Sustained Investigation #1

Purple Mountains Majesty is the first of a planned six pieces that show a journey of a man and his burro through a desert landscape, each piece exploring the combination of different mediums, but looking similar enough to be seen as a group. This first piece introduces the character and his burro, both left blank to show how they don't belong in the colorful landscape. The man is looking out, across the desert towards the purple hills and rising green mountains behind it, his gaze passing over the town near the river. This piece is trying to set the scene within this story, where the man in white is searching for something. In a deeper sense, he represents a refugee searching for home in a harsh environment, looking to the 'purple mountains majesty' as the promised land, which is a reference from the song "America the Beautiful," and though this piece is not intended to glorify America, our country has become the end goal for many refugees, so I thought that the purple mountains were an interesting way to symbolise the United States.

Because this piece is the first in a series, I figured that making this piece from materials I am most comfortable with might be a good move, because that way I could start off with a piece I was happy with and feel good about, so I could carry the excitement forward about the piece I am creating. I used my trusty Prismacolor colored pencils as well as water colors and a sepia toned micron pen, size .01. I started with a sketch in pencil, before throwing a wash of tan on the mountains and desert, and a blue sky. Then I added some shadows and the bright green of the big mountain, which might be my favorite part. Then I used my micron to make the mesa and rocks pop out, before adding colored pencils over the watercolor. I am most happy with my use of color in this piece, because I feel as though the purple shadows add an extra pop of color that helps to make the white burro and traveler pop out.