Landscape near Vargem Grande

Landscape near Vargem Grande, oil on card, 12.5 x  10.5 cm  SOLD

Another "Dutch" -or perhaps English- landscape, from off the BR-301.

Tall pines

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Tall pines, oil on card, 13.7 x 10.7cm  - available

They appear to bevlearing the land here, presumably for housing. After I painted it I thought "Hobbema!", specifically the famous Avenue at Middelharnis in London's National Gallery.

There is a fine song by The Band called Whispering Pines:

If you find me in a gloom, or catch me in a dream
Inside my lonely room, there is no in between
Whispering pines, rising of the tide
If only one star shines
That's just enough to get inside
I will wait until it all goes 'round
With you in sight, the lost are found
Foghorn through the night, calling out to sea
Protect my only light, 'cause she once belonged to me
Let the waves rush in, let the seagulls cry
For if I live again, these hopes will never die
I can feel you standing there
But I dont see you anywhere

Standing by the well, wishing for the rains
Reaching for the clouds, for nothing else remains
Drifting in a daze, when evening will be done
Try looking through a haze
At an empty house, in the cold, cold sun
I will wait until it all goes round
With you in sight, the lost are found

Two pictures from near Santo Amaro da Imperatriz

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A view of the mountains from Santo Amaro da Imperatriz, oil on card, 14.4 x 10.8 cm - available 

A community near Santo Amaro da Imperatriz, oil on card, 13 x 10.9 cm - unavailable

You can see in Brasil, as if from a late novel by Hamsun, communities establishing themselves from almost nothing- a tiny cluster of houses: these often have a paradiscal quality.

And, as if to confirm Hamsun's pessimism about cities, you can also see how these little communities grow into huge areas of urban squalor. Santa Catarina is free of these huge cities, fortunately.

A drive along the SC-282 to Alfredo Wagner; Union Gallery- works on display

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Landscape near Alfredo Wagner, oil on card, 12.8 x 11.6 cm  - available

Landscape near Rancho Queimado, oil on card, 11.8 x 14.5 cm  - available

...painted along the SC-282, a lovely road.

I had originally thought of sleeping in Alfredo Wagner, but the hotel there was too awful, even for me.

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Union Gallery, 45 Broughton Street, Edinburgh:

I have 6 landscapes in their current exhibition ‘Onslaught of Autumn’, which opened on Thursday evening.

The Exploding Boy

Nick Parker, the wonderful English writer, has most flatteringly used one of my monoprints for the cover of his collection of stories:

http://explodingboy.squarespace.com/

Hurry now while stocks last!

The Ocean; The Middle East

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The Ocean, oil on card, 14.8 x  11.5cm     available

Painted down on Beiramar Avenue.

It was the sort of shimmering weather that Ardizzone loved to paint- an aesthetic lineage that spins delightfully back through Whistler to Velázquez and Titian (there is that wonderful nautical Titian,  Perseus and Andromeda in the glorious Wallace Collection- I used to enjoy going there in my lunch hours and feeling doomed).

What I like about the Wallace Collection is that I don't get the feeling there that the curators are trying to teach me anything: wheras if I go to, say to any of the Tates, I feel bombarded with notices, explanations, often horribly written and very partial.

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I am thinking about a Middle East trip for late January or February. I'd like to go to Syria again but the state there has murdered to many people there recently that this would probably be unwise.

Headland, Beiramar

Headland, Beiramar, oil on card,12.7 x 13.6 cm  SOLD

Painted at the Agronomica end of Beiramar Avenue.

I painted here before on a much bigger scale: I overworked the peice and it lost its charm, becoming heavy.