Valparaiso- Gran Bretaña, from above

*

   Valparaiso- Gran Bretaña, taken from the Valparaiso Hundido para ariba map.

This is the area I worked in.

Valparaiso from Gran Bretaña, oil on card,  17 x 15.5 cm -  -unavailable

These two, below, are rather German expressionist:

Valparaiso, a house seen from above, oil on card, 18 x 17 cm,  -unavailable

To save bag space I`m going to try to make the carriers so that they can be used to carry two pictures, one glued onto the lid. If that works then I can more go on painting trips for longer than one month. This would be useful as I feel the trips have been rushed and superficial.

Valparaiso, rooftops, buildings across a gorge 18 x 14.8 cm  SOLD

*

Valparaiso, the sea

*

 Valparaiso,  naval vessels, rooftops,  16 x 15 cm, oil on card -unavailable

Valparaiso,  sea, oil on card, 15 x 17 cm

Ships dormant in the harbour. 

*

Valparaiso - in the centre

*

 Building in the centre, oil on card, 14.5 x 11 cm -  -unavailable

Valparaiso, shop in the centre, 14.5 x 13.5 cm, oil on card   - unavailable

Valparaiso

There are fine trolleybuses painted green and ivory. There is graffiti or, as some idiots call it, street art, and it`s nasty and disfiguring. There are schoolgirls in hideous grey uniforms which include monstrously thick grey socks. Why humiliate your children? A legacy of British influence, I fear.

There are innumerable solid little shops and to get anything you go and ask and an endlessly patient soul gets the stuff from the shelf then puts it in a bag. There is very little to choose from, making selection easy and making one feel grateful when you find roughly what you`re looking for, Then he writes the cost on a chit which you take to a minuscule kiosk about a metre away. Then you pay (sometimes its the same person that put the stuff in the bag, they`ve just walked along behind the counter metre or so). Then your chit is stamped or initialed and you return to the other counter to pick up your stuff. Obviously, this Soviet style system is extremely slow, but I suppose it makes theft next to impossible.

Neruda's house is not especially interesting, though the steep walk there is. The Fine Art Museum isn't that interesting either but does tell you something about late nineteenth century tastes and their insistence on imposing a certain cloying sentiment over everything, so that the depictions of nature are most unnatural and forced. Thus, the few impressionist pictures there come as a tremendous relief.

There are stray dogs all over the place and consequently dogshit everywhere.  The town is disintegrating- there are bits and pieces falling off buildings and everything seems to require renovation. Some of the funicular railways work and they are marvelous contraptions. People sell a bizarre array of used goods over near the bus station, laying out car parts, children`s clothes sweets or whatever you might imagine on the ground. That reminds me of Ukraine just after Communism, though the sellers faces are considerably more cheerful in Valparaiso.

The city is falling apart, for sure, but it is doing so with a certain geniality and a  Tom Waitsian style that is utterly  beguiling.

*

Belvidere Gallery, Rosemount, Aberdeen

*

I have some pictures on display and sale at the Belvidere Gallery, Rosemount, in Aberdeen.

 The pictures are a nice selection from various places, including Scotland, Morocco and Brazil. They are framed and glazed.


*

Many thanks to Professor J. B. Derȩgowski and the Belvidere for organizing this.

*

Joaquina, sea, the end of March, 2016

*

 Joaquina, sea, the end of March, 2016, oil on card, 15 x 13 cm  SOLD

Joaquina, the end of March, 2016, oil on card, 15 x 17 cm

Two from Praia Joaquina- there is that high key light there, shadow-less and strange. Ensor, a hero, painted similarly near Ostend.

It's delightful to sit there and paint, and forget about daily life. It is difficult and slow here: it is difficult to achieve things and Brazilians are forever cancelling meetings or messing about with the arrangements. It is annoying to do stuff with them, 

Next week I travel to Chile.

*

A view of the mountains in March

*

A view of the mountains in March, oil on card, 15.5 x 17 cm  -available

-this picture suffers damage to surface at edges

This is part of an ongoing series painted from the same location, behind a petrol station in Santo Amaro da Imperatriz.

*