I have made a series of paintings that reflect natural shapes that humans create on the landscape – at least in our area.
“Lower Ranchitos Heat Signature,” oil on canvas by Melwell, 10×8 
“My House From Above,” oil on panel by Melwell, 8×10 
“Weimer Circles,” oil on panel by Melwell, 10×8 
“Two Rivers,” oil on panel by Melwell, 8×10 
“Highway 240 and Callejon, ” oil on canvas by Melwell, 20×16 
“The Village,” oil on canvas by Melwell, 8×10
I have always been a fan of Google Earth. One of the things I used to do was take the application to an area I was unfamiliar with, and cruise, like I was in a hi-altitude plane, over the landscape.
Wind, water and mountains take and make their own shapes, but it is the patterns of man that really “decorate” an area.
Take, for example the areas in the Midwest that are under circular irrigation systems, make green fields look. They’re filed with green frog eggs of watered crops. The fields around a small village are woven and rippled with the paths of human and livestock feet.
These paintings are familiar shapes to me because of how often I have looked at my neighborhood in Lower Ranchitos from Google Maps. It’s the greenest spot on the map of the area where I live. I can tell by the arrangement of stuff around my house when the satellite image was made.
“The dog houses are on that side of the acequia,” tells me the image is from two years ago, and the lack of a second burial mound in the pet cemetery tells me it was also before our second big dog passed on.
Even if our touch on the earth is light, we still leave traces. Foot paths or highways, we head toward our destinations, either in space or in our hearts.