On Landscape: Of This and Other Worlds
This project began with a phone call from my son Sean: “Mom, can I commission you to do a painting?” He wanted to look at this particular winter scene across one long wall in his apartment. He sent me the screen shot of a point at which he had arrived in this most influential game. He wanted me to take into account all the details that he enjoyed about the scene. This became a series of dialogues across several months. He wanted the tips of the tree branches to show because the wind just blew the snow off the needles. He wanted the boot prints in the snow where Aloy has just climbed the embankment. We debated the placement of additional trees, the depiction of rocks and the recession of space. Sean was my favorite type of client: very encouraging and very demanding. The piece made a brief appearance at the show, and now hangs on Sean's wall.
I listened to the music of the "Horizon Zero Dawn", and then added more music to my playlist so as to keep my focus on the mood. I named the playlist “Mysterium,” which is the title of the album of Morten Lauridsen’s exquisite choral music that led most of my way through this landscape.