There are so many secrets that are still buried in Israel, and most especially perhaps in the Sinai desert. After all, it was here that the Israelites wandered for 40 years because Moses felt they were not yet ready to live in the land of Israel. So what happened during those 40 years? This is of course, assuming that you believe that there's some historic validity to the story of Exodus. Whether or not the Jewish were enslaved and built the pyramids is not really something that matters in terms of historic proof. At least not to me. Ultimately, what's fascinating and important is that there are so many layers of time periods and epochs in the Holy Land one atop the other. Not all have actually been fully explored. I thought about this while I was working in Israel. I didn't spend much time in the actual Sinai desert as the Sinai desert belongs to Egypt nowadays. However I did go to the Dead Sea, feom the Jordan side.The Dead Sea is incredible. There's no other way to put it. Before you even get to the Dead Sea, you have to walk over a quarter mile of hardened salt several feet thick. Layers and layers of salt. The salt is actually quite sharp and it would be easy to twist your ankle, fall to ground and get stabbed to death on a dagger of salt. I was thinking about this when I did this painting. I didn't just wanna paint a desert. I wanted to suggest more. I wanted to evoke what lies below the desert and what is still there to be discovered. I painted several layers of umbers, ochres and burnt sienna first. Then I used gel thick matte acrlic gel to paint imaginary hieroglyphics over the desert. The glyphs form a thick ribbon across the canvas. I think of that line of enigmatic faux Aramaic symbols as strata --perhaps just beneath of the surface. To me, these made-up hieroglyphics represent everything that is hidden. What do you think? The sin of secrets yet to be revealed could be?

Artwork Size & Ink Base:

61 x122

Please add your full name below if you would also like to make this listing searchable by name:

Daniel Aaron Schwartz

Please add your IG Username if you would like Plogix to share this listing on social media:

@daniel.a.schwartz1