The word «color» in this question is almost ironic because of the description the drought and its effects on the land, natural environment, and the inhabitants of the Kiewarra area invoke - at least in my mind's eye - images of
very bland color.
I'm in the process of writing a blogpost about the process of creating a painting and felt that it felt
very bland, compared to the painting which uses
very vivid
colors and is infused with energy (see - this article helped me already!)