World Inspired Landscapes: South Korea

Continuing our tour of the southern countries, now its South Korea. South Korea is not really in the south in fact, its in the northern hemisphere, its a giant peninsula located in east Asia. Up until World War II Korea had remained more or less intact as a country although wars with the Mongols and then conflict with China had depleted their strength. Throughout history Korea is a trading power, having access to land and sea routes connecting middle east to South Asia to South East Asia. After the war, the Unites States and the Soviets agreed to divide Korea in the North and South, and the people were powerless to negotiate. To this day they remain divided into two countries, although each claims to rule the other. As I scanned through the various South Korean landscapes, one motif kept coming up again and again, it was the pine tree. They have great, tall twisty pine trees, entire forests of them, including some picturesque ones like in the painting. I used some knowledge of Japanese print design here, like the dark blue at the top, and the top-shadowing of the hills. Painting the snowy tree in shadow was a risk, I had to trust that it would look right in the end. It did work, and I quite like this one. There are 32 paintings left to do in the series. The next blog will also be a country starting with "South" but you will probably never guess which one unless you are a geography buff or you search the internet. 

World Inspired Landscapes: South Korea, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2025