Sahara Skies

By Barry Hammond

Mixed media on canvas

70 cm x 60 cm x 4 cm

Price on request

Meaning and visual impact:

During most winters skiing in the Swiss alps you will find from time to time the pristine white snow fields are suddenly light brown in colour. This is actually a phenomenon whereby sand from the north Sahara desert areas of Libya, Egypt and Algeria are whipped up in winter storms and enter the upper atmosphere. The sand is then carried by winds over the Mediterranean Sea to the Swiss alps where it eventually dumps all the sand there. On these days the normally clear blue Swiss winter skies are brown with sand. This painting is an abstract rendition of those alpine views - granite/grey alps, white peaks and sand filled skies.

Technical aspects:

This is an abstract landscape showing mountains, snow and sky. The mountain and sky areas were built up with modelling paste consisting of acrylic paint, glue and fine sand. After the texture is done, oil paint is applied in many layers over the mixture to get the desired visual effect. The white snow area is smooth and bright white to emphasize the brilliant whites of the pillowy alpine snow fields before that Saharan sand falls out of the sky and ruins everything for the skiiers.