Aerial Landscapes - Urbanest Installation, June 2010Urbanest has hung some additional aerial landscapes to include the Chicago series. It's now a mix of Chicago and Michigan aerial landscapes.
This series of paintings explores the colors and shapes of landscapes and waterways from above. They are based on images from Google maps as well as photographs I've taken from an airplane while traveling. They were painted mostly lying flat on a table so that I worked above the canvas as I painted them.
While these images relate to a universal travel experience (looking out an airplane window), they also draw attention to water in our environment - something that is abundant but is becoming a much more valuable and scarce commodity around the world. Living near Lake Michigan and in the Great Lakes region highlights water's impact on our day-to-day lives - whether we live in the city or rural area. It's something that we often take for granted but cannot do without.