Tijucas

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Tijucas, in the afternoon, oil on card, 17 x 21.5 cm - available

This picture was damaged by the framer at the left and right sides

From Tijucas, that strange place which seems permanently shrouded in fog. 

The air smells of burnt caramel.

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Guarda do Embaú, sandbank

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Guarda do Embaú, sandbank, oil on card, 18 x 20 cm   AVAILABLE

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Scotland

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Southern Scotland

 I have decided to include the charming town of Melrose on my British trip: 

London- Berwick - Melrose -Alloa -Edinburgh- London

There is something mysterious about the Borders to me.

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A drive to Urussanga and Anitapolis

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 Woodland and fields, between Urussanga and Orleans

 oil on card, 16.5 x 14.5 cm- available

 Homestead, late afternoon, between Urussanga and Orleans

 oil on card, 18 x 16.5 cm   SOLD

This, above, works well.

 Woodland, São Ludgero, oil on card, 15 x 18.3 cm

 Little house, near Anitapolis, oil on card. 15 x 18 cm  AVAILABLE

I`m trying for a style that is bolder and less ridden with equivocation. I feel that my mountain pictures are particularly prone to this fussiness. I think I am trying too hard. That may be because I am in awe of the subject, and therefore unable to respond with creative freedom. I need to find another approach. 

A fine painter of mountains is Bomberg: I must try to get a catalogue of his work.

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I took the wrong road from Anitapolis north, going to Alfredo Wagner by the most tortuous and at times muddy track. The views were fantastic, but I nearly damaged my car, and it took forever. Thank God it wasn't raining. I should have taken the paved road to Rancho Queimado. By the time I realised my error I`d already driven already for 15 minutes and  didn't imagine that the way ahead would become so difficult.

I'd intended to stay another night in the mountains but I came back, exhausted by that drive. There is little to do in the mountain towns at night. You just sit somewhere and read and eat hotdogs because there aren't any proper restaurants and wonder what the hell you are doing there. But I like that emptiness sometimes.

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Guarda do Embaú

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 Guarda do Embaú, red boat, oil on card, 17.5 x 18 cm - available

Guarda do Embaú, a view, oil on card,  17 x 18.5 cm   SOLD

Here are two simple paintings from Guarda do Embaú.

 They were painted on the new easel: the new easel  doesn't provide the use of a surface to mix paints on. And, being less stable, it encourages the making of larger pictures because it is less easy to paint delicately using it. So now I mix the colours up in advance and apply them in broader areas, instead of mixing things up as I go along then apply them systematically.

In such ways do the  limitations of an artist's equipment serve to alter his artistic style- serendipitously so in my case, as I had been seeking a way to open and brighten the pictures  à la Fauvist Braque for some time.

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British Trip. late September

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Both maps taken from the Cavellini School Room map of the British Isles

I'm pleased to say that I shall be going to the UK in September for just over two weeks- a trip which will include London. Berwick, Edinburgh and Alloa, near Stirling. I shell go painting in Greenwich, or opposite. It's  one of the few places in London that offers good views for painting.

Lothian, Fife, Berwick and around

I am especially pleased to get to know Berwick better as I have so often passed on the train and swooned at its wonderful location. And I shall enjoy visiting nearby Lindisfarne too.

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A settlement near Palhoça; new easel

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A settlement near Palhoça, oil on card, 16 x 18 cm   AVAILABLE

This was painted using the new easel- it's less sturdy than the old one, and it is a disadvantage not being able to lay the tubes of paint out so easily. It toppled over once, and the wind caught the picture.

I think I can deal with such challenges but I might have to find a way of painting more simply than previously, using fewer different colours or perhaps pre-selecting them prior to working.

Easel- at times wobbly

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