Chivay, Peru, a gorge - framed

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Chivay, a gorge, framed SOLD

This sort of float mount is excellent- the frame is elegant and the picture isn't cramped, and it is protected from dust or knocks.

Thanks to Jo Eade for sending me this photo.

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My fourth Peruvian trip: Chivay part 5

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Chivay, Colca Valley, oil on card, 21 x 17.3 cm - available

 Chivay, a tree, oil on card, 23.5 x 21 cm sidcarded

 Chivay, a road, oil on card, 21 x 19.2 cm - diiscarded

These are the final three pictures from Chivay, an excellent place to work and a highly agreeable town to stay in. But I would recommend that travellers there bring a book to read as the evenings can be rather quiet.

These three are all painted more thickly than the previous set. 

In the six weeks I worked I had enough time to make quite a considerable advance- to work on larger pieces  and more confidently. Indeed, six weeks is probably as long as one can work on a daily basis without fatigue. You'd need a week off and a change of location to some utterly different landscape to maintain freshness.

 But these pictures remain simple in both a technical and conceptual sense.

Are they rather old-fashioned? Should an artist be attempting to engage more with the contemporary world? Anyway, do such questions matter if you enjoy what you do?

Well,  I hope to exhibit some of them here and in Scotland later in the year and will perhaps see if such questions are broached.

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My fourth Peruvian trip: Chivay part 4, in the valley

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Chivay, a hillside with farms, oil on card, 21 x 24.8 cm - unavailable

Chivay, a view across a gorge, oil on card 21.2 x 24.2 cm  SOLD

This is one on the better ones from this trip- it's fluent and captures the grand scale of the place.

Chivay, trees near thermal pools. oil on card, 24.2 x 21.3 cm  unavailable

These three all use relatively thin paint- in contrast the the next set which all were painted using thicker impasto.

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My fourth Peruvian trip: Chivay part 3, fields

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 Chivay, fields, oil on card, 22 x 23.5 cm - available

Chivay, fields and farms, oil on card, 19.4 x 25 cm unavailable

In both cases these were painted from quite high up the slopes, to capture the pattern of terracing and fields.

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My fourth Peruvian trip: Yanque

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Yanque is one of the towns along the Colca. Many have baroque churches of surprising sophistication. They are whitewashed and within are sometimes simple murals. There is a museum with good models of these churches in the central square in Yanque, along with other rooms dedicated to the culture of the region.

 The town itself is nicely perched above the Colca Valley and it has various little hotels. Other towns offer less to visitors and are best visited by car as bus services can be somewhat irregular.

Yanque, a canyon, oil on card, 19 x 24 cm   Available

This is one of the strongest of 2019`s Peru set- it`s fluent and ambitious.

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My fourth Peruvian trip: Chivay part two

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 Chivay, mountain with blue sky, oil on card, 24.2 x 21 cm - unavailable

 Chivay, River Colca, hillside, oil on card, 25 x 19 cm unavailable

Chivay, mountainside, oil on card, 21.6 x 24.5 cm unavailable

The mountains round Chivay are often extremely rocky with just grasses or cacti (some of these rather magnificent) for vegetation. The effect can be rather severe.

 It didn't rain at all for the first week, then there was a phase when the clouds build up to storm in the mid-afternoon.

Every now and then in the paths around Chivay you run into a shepherd with a few sheep. Sometimes the shepherds are young children, sometimes old people. They are quite personable, but often shy- mountain people perhaps. There are few cars and it is an extremely agreeable place to work.

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My fourth Peruvian trip: Chivay part one

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Chivay is a pleasant small  town which serves as a gateway to the splendid Colca Valley. 

 Mountains and firs, Chivay, oil on card, 19.5 x 24.4 cm - available

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