Chaco #5 - Ancient Architecture series

Chaco #5

9x12 inches

 pastel on black Strathmore paper

I never cease to be amazed by the skill and resourcefulness of the masons that built the Chacoan pueblo structures.  This is another view of Pueblo Bonita, and you can see what are probably the remains of a T-shaped door up at the top right - on the second story.

It's always fun to work in compliments, and I thought these blues and earth-oranges went well together.  In addition to the practice of experimenting with various color combinations, this series has also been good for practicing linear perspective drawing, something I haven't had to do much of in other landscapes.  

I hope it's not too obvious that the window in this painting is almost smack-dab in the middle of the paper; I made some minor adjustments, but that's where it just wanted to be.  

This will probably be the last of the series from Chaco for a bit [although we are possibly going to Chaco again either tomorrow or early next week].  Next up will be Hovenweep, a scattered set of puebloan style ruins that are much smaller in scale and decidedly less grandiose than either Chaco or Mesa Verde.  

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Here is another example of human artistic ingenuity at work.  Theo Jansen is a Dutch kinetic sculptor.  Take a look at his amazing and delightful creations out of PVC pipe - they look like something right out of DaVinci's notebooks.   These make me smile: