Cleared ground

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Cleared ground, oil on card, 12 x 13 cm   AVAILABLE

Painted near Rio Tavares, on a little drive down to the south of the island: Civilisation marches forward!

Red Boat

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Red boat, oil on card, 10.5 x 13.8 cm              - available

A very warm day: I think winter is coming to a close.

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A weekend in Curitiba

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 Just off Rua Tibagi, oil on card, 12.7 x  11.5 cm  - available

 Hotel Roochelle hotel suite, oil on card, 10.5 x  14 cm   - available

 Curitiba nocturne, oil on card, 14.2 x  10.5cm

Rooftops, Curitiba, oil on card, 9.6 x 8.1cm   - available

Four new pictures from last weekend trip to Curitiba, where they are having an art Bienal: some very good shows. The art infrastructure there is good.

The city itself has fewer and fewer charms for me with each visit: the massive dominance of anonymous corporate hotels and conference centres, which contrast strangely and bleakly with innumerable seedy lanchonetes (diners) whose food is so bad that Macdonalds seems good in comparasion. And then there are the malls, those monstrous and charmless shopping malls...

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A little fishing boat off Beiramar Avenue

A little fishing boat off Beiramar Avenue, oil on card, 14.8 x 11.7 cm   SOLD

I do not know what they are fishing for: they come quite close to shore, and there is a fellow standing, using the oar as if on a punt.

Joaquina

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Joaquina, oil on card, 13.5 x 12 cm   SOLD

An exceptionately beautiful day, the sun not too warm and a wonderful friendly atmosphere on the uncrowded beach.

The beaches have beautiful names: Galheta, Joaquina, Solidão...

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Itaiópolis: a road trip

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Church near the junction for Rio Negrinho, oil on card, 12 x14.5 cm   SOLD

I feel that my trip was a sucess, I painted six pictures, five of which are presentable, not a bad catch.

Itaiópolis itself is quite interesting, a city in two distinct parts, the old town with some good architecture from the turn of the century and the Polish church (the interior most beautifully painted), and the newer part which is less interesting but where most of the services are.

Driving around is very nice: I was delighted with the quality of the roads, and how pleasant the views are: the landscape undulates very beautifully between the sea and Itaiópolis, the little houses sitting so very gracefully among trees and hills.

 

A view north from Itaiópolis, oil on card, 12 x 9.8 cm  - available

Shanty town near Rio Negrinho, oil on card, 9.8 x 13.9 cm  discarded

A section of BR101, oil on card, 8.6 x 12 cm

There is a certain sky effect which I have started using and which I must be careful not to let become a cliche.

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The red car

The red car, oil on card, 12.5 x 9.1 cm

Tomorrow, all being well, I shall make my way to Itaiopolis, on old Polish-Ukrainian settlement to the north of here, an hour west of Blumenau: there is quite an impressive church there.

It is also an excuse to get off this claustrophobic island. Maybe I will spend the night there and do some art.