World Inspired Landscapes: Uzbekistan

 

Uzbekistan is centrally located in middle Asia, it is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world, that means it has two full circles of other countries separating it from the sea. The other doubly landlocked country is Liechtenstein, located in the middle of Europe. Being centrally located and mostly flat steppe landscapes interspersed with tall mountains, the country was subject to control by the Persian empire, hence the -stan ending, followed by Soviet occupation until independence in the early 1990's like a lot of the other former Soviet occupied lands. Rich in natural resources like cotton and natural gas, Uzbekistan has modernized its economy to be a trading and economic hub leading to very low national debt. Historically there were human rights issues like modern day slavery in the cotton fields, but recent political turns have led to improvements in this respect. When researching the landscapes of Uzbekistan is was very 'toasty brown' everywhere on google maps, although there were some spectacular mountain scenes, postcard worthy ones, seen on google image search. I thought about painting the impressive Steppe Eagle flying over the landscape, but the idea that stuck with me was the Dung Beetle. Uzbekistan has some endemic beetle species (endemic means only found in that country) living up in the remote mountain regions. The painting depicts a dung beetle using its back legs to roll a ball of dung, probably from cows or yaks, and the perspective makes it look like its rolling the dung ball up the side of a mountain! For good measure I put my initials and year on the dung ball. Luckily I painted some dog poo recently on Harley street, so I had some idea of the colours and textures of it.

World Inspired Landscapes: Uzbekistan, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, May 2025