Like the other islands in this region, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had an indigenous population that was mostly displaced by European colonialists and slaves that were eventually freed in the 19th century. After slavery ended, a labor shortage lead to workers from Portugal and India immigrating. The Grendadines are 32 smaller islands but only 7 of them are inhabited by people. In the painting, it looks like a side-view of palm trees against a turquoise sea at first, but its actually meant to be an overhead view of palm tree shadows. I saw this kind of image while scrolling through Caribbean pictures on the internet and took on the challenge of painting it for the World Inspired Landscape series. It was harder than I thought, below are the first two versions. The key was to get the value of the water correct, simplify the textures, and omit the actual palm trees to complete the illusion.
World Inspired Landscapes: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines v3. 2.5 x 4.5" cold press, March 2025 (No. 4293)
In the second version I raised the value of the water, making it lighter, and simplified the textures. The brown shadows on the sand looked too much like tree bark, and the paint ran near the sand.
World Inspired Landscapes: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines v2, watercolour 9 x 6" watercolour paper, March 2025 (No. 4292)
The first version had a realistic look to it, with waves, and the actual palm trees on the bottom of the composition. It has the look of a picture taken by a drone, or the view of bird soaring over head. While the realism is evident, I felt like the main gimmick, the tree-shadows that look like trees, was a little lost with all the other elements. The third version at the top seems to work best no matter how its interpreted.
World Inspired Landscapes: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines v1, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, March 2025 (No. 4306b)
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