World Inspired Landscapes: Chile

Chile has perhaps the most diverse landscape of any country in the world. Stretching for more than 4000km along the west coast of South America, it has desert, forest, jungle, valleys, mountains, beaches, and even ice bergs. Chile also has claim over Easter Island where the famous indigenous statues still stand, Robinson Crusoe island which inspired the story, and a large swath of Antarctica. Many of the countries that I researched for the series were heavily affected by colonialism, and Chile is no different. It was conquered by the Spanish over the Incan empire. In fact the Incan empire had only recently taken over that part of South America when the Spanish arrived. It must have been a difficult time for the people. They also had their share of political strife, but these days Chile is more wealthy, prosperous, and democratic than ever before.

The landscapes that grabbed my attention were in the south, in an area called Patagonia near the border with Argentina. I did a birds-eye view painting of Argentina back in 2020 when the pandemic started. There are several nature reserves in the south of Chile such as  Laguna San Rafael National Park. You can search that on the internet and see amazing views of glaciers and glacial lakes nestled among steep rocky peaks and forested mountainsides. It is a major tourist attraction, people take tour boats on the water to get close to glaciers. For my painting, I wanted to go where the tourist boats can not go, that is, to the top of the glacier. At first you see a river of ice, then you notice the tourist boat at the top of the painting, and the perspective completes the illusion of standing atop a Chilean glacier, looking down on the glacial lake.
World Inspired Landscapes: Chile, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, January 2022 (No. 2966)

 

This is the first version I did, the piece was done to test out a few ideas. The tourists on the boat are looking up at the glacier. I felt that the scene was a little too obvious, one can find pictures like this on the internet. I imagined being atop the glacier looking down, and painted the boat at the top of the painting. It made a fascinating optical illusion. I found myself staring at this painting for a long time, my brain working overtime to figure out what it was! You can simultaneously see both perspectives. It gives the impression that you have climbed up the glacier, and are then looking back down on the boat.

 It was a lot fun to learn more about Chile, maybe another place to visit one day!

World Inspired Landscapes: Chile version i, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, January 2022 (No. 2965b)