On just about any airplane flight during daylight hours over the USA, if one happens to be looking out the window, the vast and varied topography of the country is laid out under the clouds like a sheet of paper. Farmland is everywhere.

After a flight I took over portions of Wisconsin and Minnesota duuring the summer 2016 I was amazed how many farms had been carved out of the forests, around geographic obstructions, and over incredibly varied soil types and drainages.

In many places sections and quadrants of the Homestead Act of 1862 neatly divide the countryside by roads, hedgerows, and fences. In others, the record of farming is modified by the asymmetrical and organic limitations of the landscape.

It’s from the small, upper Mid-Western farms I saw on my journey that inspired the oil pastel drawings I made for the R Series.