Blood Meridian - 'Presidio'

Due to the era and location in which 'Blood meridian' is set (mid 1800s around the border between mexico and America) many of the settlements the protagonists travel through are built around presidios, which are fortified military settlements, used at that time in those areas to keep out hostile native Americans and pirates.

I had a go at drawing one, although I didn't use any reference images. It doesn't really look like a presidio but I think I was able to get across the idea, and I am currently trying to respond to 'Blood Meridian' using a sort of aggressive, impressionistic and primitive aesthetic and I think this image works reasonably well in this sense. The big smudge of red is, again, more of a metaphoric reference to the semantics of violence which surround the narrative than anything literal.  I am really enjoying using oil pastel at the moment, it gives a great sort of rough, dirty effect which is sitting well with the look I want my representations of the book to have.

I think I will have a go at drawing Presidios more, but using some reference images to see if I can create some more recognisable depictions of them.