World Inspired Landscapes: Tunisia

Yesterday with the lousy weather I painted six more paintings in this series and planned out another two including this one, and Trinidad and Tobago which will take a little longer than usual to complete. I also recomposed the Switzerland painting and posted a second version that looks much better. Getting back Tunisia, it is a country on the north coast of Africa located along the Mediterranean Sea. Historically, and to this day, it is inhabited by a people called the Berbers, who lived all along the north coast, down to the west coast, and in the Sahara desert. I knew a Berber person from Algeria, she worked in a laboratory at McGill University. She even spoke the Berber language which was neat. Being a French colony for some time, the French culture and language remains, as does a bit of French Joi de Vive. In fact, the famous Arab Spring uprising originated in Tunisia, which lead to free parliamentary elections. In general, Tunisia is more liberal minded than some of the other countries in the region, tolerant perhaps owing to the vast history of multiculturalism. Another fun fact about Tunisia, you may have guessed from the painting, was that scenes from Star Wars were filmed here back in the 1970's. Luke Sky-walker's home was based in a traditional Berber-style underground home, intended to create a cool living space in the desert. Of course, the set designers added some faux-doors, futuristic looking trims, and the communication device that looks something like R2D2. Usually I try to avoid specific, touristy things, but in this case I could not resist. I even made the numbers 25 recede like the opening text to Star Wars.  

World Inspired Landscapes: Tunisia, watercolour 7 x 10" hot press, April 2025