Located deep in the Indian Ocean somewhere between India and Madagascar, the Maldives is a chain of volcanic islands that sits only 1.5 meters above sea level on average. It was populated by a mix of people from the area of India and Sri Lanka around 2500 years ago, and was also inhabited by Arab traders. The island was under a colonial protectorate, which is a client or vassal state where the leaders are installed by another country, first by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, then the British. The British found it difficult to control the region and it started a process of independence that culminated in the 1950's. The culture therefor is quite mixed. Its main draw nowadays is tourism. The government has increased the tourist industry in order to raise enough money to move the entire country of about 500,000 people. They are looking to buy a large tract of land in India or Sri Lanka to relocated their population over the next decades due to climate change. Estimates vary, but unfortunately Maldives will be under water in the next generation or so at the current rate of sea level rise.
That was not what inspired the painting though. I tried a few underwater scenes in the series, including Antigua and Barbuda, and Cypress. This time I went for more of a 'screen saver look' with very bright colours and some made-up fish inspired by a puzzle I did with mom and dad about a year ago. In the bottom left among the coral and rocks are some oversized sea snails meant to represent cowrie snails, otherwise known to history as money snails. Their shells were collected en masse and dried out to provide a form of currency in the ancient world. Maldives had such a wealth of these snails that it became a wealthy area much prized by traders. The shells are very shiny, and have a jagged opening across the bottom. Colours vary from brown, caramel, white, often with dots and patterns.
The sea background was phthalo turquoise (PB16) at the top, ultramarine (PB29) in the middle, and indo blue (PB60) at the bottom. If you look around, you will see my algae eater hidden away.
World Inspired Landscapes: Maldives, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, March 2024
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