Driving on the Moon

“Driving on the Moon” is a piece inspired from a number of inspirations: Ralph Steadman’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” Lana del Rey’s “Love,” David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream,” and the film, “Thelma and Louise.”    When Max read a text from his mother asking if he owned the film, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” Max decided he wanted to reference it in his art.  Instead of a regular desert, Max liked the idea of having the characters drive on the moon creating a “space” vibe to the piece.

In the piece, a couple is driving a convertible on the moon’s mountainous range, with a black and white earth covering the sky.  Like Steadman, however, Max liked the idea of painting the car red with watercolor as he felt it would look good with the graphite background.  Both the earth and the moon’s mountains and crevices were drawn and shaded with graphite.  Out of white watercolor, Max did all of his highlights, earth shines, and stars with a white pastel.  Max used black watercolor for the starry sky and rim of the car to make them appear deeply “dark.”  Max initially wanted to draw his characters in the car in graphite.  However, Max didn’t feel the graphite was working.  After drawing the characters in graphite, he decided to trace over them in sharpie so they wouldn’t blend in with the background.  However, some shading from the graphite was purposely kept.

11×14 Mixed Media Paper
Graphite, Sharpie, Watercolor, and Pastel
May 2017