John Day Fossil Beds National Monmument and Update on New Wildlife Colored Pencil Artwork

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

This past week, we had the privilege of visiting the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Eastern Oregon.  

My Family 

The park has three units: the Painted Hills Unit, The Blue Basin Unit, and the Clarno Unit. There is also the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center that has an amazing fossil gallery exhibit and a gift store. In addition, there is the Cant Ranch House which is presently closed due to Covid. It use to be the main visitor center until the Paleontology Center was built in 2003. 

The National Park was discovered by Captain John M. Drake, who had collected items and sent them to Congregationalist minister and self-trained scientist Thomas Condon. He had an avid interest in geology and paleontology, and he was the first to proclaim the importance of the fossil beds and conducted many expeditions in the area. The National Park Service states that "Thomas Condon believed that religion and modern science went hand in hand - that science was a means to understand the spectacular nature of God’s creation and that science and religion were not in conflict with one another."

And this area, I must say, is one of God's fantastic creations. The rolling painted hills, the variety of wildlife, and the fossil beds telling a tale of a time long ago. 

Painted Hills Unit	Painted Hills Unit
Painted Hills Unit	Painted Hills Unit
Painted Hills Unit	Blue Basin Unit
Old Logging Road	Blue Basin Unit
Painted Hills Unit	Old Logging Road
Painted Hills Unit	Fleabane
Oregon Sunshine	Purple Prairie Clover

Work-In-Progress Update

I am continuing on layering the Terracotta Prismacolor Verithin on the new work-in-progress piece. I didn't get much time to work on it this past week as we were on a mini-vacation. I hope to get more time this week to work on it and to begin the next step of adding other layers of colors. 

Keep on Creating!

Have a blessed week!

www.mooresartgallery.com

Columbia Loop and Cape Disappointment

Columbia River on the Washington Side

Yesterday, we took off early to tour and possibly catch in on some hikes on the east part of the Columbia Loop that is part of the Willamette Valley birding trail. So we headed towards the St. Helens and Scappoose areas.We arrived first at the Zellerbach Trail and then the Marine Park Trail. Both trails were not what we were expecting so we headed on towards the Columbia Botanical Gardens. None to say,  it was not what we were anticipating for a trail either and were quite disappointed. The Gardens is located in town and was overgrown. It looked like we would need a machete to work our way through the trail. So onward we went up hwy 30 towards hwy 433 and across to the Washington side, as neither of us had venture around this area. We were not disappointed. Gorgeous drive along Hwy 4 following the Columbia River.
On the Washington side of the Columbia River we discovered there was wildlife refuges, and estuaries. The Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-Tailed Deer and the Columbian White-Tailed Deer National Wildlife Refuge just to name a couple. We slowly worked our way to llwaco Washington to tour around Cape Disappointment. A must see if you never have seen the light houses there and a great opportunity to learn about some WWII history as well.

*Some of these photos will be available for stock and/or available as prints for purchase at my DA and Zazzle Stores.

Columbia River	Columbia River
Boat on Columbia River	Julia Butler Hansen Refuge
Gray's River Covered Bridge	Gray's River Covered Bridge
Gray's River Covered Bridge	Gray's River Covered Bridge Construction
North Head Lighthouse	Near North Head Lighthouse
Daisy	Margined White Butterfly
Water Tower	WWII Lookout Station
Cape Disappointment Lighthouse	Pillar Rock

Keep on Creating!

Have a blessed week!

www.mooresartgallery.com

Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge

Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge

Woke up at 5:30 this morning to head to Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is located just south of Salem, Oregon. Although this isn't as well maintain as Fernhill or Jack Bottom wetlands, it is great place for bird lovers to catch glimpses of a variety of songbirds, waterfowl, and birds of prey. There are also beaver, coyote, turtles, frogs, deer and variety of other wildlife that roam this refuge of fields, marshes, and ponds. In addition, there are several native and non-native wildflowers and shrubs throughout the wetlands.
There are several little trails and boardwalks to meander along and catch glimpses of wildlife, birds and wildflowers. There are a couple of blinds and overlooks to view wildlife and birds as well. The Eagle Marsh Kiosk and trail was my favorite out of all of the trails. As it was teeming with waterfowl and we even caught a glimpse of a beaver. Altogether we hiked approximately 3.9 miles along the dike trails and the Pintail/Egret Marsh Boardwalk.
Some of these new photos will be available soon as prints, cards and/or stock. Prints and cards will be available at my DA and Zazzle store and stock will be available at my website.

Pintail Marsh Area

Ankeny Wildlife Refuge

Pintail Marsh/Mohoff Pond	Pintail Marsh/Mohoff Pond
Yellow Parentucellia	Wild Teasel
Thistle	Slender Tarweed
Broadleaf Arrowhead	Cattail
Cedar Waxwing	Wild Carrot

Eagle Marsh Area

Eagle Marsh - Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge

Eagle Marsh	Swallows
Canadian Geese	Canadian Geese

beaver

Keep on Creating!

Have a blessed week!

www.mooresartgallery.com