LOVING COUPLE, watercolor

LOVING COUPLE, watercolor, 9x12 in, La Jolla Art Gallery exhibition. Artists' Reception Saturday, November 16th, 5:00-7:00pm. La Jolla, California.

Kandinsky said: "...Manet started it all when he began to remove pictorial detail in his paintings such as "The Absinthe Drinker" (1858). Each generation of artists that followed removed more and more visual information from their paintings. When Kandinsky saw Monet's haystack's series in Moscow in 1896, he was so impressed, he left his job as lecturer at Moscow's University of Law, and went to Germany to study art.

PUERTO VARAS, CHILE, watercolor

Puerto Varas, Chile, watercolor, 9x12 inches
South America Cruise aboard Carnival Splendor series # 29

Puerto Varas is only 16 km. from Puerto Montt, where the cruise ship stopped. Puerto Varas is inside, overlooking Lake Llanquihue, the largest lake in Chile, and one of the largest lakes in South America. It has waves like a sea or ocean, and on the shore there, you cannot see the other side. This town is also called "City of Roses, due to the large variety and quantity of roses planted everywhere. Between 1850 and 1880 the Chilean government asked Germany to send people, families, here, and gave them land, and a few animals to start working the land and establish farms. Today, Puerto Varas and the surrounding area looks like Bavaria, with signs in Spanish. Well cared gardens, beautiful homes, snow capped mountains, rivers and the beautiful lake Llanquihue. What a blessing to have been able to visit this place!

Camino de Santiago II, watercolor

Camino de Santiago II, watercolor, 7x10 in.
Santiago de Compostela, in the NorthWest corner of Spain is a very popular town among religious and non-religious people. The walks through Europe, from Germany, from Italy, from France, from Portugal and from all corners of Spain, toward this remote corner of Spain,  in the region of Galicia, started in the Middle Ages, when some human bones were discovered in the town, and believed to be the bones of this priest/saint. So the walks to Santiago started as religious, and now people from all over the world do a few miles/kilometers or hundreds of them, according to their faith, their desire to do the walk, their stamina and previous preparation, and the time they have allowed to do "the walk to Santiago".  Along the different walks, as they converge in the town from the East and the South, you find refuges, and special bed and breakfast places, from simple to more elaborate and comfortable, for the different economic level of the walkers. They all share a very friendly attitude, a kind and generous mind. A shell ("concha " in Spanish) is the symbol, which you see painted, or engraved, on walls, sidewalks, posts, or gardens and pathways along the route. Rest stops help the wayfarers regain their strength. Most of the road is beautiful!