Ratones, afternoon in October

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Ratones, afternoon in October, oil on card, 19.5 x 24 cm

I shall do some research into Ivon Hitchins, in whose shadow I step.

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Ratones, bushes

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Ratones, bushes, oil on card, 17 x 14.5 cm - unavailable

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Ratones- a wooded area

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Ratones, a wooded area, oil on card, 13 x 15 cm  - available

Ratones, a landscape, oil on card, 12.5 x 13.5 cm

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Ratones- greenery - two pictures

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Ratones, greenery, oil on card, 13 x 15 cm - available

Ratones, oil on card, 13 x 15 cm - available

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Rio Vermelho, nature

Rio Vermelho, nature, oil on card, 15.5 x 17 cm   -unavailable

Rio Vermelho is one of those relatively obscure parts of the island which, like Ratones,  I love to visit.

There is something mysterious about it that invites a sort of painting, derived from Corot (a French master whose work, once so famous, is falling into obscurity) and which concerns the secret.

Entrance to a little favela, Ratones

Entrance to a little favela, Ratones, oil on card, 15 x 18 cm - unavailable

Dogs, adolescents and rubbish: both the adolescents and the dogs roam about this little area, the adolescents smoking cigarettes and looking at each other or at the dogs and then occasionally conversing. The dogs do a lot of sniffing.  Both the adolescents and the dogs are are quite friendly. 

The male adolescents have some bizarre vanities: they smell very strongly of a particularly nasty aftershave (or is it insect repellant?) and one has managed to bleach his hair so it appears that someone has glued a sponge to the top of his head. Both the adolescents and the dogs roam around this little area.

I am not sure if, technically, this is a favela. But then, the definitions vary widely to encompass both from social to architectural criteria.

Ratones, edge of woodland

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Ratones, edge of woodland, oil on card, 15 x 15 cm  - available

Another very hot day.

Ratones, fields and low trees, 10.5 x 9 cm   SOLD

Sluggish weather.

Two from the interior of the island

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 Ratones, a hillside, oil on card, 16 x 12.5 cm  - available

Santa Antonio de Lisboa, from the highway, oil on card, 18 x 12.5 cm -  unavailable

Two paintings from the weekend, both from the interior in the north of the island.

Builders Yards near the turn-off to Santa Antonio

Builders Yards near the turn-off to Santa Antonio, oil on card, 13.5 x 11.5 cm

Painted from the car- a beautifully sunny day, almost too hot for comfort.

I also drove around Ratones, an interesting, quiet area which looks ideal for painting- the road winds and undulating, there are few tourists, horses graze.