Artwork description:

An aerial landscape of the Nazca Desert and the geoglyph "Astronaut".

This image showing the geoglyph "Astronaut" was captured from a light aircraft over the Ica Desert by Nazca in Peru. We were told when we arrived in Nazca that the best way to get a look at the Nazca Lines were by air so we headed to the airport and chartered a small plane together with another couple of tourists. A bit unexpected but it turned out to be a great experience even despite the heavy turbulence making the passenger next to me having a second taste of her lunch - I found the turbulence quite exhilarating however, almost like a fair-ride.
It was very fascinating to observe the geometric shapes and dead straight lines that run for miles and miles across the Ica Desert, as well as the iconic depictions of various animals of course. These are all ancient markings in the desert floor mainly created by the Nazca People, but also likely by their predecessors the Chavin and Paracas cultures and estimated to have been created in the period between 500 BC and AD 500.
The birds-eye-view of this very arid desert landscape makes for some quite abstract and minimalist looking aerial landscapes.
Although as mentioned a bit unexpected and also a bit of a dent in our travel budget it turned out to be a very memorable flight to view the Nazca Lines.

Materials used:

Hahnemuhle Pearl - 285 gsm. semi-gloss finish.

Tags:

#landscape #red #mountains #aerial #desert #ancient #line drawing #peru #geological #arid #giant #nazca lines