The subject in these paintings is the former Lake Bonneville, a Late Pleistocene paleolake located in the Basin and Range of North America. The Great Salt Lake is a remnant. The old shorelines of Lake Bonneville can still be seen in the foothills of the Wasatch Front; part of the bed has become the Bonneville Salt Flats.

   I have been exploring that geography using Google Earth, snipping photos as I pan and zoom around the landscape. I create digital collages from those screenshots and then paint the new scenes in oil. While a particular view may seem familiar, it is imaginary and cannot be seen by standing in one place in the physical world.

    Google Earth gathers images of the earth by airplane and satellite. They take millions of images of the landscape and knit them together using photogrammetry to construct 3d models. The algorithm draws and completes geometric shapes with precision, but organic objects like trees often render as blobs and awkwardly pasted textures.

    I began this project interested in faithfully capturing that imperfect modeling. As the work has evolved, I have been giving myself leeway to explore color, shape, and pattern as they emerge within the painting itself, rather than the source collage.