In most photos of Rio de Janeiro you'll see the famous beaches are backed by high mountains covered with dense tropical vegetation. In a matter of minutes you can get from the hot sunny beach and be in a cool lush tropical forest. It's a popular thing to walk, jog, bike and drive there and the special treat are the natural waterfalls. There's almost always some beautiful guy jumping in and out of the icy mountain water, he and his friends in various states of undress. Only the tourists are a bit prone to stare at this display of natural beauty, but as it's something they see everyday the Brazilians seem not to notice. This
painting seems to reflect my 'tourist' moment there. The eyes are purposely obscure to give a feeling of a quick furtive glance, wanting to see, but not wanting to be rude. My subject is totally aware of my interest, but his reaction is unreadable. The painting is named Vereda Tropical. There's a great song by that name you might check out too.
The name refers to the green lush tropical forest that serves as the impressionistic backdrop for this tropical memory. 11x14 acrylic on canvas panel.