My fourth Peruvian trip: Cabanaconde

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 Cabanaconde, mountain in sun, oil on card, 24 x 21 cm SOLD

Cabanconde, mountains, oil on card, 24.5 x 21 cm - unavailable

Cabanconde, mountains and a farm
 oil on card, 21 x 24 cm  SOLD

Cabanaconde is base to explore the yawning Colca Canyon and is a couple of hours bus ride from Chivay. Visitors should be aware that as the town has no banks and almost nowhere accepts cards, they should bring cash with them. 

I am very happy with the work I did there especially the first and last paintings here. When I was younger I felt that serious art was necessarily troubled. As I get older I tend to the opposite opinion: that within cheerfulness lies value.

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My fourth Peruvian trip: Yanque

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Yanque is one of the towns along the Colca. Many have baroque churches of surprising sophistication. They are whitewashed and within are sometimes simple murals. There is a museum with good models of these churches in the central square in Yanque, along with other rooms dedicated to the culture of the region.

 The town itself is nicely perched above the Colca Valley and it has various little hotels. Other towns offer less to visitors and are best visited by car as bus services can be somewhat irregular.

Yanque, a canyon, oil on card, 19 x 24 cm   Available

This is one of the strongest of 2019`s Peru set- it`s fluent and ambitious.

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My fourth Peruvian trip: Chivay part two

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 Chivay, mountain with blue sky, oil on card, 24.2 x 21 cm - unavailable

 Chivay, River Colca, hillside, oil on card, 25 x 19 cm unavailable

Chivay, mountainside, oil on card, 21.6 x 24.5 cm unavailable

The mountains round Chivay are often extremely rocky with just grasses or cacti (some of these rather magnificent) for vegetation. The effect can be rather severe.

 It didn't rain at all for the first week, then there was a phase when the clouds build up to storm in the mid-afternoon.

Every now and then in the paths around Chivay you run into a shepherd with a few sheep. Sometimes the shepherds are young children, sometimes old people. They are quite personable, but often shy- mountain people perhaps. There are few cars and it is an extremely agreeable place to work.

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A trip to Scotland and Canterbury

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Argyll and Bute

My pictures sold well at the last Society of Scottish artists exhibition and I want to produce more Scottish works. These will all be larger- about 30 x 25 cm.

Hence Oban in August, a small, touristic town on the West Coast that should provide, within easy reach, a good variety of views. I`ll also visit Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen, and in the south, Canterbury and London.

I`ll be showing work with Jane Rutherford at the Porty Art Walk festival, in Portobello near Edinburgh, where Jane and her husband Mark Haddon have a gallery (6-15 September).

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My fourth Peruvian trip: Chivay part one

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Chivay is a pleasant small  town which serves as a gateway to the splendid Colca Valley. 

 Mountains and firs, Chivay, oil on card, 19.5 x 24.4 cm - available

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My fourth Peru trip- Arequipa

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Arequipa, gardens, oil on card, 22 x 25 cm  unavailable

This was painted from Ponte Grau or the park by Avenida Bolognesi.

I had an idea of painting more of the gardens here- they are rather formal, with a somewhat fussy planting.

Arequipa is a civilised place, good for reading and lunch, and necessary as a stop off before heading into the mountains. The light is often rather hazy, especially this time of year, and not much fun for painting.

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Lima, three paintings; my fourth Peruvian trip

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Lima, Rimac, Santo Liberato, oil on card, 19.5 x 25.5 cm  available

 Lima, the park near the Art Museum, oil on card, 21 x 24 cm  SOLD

 Lima, Rimac, street, oil on card, 19 x 25 cm - unavailable

Lima is full of great architecture. It`s filthy and everywhere stinks. The light is often hazy, poor for painting. But it`s fascinating to wander around. 

This painting trip was a great success with many fine paintings. I`m always dubious about saying such things in case I jinx myself.  

I wasn't intending to come here. I was planning on going to Ecuador. But because they need Yellow Fever Certification to enter Ecuador from a tropical country, and I didn't have this, I couldn`t board the flight to Quito. 

Luckily I had a b-plan, the the b-plan was southern Peru- Arequipa and the mountains there. 

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