Kazakh Steppe

This scene is an original illustration set in Kazakh Steppe. It lies in mid-latitudes, where the climate is cold semi-arid steppe.

Two round white felt tents with low domed roofs and painted wooden doors stand in the foreground. A saddled horse is tied to a hitching post nearby. Grass runs unbroken to the horizon in every direction, and the midsummer evening light is long and level.

Why is a steppe tent round?

A round tent has the least surface area for its volume and no flat face for wind to push against — the shape is a wind and heat calculation. Felt is compressed wool: waterproof, insulating, and made from the herds themselves. Everything here is portable because the grass has to be moved through, not settled on. Treeless grassland this uniform means a dry continental interior.

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