Can you guess where (or wear) I was earlier this month? Yes! I was on a 2,754-mile road trip to see parks in Utah and Nevada. We visited five national parks and one state park in Utah and one national park in Nevada.
I love the artwork on these t-shirts. It’s nice to remember a place with a piece of art you can wear.
I took a few pictures while on this trip. 1,420 to be exact. Lots of material for future blog posts!
An amazing example of petroglyphs can be seen on the road into the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Wow! I have seen petroglyphs before but never so many in one spot. There are more than 650 drawings on Newspaper Rock at this state historical monument. The dark desert varnish provides a nice contrast to the messages carved into the stone.
The first carvings at this site have been determined to be 2,000 years old. People of the Archaic, Anasazi, Fremont, Navajo, Anglo, and Pueblo cultures have carved their messages into the rock over the years. Unfortunately, it looks like some more modern graffiti artists added to parts of the scene.
The meanings of the messages here have been difficult to figure out. Do they tell a story or are they merely scribbles? The Navajo refer to Newspaper Rock as Tse’ Hane – translated as “Rock that tells a story.” It does indeed appear to tell many stories. Only the people who made the carvings know exactly what those stories were.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Heritage
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Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park
Sometimes an artist’s greatest wish is that others will be able to see the emotion and spirit of a place in their work. I hope you can feel some of what I was trying to capture in this photo from Yellowstone National Park.
Art is about expressing the true nature of the human spirit in whatever way one wishes to express it. If it is honest, it is beautiful. If it is not honest, it is obvious.
Corin Nemec
Weekly Photo Challenge – Wish
Here is another great outdoor metal sculpture by local artist Greg Congleton. This sculpture depicts a team of draft horses pulling a log. Thousands of draft horses were imported from Western Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century to help with logging, farming, and moving freight and passengers.
Here is the sign nearby that lists some of the parts used to make this sculpture. Can you find any of them?
Note that this sculpture was donated by Penny and Phil Knight. Phil is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of a company named Nike. Perhaps you have heard of it.
Here is a video of Belgian draft horses at work dragging logs. They are pretty impressive.
Weekly Photo Challenge – A Good Match
The stores are open late on First Fridays
Ready to celebrate a new month by looking at some impressive art? If so, you might want to go to Bend, Oregon for the First Friday event. Every month select businesses keep their doors open late in support of the arts. Businesses in the downtown and Old Mill areas host artists while galleries feature the latest exhibits. This month Willow Lane Artist’s Creative Space joined First Friday for the first time.
As you walk around the area, you can stop in to view the art and get free drinks and snacks at the participating businesses. Some also have live music. It’s a popular event so get there early. We went a couple nights ago and the cool temperatures helped make the crowds a little smaller.
You never know what you will find at this event. One summer night we saw a young boy standing on a street corner putting out some amazing music on his fiddle. Just around the corner from him, a craftsman displayed his handmade leather works. Just across the street from them, a couple guys strummed on their guitars as they sang. Many passerbys stopped to admire the work of these artisans.
While on vacation, I picked up a rock and it told me what it was meant to be. A T. rex of course!
I took it home and got ready to paint a Tyrannosaurus rex. All of the ridges and depressions seemed to be in exactly the right spots. Even the greenish color was right. I darkened a few spots and enhanced others. I added scales with a tiny brush. The crooked T. rex grin fit right into the contours of the rock. The nostril and eye placed themselves along a ridge and depression.
Look past external appearances and you may find magic hidden within.
Weekly Photography Challenge – Repurpose
I’m calling this image Peace Tree 2 because I used digital magic to alter it into this final version.
I posted this version several months ago but I thought it needed some more emphasis on the peace sign in the branches so I added a few more.
Here is the original image with no editing.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Magic
I decided I needed to spend some time giving art wings. Here’s a painting of a scrub jay that I worked on this week. It helped me cope with some of my stress. Jays are one of my favorite birds and the most common one in my neighborhood seemed to be the perfect subject. Click here to see another of my jay paintings and to read an entertaining post about jays.
We are lucky here in Bend to have artists such as Greg Congleton who can transform collections of various items into beautiful works of art. To see more of his unique artwork, like this horse of a different color, click here.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Transmogrify
Did that get your attention? I went to the Oregon WinterFest event here in Bend this weekend and took some pictures of the Fire Pit Competition that I wanted to share with you. This is the 17th year of the festival so it has a long history in the area. This is the fourth year for the fire pit competition and there are more entries every year.
The dragon and a fire pit with the flag bridge and Deschutes River in the background.
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