First leg on my Uruguayan trip: São Francisco de Paula (Rio Grande do Sul)

*

 São Francisco de Paula, residential sttreet, oil on card, 15 x 12 cm  - unavailable

 São Francisco de Paula, lakeside, oil on card, 12 x 14 cm - unavailable

 São Francisco de Paula, road out of town, oil on card, 12.5 x 18 cm  SOLD

São Francisco de Paula, two travellers, oil on card, 13 x 15.5 cm - unavailable

 

 I`d driven through here before on my way to Gramado, and back and thought, "now this is interesting", in contrast to Gramado`s Walt Disney consumer Alpine, this is a lovely working city with it`s own atmosphere, well maintained with elegant lakes and good wooden domestic architecture.

Pity that I got bitten by a dog on the road out of town, above, where there is slum housing, You know you are still in the third world when there are dogs all over the place, something I didn`t see in Uruguay.

 *

The lakeside picture owes something to Klimt, with water on a square format. The last two relate to Corot. Nineteenth century painting, especially that which tackles themes of travel and exploration is very important to me, and there are whole schools that deal with this that are commonly ignored in standard British Art histories- most obviously the Russians and Americans.

*

Two square still lives

*

 Bananas, oil on card 13/ 13 cm - unavailable

Painted patiently in phases, and aiming for a much more textured effect. I'm hoping I can apply this to landscapes somehow.

*

I'm driving down to Gramado and Canela tomorrow. All being well I should be about to do some work there, and along the way.

*