This art piece was at the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Art in Ulaanbaatar when we were there last year. Honestly, if it’s still there in July, it’s coming home with me. A perfect example of the humor and creativity of the world’s original horse culture-
First, I want to honor and express my appreciation for all the men and women who serve and have served in our armed forces. I’ve read a lot of history and it’s true- Freedom isn’t free. But, America should never go to war except as a last resort and should never risk our soldiers lives without a compelling reason. My thoughts are with the families whose loved ones have died in service to our country.
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Besides coming down with a cold a couple of days ago, I sat down on Friday to start sketching and got diverted by re-arranging my corner workspace. So not much in the way of sketches or materials info. yet, but I am thrilled to have my wonderful old oak drawing table back in action. Shifting it 90 degrees lets me use the iMac so I can draw from it the same as with the easel. Here’s a couple of pics of the new arrangement. The Rocky Mountain mule deer head was a flea market find. There are also images from Bob Kuhn and Robert Bateman for inspiration. And my favorite 1960’s psychedelic poster, The Green Lady by Mouse and Kelly.
It’s time to start to pull it together for the upcoming Expedition. One part of it will be keeping a journal, which is provided by the AFC (Artists for Conservation). It’s bound in Italian leather and comes with its own bag. Nothing like a little intimidation.
Yup, I’ll be hauling this puppy all over central Mongolia for three weeks. I need to do a title page and a map Real Soon Now, but how to face the terror of the blank page? The thought of making a mess is paralyzing, but it must be overcome. I know, I’ll start at the very back-
So I used an argali image from the trip last year that is representative of what I hope to see and sketch. I’m experimenting with ways to add color. This is Pelikan pan gouache used as a watercolor wash. The paper has a nice tooth and isn’t too soft, but I wanted to see how different drawing options worked, so that’s what’s on the bottom. The Wolff’s carbon pencil didn’t flow and the General’s charcoal pencil was too soft (for my purposes). A mechanical pencil with an HB lead and the Sanford draughting pencil worked well, as did the Pentel pen. I’ve got two kinds of Derwent watercolor pencils that I’ll experiment with next, along with a couple of other things.
This young stallion was part of a bachelor group that I photographed at Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve last September. The soft edges of some of his markings made me think of watercolor washes. I hope that I’ll see him again in July.
I’m running a little behind, so I’ll cover the art stuff that’s going to Mongolia with me next week. In the meantime, I think I’ve solved the hot-water-in-the-ger-problem with a nifty little “stove” that uses solid fuel cubes and is specifically ok for use in tents. More later once it gets here.
I thought that I would share a few images of the creation of this study.
As usual, there was a cat working hard, right near by:
After awhile one starts to get a feeling for what little comforts make a big difference when one is traveling, especially when it’s a somewhat “adventurous” destination like Mongolia. The basic accomodation in the countryside is at ger camps, where visitors stay in the same kind of gers that the Mongols use. I love them! There’s something very special about the interior space that they create.
On the other hand, they generally don’t have electricity or running water. The toilet can be some dozens of yards away. There is usually a sink stand that has a small container with a faucet attached above the sink. This is for washing and should never be considered drinkable. Water is precious and the responsible visitor doesn’t use it carelessly.
What I decided to do was see how I could refine what I carry, make a hot drink in the morning and do a mop down and underwear/sock wash in the ger. The last two have ended up rating high on the “little comforts” scale over time. The other part is getting a good night’s sleep no matter where I am.
I haven’t really tweaked my travel gear for awhile and, while thinking through the upcoming trip, I realized that:
1. My MacBook Pro is a total pain to get in and out of the daypack I’ve used for years. Transit between points is always the bottleneck and the easier it is, the better and less tiring, especially with the reality of airport security. Time for a change. After poking around and remembering something someone posted on Facebook, I ended up on the Timbuk2 site, where I found (on sale!) a sturdy messsenger bag that has a padded pocket for the laptop, a back piece with a top and bottom slit that allows it to be securely slid onto the pull-out handle of a roll-on and at least as much capacity as the pack, but oriented horizontally instead of vertically, which means less rooting around at the bottom for whatever it is I’m looking for. This is the Commute Messenger, made from 67% hemp and 33% PET (recycled soda bottles). It’s 16″ wide, 10.8 ” high and 6″ deep. You can also do a one from Column A, one from Column B and design your own bag. They are made in San Francisco.
