World Inspired Landscapes: Dominican Republic

 

Dominican Republic is a popular tourist destination in the Caribbean known for its expansive white sand beaches and inexpensive resorts. I visited the country many years ago, at a resort in Punta Cana and made some paintings of the nice scenery. The island has one of the biggest economies in the area due to its large tourist industry as well as the third largest gold mine in the world. The Spanish conquered the island in the colonial era, displacing the local indigenous people and exploiting the gold reserves. Unlike other colonial era countries, Domincan Republic became independent in the early 19th century and suffered some political ups and downs since then but maintained its sovereignty. As a result, the main spoken language is Spanish and the people are a mix of indigenous, spanish and black ethnicity. The obvious painting would be another beach scene but not only would that be a cliche, I have already done it literally on location with a piña colada! In looking through the internet I saw that the country has been subjected to fierce hurricanes. The painting shows a choppy Caribbean sea and strong wind blowing the palm trees back and forth. I didn't want the scene to look like a natural disaster in the making, so it just represents a strong windy day, without the piña colada,

World Inspired Landscapes: Dominican Republic, watercolour 8 x 10" rough press, March 2022 (No. 2983)