backside, set about with prayer wheels and trees festooned with colorful khadag (offering scarves).
Khadag and prayer wheels
This is what our camps looked like during the Expedition.
The view from camp looking away from the mountain
By late morning we were packed up and on our way to our next stop, Arburd Sands ger camp and a very special event.
My eighth trip to Mongolia this year was the busiest ever. Not only did I have the WildArt Mongolia Expedition, but also the solo exhibition of my paintings at the National Museum of Mongolia. Before, after and in and around those was my yearly trip to Ikh Nart to meet with the women’s felt craft collective and visit the reserve, a quick weekend trip to Hustai, lunches and dinners with friends and, to top it off, gaining gallery representation at Mazaalai Art Gallery in Ulaanbaatar.
So not only do I have the WildArt Mongolia Expedition group exhibition next June or July to prepare for, but also the juried shows that I enter and creating new work for my gallery. All to say that after today, I will be doing one main post a week, not two, with the intention of posting every Wednesday. In between I’ll be doing shorter informal posts as interesting things come up.
I finally got back into the studio today after resting and catching up last week. Jet lag wasn’t bad, but I was tired, not surprisingly, since I’ve been going non-stop since June. Physically, I’m fine. Three plus weeks of remote travel on the earth roads of south-western Mongolia didn’t bother me at all. What seems to wear me down by the end of a trip is what I’ve come to think of as “decision fatigue”. Staying in Ulaanbaatar and traveling the way that I do in Mongolia is, in some ways, one long stretch of decisions,particularly since I’m often working and traveling with people from a different culture -the Mongols- and trying to function appropriately and correctly within that culture as much as possible. I reach a point where I need to park my brain in neutral for awhile. The prospect of 10-11 hours on a plane coming home becomes quite appealing. The only decision is which entree to have for dinner. Otherwise, I can mentally just flake out. Getting back into the home routine is nice, too, since the decision requirements are minimal.
My first task when I get home (besides unpacking and laundry), because I can’t really start to relax until I do, is to download all my photos (over 8300 this time) into Aperture on a local vault (Apple-speak for an external hard drive) and then back them up to a separate hard drive (a remote vault) that is kept in a different building, our detached garage. After that they need to be categorized, which usually takes a couple of days. Then I can really see what I’ve got.
And what I’ve got that I honestly didn’t expect to get was useable, paintable reference of the critically endangered Mongolian saiga antelope. They are all from quite a distance (see photo at top) and I will need to do research and call on the people I met in Darvi soum who protect them to help ensure that what I’m doing is accurate, but I got some great action shots of both males and females and some closer-in standing shots. I’ve done three pages of first studies to get a feel for what a saiga looks like. They are done on Strathmore vellum bristol with a Wolff’s 4B carbon pencil.
Susan Fox, American Artist 