A visit to northern Peru- next year's itinerary and- part one - Lima

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Well that`s clear: Peru in Summer is pleasant and a good place to go painting, except when it rains which it hardly did when I was there. So next time I will go there  for six weeks, cutting out Trujillo, and doing to the following-

Fly to Lima
Fly to Chiclayo 
Visit Lambayeque
Take the bus from Chiclayo to Chachapoyas
Stay in Chachapoyas Backpackers 
Visit Gopta waterfall.
Return: route uncertain.

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Lima is a a big smelly place  and it is a place where I spent a week. I stayed in Miraflores, which is good for shopping and eating but rather easy-wipe clean and lacking a certain specificity. I mean, you could be just about anywhere that is reasonable pleasant.

So almost all my work was done in the centre which is a lot more interesting both architecturally and in terms of general atmosphere, with people selling all manner of stuff all over the place. I especially enjoyed the less touristy bits near the bullring and around Chinatown. They are quite filthy and full of odd things to see. 

Lima: Monserrat, oil on card, 13 x 16.5 cm  - available

Lima, Barrio Altos, oil on card, 13 x 16 cm unavailable

Lima: la Victoria, oil on card, 12.8 x 13.2 cm - unavailable

Lima: Callao, oil on card, 13.5 x 15.5 cm  - available

Lima: Rimac, oil on card, 14 x 17.5 cm   - available

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My portable palette

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Like the pochade carriers, the palettes close so they can be transported without making a mess.

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Three framed pochades

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Framed- Hamlet on the way to Russia, oil on card, 15 x 18 cm  SOLD

Framed- Moçambique, forest oil on card, 13.5 x 12.5 cm    SOLD

Praia Mole- headland, August oil on card, 12.5 x 11 cm  NOT FOR SALE

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Getting ready for Peru

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Carriers. 

All are now double carriers. The double carriers save considerable space but there is always the worry that the pictures on one side will mar that on the opposite.  But on longer trips such as the one coming the pictures can dry superficially between destinations on the itinerary.

Double carrier

I've been quite inactive here. It's too hot to do much except daydream, so I'm very keen to get going.

I'm scoring off the days to Saturday when I fly to Peru. I worry about one thing or another- rain, crime, the general hassle, getting ripped off and so forth, but at worst it will be a break from here. 

Before a departure I always find a surge in anxieties, which often focus around some petty matter- fear of houseplants dying, insects invading the house, the car being damaged etc.

But when I start packing and I have filtered down everything into the little kit I need to do some work and get by for a month I realise that all those anxieties are nothing more than a load of mush. Or perhaps they represent some fear about freedom, as if some part of me doesn`t want to be free to enjoy working and travelling but would prefer me to sit and rot here and moan about things. Is there something in us that prevents us from escape, from leaping to safety, and innate conservatism, so well represented by Billy Liar, unable to take the train to a more joyful life in London, condemned to provincial misery.

Florianopolis is a boring place and nothing happens here without a push and a shove and then another push and a shove on top of that. Socially it is very slow, and there are almost no cultural events. I regret that I didn`t set out to travel just after New Year. I`m always concerned about losing students by travelling for too long. But it is so slow for students in January that I could surely have gone without anyone noticing and I`m cross with myself for not having done so.

Ready to go.

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Red and yellow and white flowers

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Red and yellow and white flowers, oil on card, 17.5 x 15 cm - available

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Two framed pochades

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 Forest, Mocambique, oil on card, 135 x 11.5 cm   SOLD

Joaquina, sea, October, 11.5 x 12 cm

Recently framed.

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Flowers, January, 2017

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Flowers, January, 2017, oil on card, 12 x 15 cm \ not for sale 





This painting was submitted to the Society of Scottish Artists Annual exhibition in 2019 and is in Scotland.




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