Next on the world series trail we travel down to South America and the much requested destination of Machu Picchu! The 15th-century Inca citadel located on a 7,970 ft mountain ridge in Southern Peru. The Urubamba River flows past, cutting through the Cordillera and creating a canyon with a tropical mountain climate.
The Incas, had no written language, and no European visited the site until the 19th century leaving no written records of the site while it was in use. Most recent archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was constructed as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its three primary structures are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. Most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in order to give visitors a better idea of how they originally appeared. By 1976, 30% of Machu Picchu had been restored and restoration continues. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 and voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.
I’ve never had the privilege to seeing this one first hand; but my painted version of the mountain ridge is drawn from a a few different vantage points. The sweep of the mountains and the rolling mists lend themselves beautifully to an impressionist view. Acrylic and ink on A3 paper, here shown mounted within a 60 x 50cm white frame.
‘Machu Picchu, Peru’ is No. 34 on my random destinations from around the world. A self initiated series that I started after the birth of my youngest (Travel was curtailed for a while and this became a visual wish list). Either locations i’d love to visit for the first time, or places i’d be desperate to get back to. You can follow along with my world series and see where the wind takes me… here on the studio blog, facebook, twitter or instagram.
Get the crayons out!
In the meantime… Why not colour one of your own? Here’s the line drawing of my composition if you want to challenge the kids to create their own colourful version of ‘The Lost City of the Incas’.
Answers on a postcard to…
And don’t forget you can send me your ideas! I always love to get a recommendation. Leave your suggestions in the comment box below and it might end up part of this rambling Wanderlust!