When the world around you is not so inspiring, like on a rainy day, then maybe the imaginary world at large is more interesting. The world inspired landscape series is just that, a chance to virtually visit countries all over the world and learn a little about their history. Malta is a small island in the Mediterranean close to the tip of Italy, it has been inhabited for as long as archeological records can exist, that is, pottery shards from seven thousand years ago. Over its long course of human habitation, Malta had a revolving door of conquerors and occupiers, culminating with the British Empire acting as a protectorate. Protectorate is a kind of vassal state, that is, a cooperate or else kind of politics. With their independence, Malta has grown into a thriving tourist hub and important Mediterranean stopover. Like a lot of arid and isolated countries, it has little fresh water to draw from, and its habitat is affected by climate change and human activity. Even in ancient history, the island had a number animals like the giant swan, that went extinct shortly after the arrival of humans.
You would have to be a botany expert to guess what kind of tree this is. Its trunk and roots look a lot like a banyan tree, but in fact this painting represents a carob tree. Carob is known as a chocolate alternative, it is used in recipes because it has a natural non-sugar sweetener and a consistency, flavor and colour similar to chocolate. Its seed pods start off like very large green beans, maybe a foot long, then turn dark reddish-brown when they dry. The seed pods are then harvested and sold as is, or powdered. To paint the surrounding sea I used phthalo green (PG7) and phthalo blue (PB15). The sea really pops due to the contrast with all the warm earthy colours of the tree and ground, and the dark reddish-brown seed pods (PBk6 + PR175 + PBr7). The colour of the pods as you see it was a composite of black and dark red, but it is essentially the exact same shade as burnt umber which I also dabbed in.
World Inspired Landscapes: Malta, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, March 2024
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