These are 'rainy day' kind of paintings which is fitting considering the amounts of rain we have been getting and expect to get this coming long weekend. Speaking of water, Nicaragua which is the largest country in Central America, was probably named after water (Spanish for water is agua) although there are debates about the actual etymology of the name. Nicaragua has vast resources of precious fresh water in two enormous lakes and plenty of rain from the jungle and humid climate. At least that was historically so, nowadays climate change is impacting central and south America considerably. Nicaragua was populated by paleo-indians, ancient people who were likely among the first humans in the region. Over time they were overcome by Aztecs, Incans and eventually Spanish colonialists. In countries that had large mountains with deep jungles, the indigenous people, including Incans, had a better chance to generally avoid the colonists, but eventually the allure of vast gold reserves and the fresh water was too much. In modern time the country has seen instability including a brief invasion by the USA, and general economic struggles.
The painting was meant to be an abstraction of Nicaragua from an aerial perspective. On the left is the Pacific ocean, on the right is the greenery and mountains leading to the Caribbean sea. In the middle are mountains, plains and the large bodies of fresh water. To signify the ancient indigenous heritage I painted a homage to a car-touche, which is a type of carving that would have had some meaning, and perhaps represented a primitive language.
World Inspired Landscapes: Nicaragua, watercolour 9 x 6" watercolour paper, June 2024
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