The Sheltering Sky

  I recently completed a small series of pastel drawings in tandem with the larger charcoal drawings of trees.  The pastels were a chance to rest while in the midst of the much more demanding large-scale work.  The composition was inspired by an image by Adolph Gottlieb, Orb.  I worked with this idea of balancing two compositional elements.  The resulting landscapes began to remind me of my former home in the Sonoran Desert as well as the novel by Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky.

The Desert; 8 x 6"; pastel on paper

Swelter; 8 x 6"; pastel on paper