I have finally finished it, a painting in my “Walking In” series to honor my Grandfather. “Walking in the Hell Creek Formation”.

Meandering through the badlands of the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana, the Hell Creek Formation is one of the most famous geological formations in the field of paleontology. It’s here that some of the most famous Dinosaurs have been found, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, and, of course, Tyrannosaurus Rex. But Hell Creek has also yielded fossils a wide verity of life, plants, reptiles, birds, fish, sharks, and mammals. It was the mammals that my Grandfather spend decades of his life studying. He would spend summers going to the Montana region of Hell Creek, sifting through the sand for micro-fossils, usually teeth of tiny mammals that once lived with the dinosaurs and outlived the Dinosaurs. Hell Creek is also famous for providing a picture of life before and AFTER the great Cretaceous Extinction event that wiped out the non-avian Dinosaurs, making it one of the most important locations of study for that extinction event. So here is my tribute to my Grandfather.

65 Million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period. My Grandfather and I rest in the redwood trees while interacting with a group of Purgatorius, a small pre-primate my Grandfather contributed many years of research on. At our feet are a trio of Didelphodon, mammals that live like otters with strong jaws. Nearby, a Dinosaur called an Anzu looks across a stream to the Dinosaur drama on the opposite bank. Two herds of large Dinosaurs, Edmontosaurus and Triceratops, face down a T-rex who has taken down a Torosaurus, and scaring off a pair of Acheroraptors. Next to the Edmontosaurus’ a small group of Pachycephalosaurus flee the scene. All throughout a lone Ankylosaurus, drinks in the stream unconcerned. In the stream swims a giant crocodile Thorascosaurus swims along with giant turtles, Adocus.

I hope you like it, and I am open to feedback and critiques.