The Idyllic Romantic West

My upbringing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and opportunities to travel across Western states instilled a sense of curiosity for the West’s ever-changing ecological forms. As an artist with great interest and passion for Earth’s natural landscapes, I have observed humanity’s climate impacts. As I grew into a young adult, my awareness of nature adaptations expanded as I witnessed the beauty of various environments dissipate because of extraordinary droughts, wildfires, and declines in snowfalls. This awareness drove me to explore unknown possibilities of Western habitats’ future leaving space to wonder about the sublime measures essential to reach a renewed beauty.

The lyrical Western terrains sparked the landscape platform for my idyllic digital images. These whimsical collage arrangements are composed of free stock photos that I have transformed into a statement about the West’s possible unexpected future using Photoshop. By manipulating and dismantling their natural appearances, I designed unknown landscapes by combing the scenic habitats of deserts, forests, mountains, and oceans. My decision to enhance the colors transforms the digital landscapes with luminism evoking awe and wonder, transferring an aura of fantasy. Although, in actuality, these extreme adaptions can happen, making us explore the unknown—portraying nature’s imaginable capabilities to a renewed beauty within Western ecosystems. By animating my finished digital images, through Procreate, transports each uncharted landscape into unknown futures, displaying revived tranquility using sun, star, and moon illuminations to realize that these fantasy pieces can become Earth’s reality.