My fourth Peruvian trip: Conclusions; Santa Catarina Road Trip/ Rio

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 Cabanaconde, mountain in sun (detail), oil on card, 24 x 21 cm

Six weeks in Peru

Peru is about as good as anywhere I know for a painter to wander around in. It`s fairly safe (at least in smaller towns away from the coast), the weather is clement, the people are pleasant and mostly respectful, it`s cheap and its very varied in terms of landscapes and historical sites. There are few cars in the rural places and you rarely feel that you are in a a big machine as is so often the sensation in developed countries. That is, in the west every place you go has a Visitor Centre selling tat, giving you directions and has signs all over sign saying things like Path may be slippery in the rain. Please use handrail, sufficient indeed to make you feel a piece of processed tuna at the the end of the visit (no thanks National Trust).

This trip was the longest I've done. Six weeks is a short university term, and enough time to exhaust some ideas and develop others. It`s enough time to develop a certain self-sufficiency too.

The main thing is I`m happy to be working on a larger scale now- however tricky that is for traveling around. It`s difficult to store pictures as they never quite dry completely. However, on a larger scale there is much more enjoyment in the physical manipulation of the brush.  And the final piece just has greater presence.

 So to this end I`m preparing larger supports and have built new carriers. These will be ready in about two weeks time. 

The next foreign trip in to the UK in August. Most likely it will be very different in tone as I`ll be meeting considerably more people, and having more conversations. As a confirmed misanthrope this isn't necessarily something to celebrate.

Santa Catarina Road Trip or Rio?

It`s necessary between now and then to plan something to break up my time here- most likely a drive in Santa Catarina, perhaps up to Videira, then to Xanxere  then to Passo Fundo in Rio Grande de Sul, a to cover corners of the state and of Rio Grande de Sul that are unfamiliar to me. That could be done over six days...or maybe it would be more fun to revisit Rio?

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