2. I bought a travel purse some years ago which is smaller than the one I carry at home, has steel cable in the shoulder strap to foil cut and snatch thieves and lots of places to put things. Almost too many. Plus it barely fit in the pack. Remember, we’re limited to two carry-ons, a roll-on and a purse. In the past, I’ve stuffed the purse into the pack to get through security and onto the plane and it’s worked, but once again has become increasingly irritating. REI makes something they call a “Boarding Bag”, an “organizer for stress-free travel”. It looked big enough that I could hike around UB without needing to take the daypack. And it fits into one side of the messenger bag. One Nikon camera with the 28-300 lens fits right into it and there’s a side pocket for a small water bottle, plus room for a sketchbook, not to mention the usual wallet, sunscreen, kleenex, etc.
So I’m feeling good about the actual travel part. For staying in the gers:
3. The options are usually a thermos of hot water brought in the evening or having bottled water available. If there’s no hot water or electricity, I’m still kind of stuck unless it’s cold enough to light the wood stove and heat water on that (and I think I’ll see what I can find locally in the way of a small metal pan), but with one or the other I can now use one of these really cool snap together bowls to dip a washcloth in, heat water with this immersion heater that came with an international adaptor plug, or do a serious wash up of me or my clothes with this collapsible “kitchen sink”. All from REI.
Fozzils Bowlz- 10″x9″ polypropolene
Immersion heater with adaptor
The “sink” holds over 2 gallons of water, is 14″ x 5″ and fits into a pouch that is 5″ in diameter. It will be interesting to see what the herder women think of it.
I still haven’t decided whether to take a regular coffee mug or get something insulated. I’ll be taking packets of Coffee King, which is coffee, creamer and sweetener together and it perfectly drinkable. It’s available in grocery stores in UB. I’ll also take some tea from home.
4. Sleeping comfort is critical to me. I’m going to take my Thermarest pad, since the hotel and ger beds are extremely, uh, firm and my down sleeping bag. There are sheets and blankets on the ger beds, but the weather can be cold at any time of year. I find that my rectagular bag ( I HATE mummy bags) makes a great comforter if needed.
Next installment will be on the art supplies that I plan to take.
All this travel prep has tired someone out:
For more information or to bid, click here
I just found out that “Done for the Day”, a painting of bactrian camels that I photographed in Mongolia at Arburd Sands last September has been accepted into the Society of Animal Artists jured show “Art and the Animal”. In the animal art world, this is the most prestigious show and entries come in from all over the world. I have been entering and not getting in for five or so years, so success is sweet indeed. Here’s the painting:
More later.
As I am about two months out from my Mongolia trip, I’ve decided to consolidate my blog posts to Monday and then do quick updates as needed on other days of the week. For the next few months, most posts are going to have Mongolia content as I share my preparations and, with luck, the trip itself.
MONGOLIA MONDAY
I have my plane tickets and will be leaving on July 5, staying overnight in Seoul, Korea and arriving in Ulaanbaatar on the afternoon of the 7th. I’ll be taking the local United Express flight to San Francisco, Asiana to Seoul and MIAT to UB, and doing it in reverse without the overnight for my return on July 30. My current plan is to attend the National Naadam celebration in UB and then, in some order still to be determined, spend a day or two at Hustai seeing the takhi, travel to the Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve and the Baga Gazariin area to explore the argali habitat in those places, with hopes that I will be able to see and photograph them.
The one “appointment” that I have is to be at Ikh Nartiin Chuluu the week of the 20th for three days of meetings with the herder women to discuss their ideas for a crafts cooperative, which I plan to support. For this purpose, and for other projects that might come up in the future, I have established a non-profit association, Art Partnerships for Mongolian Conservation (APMC). Our mission will be to use the arts to promote conservation in Mongolia. My 501(c)3 sponsor is the Denver Zoological Foundation, which has set up an account for me so that donations made to APMC are tax-deductible. For more information, email me at sfox@foxstudio.biz.
SKETCHING VS. DRAWING
Last week I said that I would do a book review of an excellent “drawing” book. I got it out recently to use as a guide for honing my field sketching techniques for the upcoming Mongolia trip (see how it’s all dovetailing?). It’s called “Fast Sketching Techniques” by David Rankin, who, as it happens, won an AFC Flag Expedition Grant a couple of years ago to travel to the source of the Ganges River in India, one of his most favorite countries. He, dare I say it, draws a very useful distinction between drawing and sketching and does it in a way that I think encourages people to pick up a pencil and paper and give it a go.
Here’s where you can find it on Amazon, but it looks like it has gone out print, so you might end up with a good used copy. I highly recommend it. Here are a few pages to give you an idea of David’s approach. He is a signature member of the Society of Animal Artists, has been in every major wildlife art show multiple times and is an excellent teacher and “critiquer”. In short, he knows his stuff.
Next week, I’ll have post some of the sketch work I’ve been doing in order to get up to speed for the real thing.
Susan Fox, American Artist 