This is Day 43 of my 100 Days of Wall Art project. You can learn more about my 100 Day Project here.

About this Piece

Our planet’s surface is a constantly moving, erupting, eroding, shifting mass of dirt and water. A deep dive into geology reveals that the fine dirt of the Great Plains is nothing more than the erosion of the Rocky Mountains (Laramide Orogeny) that first erupted 60-80 million years ago and has been eroding ever since. Think that’s cool? Did you ever wonder where the red rocks of the western US came from? They’re sandstone, which is essentially sand dunes frozen in time and compressed as new layers were deposited above. So where did that red sand come from? You guessed it, they’re mostly from another mountain range, called the Ancestral Rockies, that erupted 300-320 million years ago and were gone for at least 100 million years before the current Rockies erupted. Mountains rise. Mountains erode. Dirt happens. More mountains rise. It has gone on for 4.5 billion years (as is now assumed).

Okay, that’s a bit geeky. But I guess I’m saying that there’s nothing more elemental than dirt and water.

And pigment is essentially dirt. And even in this simple pattern of dirt and water, we can see the patterns that have shape our planet for eons and eons. Kinda humbling.

Construction Details

I’ll share progress pics and how-to information in each day’s post in the 100 Days Section of Blue Bottle Insiders. You can see all my projects (so far!), along with those of dozens of other members who are posting their daily projects as well. You can join Insiders here.