This small thumbnail sketch looks quite contemporary with our increased use of icons in mobile devices—it’s as if Robert was trying to invent an icon that represented the concept of a mirage or false information. The wave lines combined with the up and down arrows suggest heat waves or rainfall and evaporating vapour. The semi-abstract image is reminiscent of the great painter of Canadian weather, Paterson Ewen. The arrows feature in two of Robert’s finished mirage paintings. In Mirage (Sand), the arrows rain down on a conventional landscape and are so small they might pass unnoticed. In Mirage (Arrows), the arrows are painted on top of a sheet of newspaper. Illusions can be triggered by different forces; in some cases by one’s environment, in other cases by media and the accuracy or inaccuracy of news one receives.