Oregon rocks come in a wide variety of shapes and colors. Here are a few of my favorite rocks.
Craggy cliffs circling wonder
Sculptures shaped by the sea
Favorite Rocks in Oregon: LAPC
A redwing near Winter Ridge: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Winter
Ancient Words: Monochrome Monday
These petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument near Monticello, Utah look otherworldly in infrared. To see the whole amazing rock in color, see Newspaper Rock – Ancient Messages in Stone.
Wild Oregon-Steens to the Sea: LAPC
There are many wild Oregon places and this post highlights just a few of them. The ever changing skies can make familiar landscapes look completely different. Here are some portraits of Oregon’s wild places.
Oregon is an inspiration. Whether you come to it, or are born to it, you become entranced by our state’s beauty, the opportunity she affords, and the independent spirit of her citizens.
Tom McCall, former governor of Oregon
Awash kinetic sculpture: Art that captures wind & water
This is a kinetic sound sculpture that’s part of an exhibit at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon. The exhibit is called Desert Reflections: Water Shapes the West and it runs through September 29, 2019. This exhibit used the combined talents of scientists, historians, and artists.
When you play the video on this post, listen carefully to the music in the background. The sounds of High Desert water and wind were recorded. They were combined with the “color” of music played on a Skinner church organ.
As the artists at Harmonic Laboratory state, “This evokes the richness of the region, a place shaped by many forces interacting in a complex way.”
As you stand underneath the sculpture, the calming tones, continuous motion, and gentle breeze helps you feel some of the energy that’s such an important part of High Desert environments.
Freedom of Expression Challenge – Art
Kam Wah Chung: A Step Back in Time
Have you ever stepped inside a time capsule and discovered a place frozen in time? You have the opportunity to visit such a place if you stop at the Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site in John Day, Oregon. The small building, located two blocks north of Highway 26, was, at one time, bustling with activity. Kam Wah Chung, which translates to the “Golden Flower of Prosperity,” served as a dry goods store, herbalist shop, import business, house of worship, and boarding house. It also housed an informal library and post office.
A Steens Scene: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
One Ringy Dingy…: Monochrome Monday
I saw this old switchboard at the Harney County Historical Museum in Burns, Oregon. I could imagine Ernestine sitting in front of it saying, “One ringy dingy…two ringy dingy. Is this the party to whom I am speaking?” Making calls is a little easier today.
Yellowstone Elements: LAPC
The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week is the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Here are pictures that feature several of the elements that I took at Yellowstone National Park.
Delicate Beauties: Friday Flowers & LAPC
I don’t see the desert as barren at all; I see it as full and ripe. It doesn’t need to be flattered with rain. It certainly needs rain, but it does with what it has, and creates amazing beauty.
Joy Harjo
Here are a few delicate beauties growing in the High Desert near Bend, Oregon. Enjoy their rainbow colors and gentle grace.
Double O Ranch Sign: Monochrome Monday
This interesting Double O Ranch sign is on part of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon. At one time this 17,000 acre ranch was privately owned by Bill Hanley. The U.S. Government purchased most of it in 1941 and added it to the refuge. The ranch was originally owned by Amos W. Riley and James A. Hardin. It was established in 1875 and was one of the first permanent pioneer settlements in Harney County.
Sand lily – High Desert Star: Friday Flowers
The sand lily, also known as the star lily, is a delicate perennial wildflower found in western North America. It grows in sagebrush deserts, open montane forests, and in sandy and rocky soils.
The plant above is growing near sagebrush in an uncultivated part of my property near Bend, Oregon. There is only one plant and I look forward to it blooming every spring.
Flicker Nest: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Stairway of Art: LAPC
The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs.
Vance Havner
This stairway of art in the Old Mill district of Bend invites you to hear its story. The garbage can and utility box are supporting cast members in this tale.
This work is by Yuya Negishi. I show another of his pieces and tell a bit more about him in Big Bold Art in Bend.
Here is a short video showing Yuya creating this stairway of art.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Street Art
Blue Basin Bench: Pull up a Seat
This bench awaits you at the end of the Blue Basin Island in Time Trail at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Eastern Oregon. When you sit there, you are surrounded by an amphitheater of greenish blue stone highlighted by hills of red volcanic soil. It’s a dramatic, and impressive, landscape.
Here is a 360-degree view of what I saw at the end of the Island in Time Trail.
Let there be peace: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Drum painting: Monochrome Monday
Desert Glyph: Drum Painting
This drum painting is part of the new Desert Reflections: Water Shapes the West exhibit at the High Desert Museum. The artist, Ka’ila Farrell-Smith, blends traditional indigenous art forms and contemporary installation art. The traditional concept of a drum is extended into a large rectangular form. Two “hitchhiker” rocks anchor it to the ground.
The sounds and views of this instrument change as it reacts to sunlight. The shadows of the sinew on the back move across the front as the sun moves across the sky. The sinew expands and contracts as temperatures change.
The painting on the front references the Long Lake abstract petroglyphs. It is an example of Great Basin Curvilinear, Rectilinear, and Representational rock art styles.
I liked the back of this work just as much as the front. Loved the lines!
Monochrome Monday
Harmony in Nature: Songsters of Spring
“I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.” e.e. cummings
At this time of the year, I often think of harmony in nature. Every time I go outside, I hear the songsters of spring. Here are a few local songsters whose voices and plumage are full of gold.
