The Footpaths of Flores

 

Footpath in Flores, watercolor, 20"h x 14"w.

 

I'm back to watercolors with this painting of one of the many footpaths on the beautiful island of Flores. I used half a sheet of some cold-pressed rough 300 lb. paper I had in my studio, and once started, remembered how much water this paper absorbs. The rough surface is also hard on brushes--I hope I won't need to buy new ones after this!

The photo I worked from already formed a nice composition in and of itself, so the challenge was rendering the pattern of light and dark to give the impression of the path in its shadowy tunnel of trees with patches of sunlight shining through. The pigments were my recent botanical palette of Vanadium Yellow, Quinacridone Gold, Cerulean Blue Hue, and Indrathrene Blue, with touches of Perylene Maroon and Quinacridone Red to neutralize the greens.

I built up the colors in layers starting with light washes of blue and yellow-green for the sky and foliage, and gradually darkened the tree trunks and rocks in the foreground. The painting could still be a bit darker, and I'll probably continue to work on it to heighten the shadowy parts more.

It brought back wonderful memories of my hikes on the many footpaths of Flores, where at every turn there was something beautiful to see. This particular hike was taken in the company of a guide, Pier Luigi, the Italian-born owner of the Nautilus B & B in Faja Grande on the western side of the island. We hiked from the northernmost point of Flores where one of the two lighthouses on the island are located, on towards Faja Grande--the only stretch of Flores where there were no driveable roads. The shady path was a welcome relief from the afternoon sun after the earlier, more exposed parts of the trail.

There were many other similar footpaths throughout Flores that I hiked on my own, all of them presenting their own challenges and charm. I'll soon undertake another journey down memory lane to once again paint my favorite spot: the Poza das Patas.

Early Spring Flowers

 

Crocus thommasinianus

Crocus tommasinianus in two colors.

The recent warm weather is gradually ushering spring in, and more crocuses are blooming in my front yard. A couple of dry weeks after some good rains, the clayey earth in my garden has now attained the perfect consistency for being worked, so I'm hard at labor on my bed expansions and soil improvements. I can't help noticing new shoots coming up everywhere!

 

Feathered mauve crocuses

Witch hazel 'Diane'

My witch hazel 'Diane,' planted last year, has put out its first blooms and they are lovely--it certainly lived up to my expectations! It should be even better in a few years as it develops into a small tree. When it reaches above deer browsing height I'll remove the protective netting which obscures it now.

'February Gold' daffodils

The 'February Gold' daffodils that I separated and re-planted in the front yard last fall are starting to bloom. The display is a bit skimpy now, but it will become fuller in the coming years as the bulbs grow and fill in the space.

Bearss lime

Indoors, my Bearss lime tree has been very prolific--this is one of six limes harvested since I brought it inside last fall, with one more lime left and lots of new blossoms setting fruit. My hand pollination efforts on the Australian red lime seem to have been successful, and a few limes are starting to develop. They are only about 3/4" long right now, but hopefully, they'll reach edible size by summer, when I take it outdoors.

Australian red lime

A new crop of blossoms should develop then. I'm curious to see whether any bees will pollinate the blossoms--I don't recall any fruit setting last year when it bloomed outside, but then again it was a very hot and dry summer and it was the first set of blooms. It's possible a specialized pollinator simply doesn't exist in the USA, because it's a native of Australia, though small bees should be able to pollinate the flowers.

Two Lagoas

Two lagoas, pastel on panel, 9"h x 12"w.

 

 While revisiting the photos from a my Artist in Residence stay on the island of Flores in the Azores back in 2007, I came across one taken at the highest point of the volcanic spine of the island. The view from the miradouro overlooks two of the crater lakes found on the Morro Alto zone: Lagoa or Caldeira Negra on the left, and Lagoa Comprida on the right. In the distance one can see the hollows of two more craters: Lagoa Seca on the right, which is a dry caldera, and Lagoa Branca towards the left.

My stay on the island of Flores was memorable for many reasons, but mostly because of the magical quality of the landscape. The westernmost island of the Azores group, Flores lies on the American tectonic plate, as opposed to the rest of the archipelago on the European plate, and is quite isolated. I joked with the locals that with tectonic drift, in another million years or so, they might be our closest neighbors.

Flores has a total of seven calderas, all filled with water except for one. Each of them is unique, with vertiginous slopes and unusual vegetation. Only a bit of the endemic vegetation remains in the highest part of the island, known as the Morro Alto: sedges, ferns, mosses, and wind-sculpted native junipers. Most of the plants growing throughout Flores are imports from distant parts of the globe, brought by the ships that stopped here on their voyages around the world. With the very wet temperate climate of the north Atlantic, most of those plants have taken hold and propagated well beyond expectations. 

But in this highest part of the island where these two crater lakes are located, the landscape is still wild, as were the winds on the day I stopped here. Much as I wanted to stay to paint on location, the penetrating winds and cold made it very uncomfortable, so I settled for taking the photos.

The weather on Flores is very changeable, and even as I walked by the crates lakes, the clouds covered and uncovered the sun, creating unusual and lovely light effects. I wished I could return once more... doing this painting allowed me to project myself back to Flores again through the magic of imagination.

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The pastel is on a Richeson premium pastel Gator board panel, a surface that is rapidly becoming my favorite, since it holds so much pastel powder. I toned the original cool gray color with a reddish-brown underpainting laid down with pastels and Turpenoid. After that dried, I started the painting, gradually building up the layers of color.