Landscape Investigation 15

This piece was inspired by stories of people hallucinating in the desert. I found myself fascinated by the idea that our brain can trick our visual cortex into seeing something that isn't actually real. I imagined what someone might see when starving in the desert, perhaps a breakfast spread with pancakes, eggs and some orange juice. While this is a very bright piece, it is most certainly guided by the strange things that happen when humans are pushed to their absolute limit of survival. I like the presence of the eggs in this piece because the egg is a symbol of life, and are positioned like clouds which promise water in a dry landscape—in a desert, a cloud is a symbol of hope and life.

I burnished the colored pencils in this piece in order to create vivid color and create contrast between the cool and warm colors. I focused on building up layers and using darker colors on top to create shadows. The work is drawn on bristol board.

As evidenced by the sketches above, I had a relatively good idea of what I wanted my composition to be prior to beginning the piece. There was a similar piece I had done previously on the cover of a sketchbook, which inspired me to make this piece. This piece is a sort of a revision of that sketchbook cover.