World Inspired Landscapes: Kyrgyzstan

Although they are right next to each other, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have very different geographies, the former is incredibly mountainous while the latter was extremely flat overall. Kyrgyzstan is at the foothills of the Pamir mountains at a junction with the Himalaya and other mountain ranges. Historically they were conquered by various regional powers, most notably the Turkish ancestors who seemed to have the greatest influence on their culture, which is a majority ethnic Kyrgyz. One of their hobbies is hunting with birds of prey, so I included one in the sky of the painting. The rest of the design shows endless interleaved mountains that become snowier the higher and farther you go. Originally I planned for peaks to show on all the mountains, but liked the seemingly endless heights that this design suggests by having most of the mountain tops running up and off the picture plane. Just one sharp peak stands in the distance. At the bottom of such mountains, the rockfall creates a situation for grass and trees to grow. Similar to Bhutan in composition, this is one the several mountainous compositions I have come up with for the series.

World Inspired Landscapes: Kyrgyzstan, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, January 2024