Ideas for the First Project

During the process of pulling myself out of a rather nasty cold, I have been trying to pull myself out of what I can only describe as an apparently unproductive period for my imagination and creativity.  I thought about our project, and my ideas for the themes above.  As my previous post suggests, I kept returning to the idea of humanity's impact on the environment.  I suppose the image of a smokestack tree, which I began making in class, has really grown on me.  With that in mind, I created the (very) rough sketch that appears below.

First of all, I'd like to point out that this in part came out of my very tired and cold-ridden mind, and that I actually can draw when the mood strikes me.  Also, theoretically, clicking on the image should enlarge it (because the one I uploaded is far larger than the one being displayed on the blog).  Now, to the fun part - explaining such a rough sketch.  My idea for this composition is to present a nightmarish landscape in shades of grey, black, oranges and yellows.  The backdrop for the scene is a line of factories billowing smoke into the atmosphere.  A person (probably me, since I have access to a series of photos of myself in that pose on a swing) will sit in a swing, which hangs on a branch of the smokestack tree.  This tree is on an island in the middle of a dark lake, though not dark enough that you cannot see reflections.  I mention reflections because I want the nightmare landscape to be mirrored by an ideal one in the lake.  Mountains rather than factories and plants, a beautiful tree rather than an industrial, fiery monstrosity.  This should ideally draw attention to the ways in which the environment is being hurt by mindless consumption.  And so, with my ideas outlined, sketched, and blogged, I bid the internet a fond farewell for the evening.

-Kelly F.