Painted Hills in John Day Fossil Beds by Antwan Janssen

About "Painted Hills in John Day Fossil Beds"

by Antwan Janssen

About the artwork

The Painted Hills, hills in such diverse shades of red and yellow that they appear to be painted, have become known in the Netherlands mainly through the television program 'Who is the Mole?
The Painted Hills are located in the state of Oregon in the northwest of the United States. They are part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, a park that consists of three parts: Clarno, Sheep Rock and the Painted Hills.
However, most visitors come to the Painted Hills not for the fossils, but for the beautiful colors the hills have. Due to the alternation of dry and wet times over the millions of years, the hills have developed stripes: redder colors come from the times when the weather was wetter and warmer, the yellow colors were created during drier and cooler periods. These stripes are so varied and sometimes so straight that it seems as if the colors were painted on the hills. Because of this, the hills are called the Painted Hills - the Painted Hills.
Because of the unusual pattern on the hills with various shades of red, ochre and brown, the Painted Hills are among the 7 wonders of Oregon. The other six are the Columbia River Gorge (a river), Crater Lake (a large crater lake), Mount Hood (a dormant volcanic mountain with eternal snow), the Oregon Coast (the coastline), Smith Rock (a rocky area) and the Wallowas (a mountain area with a cable car).