Desert Vista

Frances Gearhart

Desert Vista is example of Gearhart’s favorite subjects: the deserts, the valleys, the hills, and the mountains of the Western United States. Here she created the illusion of a vast landscape within a small format by using the openings between desert rock formations to preview the distant San Jacinto Mountains located in Riverside County in southern California. The range has fifty-nine name mountains, the highest and most prominent of which is San Jacinto Peak. Gearhart used a linoleum key-block, printed with black oil-based ink, to create most of the linear elements for this landscape and then hand brushed color on a tone block. As a result of this direct approach, each impression will vary in color to some degree.