THE HOUSING LOTTERY

Melanie La May, The Housing Lottery, 2021. Oil on canvas, 38in x 48in.

This piece was inspired by the sensations of asphalt and blacktops I felt growing up in the Las Vegas heat, and the arbitrary ways people are selected to suffer in the sun while the rest of us pay for shade. The original digital illustration was sketched during the summer of 2020, while moving back to Las Vegas from Orange County. I began working on this painting during winter, by which time I was staying on a farm, far from desert and scorching sun. I shot all my references in a basement using an LED bulb and a clamp light, and my models, my sister and another employee, were my coworkers. I collected photo references multiple times during the development process, culminating in the color study. With the completed color study, I started working on the final painting, but I went back to the photo reference stage to add in the figure's shadow in the background. Ultimately, the sketch, photo references, and color study were all used as reference for the final painting.