Click on the word “song” in the caption below each photograph to hear the harmony in nature these birds share with us.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Harmony
Writing a book is like making a bowl of oatmeal
You start by preparing either a quick type by the seat of your pants or
One that cooks longer and involves more planning
Once it’s cooked, the oatmeal, and the book draft, may be dull and boring
So you spice it up by sprinkling it with cinnamon
Continue readingThe art of Rick Bartow: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Showing less can reveal more: LAPC
When focusing on only parts of a scene, showing less can reveal more.
This fox didn’t pause to smile for the camera, but this image of her running across a sun-dappled meadow captured her spirit.
This image doesn’t include any wildlife or colorful flowers but it conveys peace.
Continue readingCherry blossom time: Friday Flowers
Friday Flowers
22 Degree Halo Around the Sun: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Where the pronghorn roam: Monochrome Monday
Monochrome Monday
Words into Art-Temperance Creek: LAPC
Words into Art
My friend asked me to go hear author Pamela Royes talk about her book Temperance Creek: A Memoir at a quilt shop. At a quilt shop? I thought. I didn’t know that QuiltWorks had a “Books to Quilts” program.
Pamela spoke about her book and showed slides of where she lives in the rugged country near Hells Canyon in northeastern Oregon. A chance encounter with Skip Royes led her into living the life of a wandering shepherder. She and Skip spent four years on a life-changing journey in the wilderness. Pamela transforms from a carefree hippie into a responsible woman who learns to appreciate the wildness of her new home. She also learns of the culture of the Nez Perce, who first occupied this land.
Her lyrical prose helps paint pictures in your mind of her adventures and the surrounding country. Quilters made the “words into art” and they displayed their work in this shop. Pamela became emotional as she described her appreciation for the quilts depicting her words. These creative works meant more to her than any trophy.
Continue readingDog Art+ in Bend, Oregon
This mural is by husband and wife artists Paul Alan Bennett and Carolyn Platt. Can you see why I titled this post Dog Art+? One of those “dogs” looks a little different.
Here in Bend, we are into dogs so it only makes sense they are featured in our public art. We have many dog-friendly businesses and plenty of trails to hike with your four-footed friends.
Roadside Rocks in Malheur NF: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
White-crowned sparrows: Monochrome Monday
These bold little white-crowned sparrows can raise or lower their “crown”, depending upon their mood. They occur throughout North America, but their bill color varies. It can be orange, yellow, or pink depending upon where they live.
They have a cheery and distinctive song that you may recognize. Listen to it here.
Fringed Gentian: Friday Flowers
The fringed gentian, Gentianopsis thermalis, grows in meadows, bogs, and on moist ground. This species prefers growing in warm places and it’s common near geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. It is the official flower of the park.
This plant grows to a height of 4-16 inches and blooms in May through August. This annual has purple flowers 1.5-3 inches in length. The showy flowers are fringed along the edges.
Fringed gentians can be found across northern Canada and south through the Rocky Mountains and into parts of New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada.
Native Americans used gentians to treat headaches and as an antidote to witchcraft.
Fun fact: The flowers curl up and close on cloudy days leaving just the tops visible. The closed flowers resemble a small windmill.
A Marsh at Malheur in May: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
A little bird told me my short story won…
I entered a short story I wrote in a local contest and I just found out it took first place in the Children’s Fiction category. Hooray for me! 😀
The short story from my first novel is called How the River of Falls Came to Be and it’s about a little newt who gets more than he asks for. He ends up turning into a tortoise in the desert and he misses the rain.
Here are the last couple of paragraphs:
“Many years later, Tortoise passed away and his shell tipped upside-down and filled with water from passing storms. In fact, the shell caught so much rain it overflowed. The heavy shell eventually sunk and settled deep in the earth. It became the source of a river with many waterfalls. Río de las Caídas.
Sometimes when you walk along the river, you can see the smiles of Rain and Sun in waterfall rainbows. They are showing their gratitude for the gift Tortoise gave to the world.”
I’ll be reading the story I entered in the Central Oregon Writers Guild Contest next month at the downtown library in Bend, Oregon.
Back to work editing my book, Dark Fountain Songs. Maybe I’ll draw some pictures of tortoise to go along with the “award-winning” tale.
A different world-Utah rocks: LAPC
You live in the image you have of the world. Every one of us lives in a different world, with different space and different time.
Alejandro Jodorowsky
The geology of Utah is so unique and interesting. I imagined many details of alternate worlds while visiting there.
The formations at Capitol Reef form thrones ready for giant-sized royalty.
The mountains of Zion National Park look as though they have been compressed, kneaded, and scratched by the claws of big cats
Continue readingFollow Me Mom!: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Where could my dog be?: Monochrome Monday
Oh where, oh where could my little dog be?
Monochrome Monday
My Mini Mini Aussie Pocket Dog
This mini mini Aussie I painted onto a rock is one of my favorites. I’ve always wanted a mini Australian shepherd and this pocket pet is very low maintenance. 😀
Just another stunning sunrise: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
River Ranch Barn – Seasoned by the Seasons: LAPC
The River Ranch Barn at Summer Lake Wildlife Area in eastern Oregon is weathered to perfection. Here are a few pictures of its exterior from a distance and close up. Winter Ridge rises majestically behind the barn.
Roses-Summer Blooms & Fall Fruit: Friday Flowers
I enjoy watching these roses growing along the Mill A Loop trail along the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon. They produce a bounty in the summer and the fall for walkers and wildlife.
Friday Flowers
A few moments with a pronghorn: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
A 24″ snowy cake: Monochrome Monday
Care to join me for a piece of snowy cake?
Monochrome Monday