The artist claimed that the month of May inspired him in Cyprus the most. He felt that then, his palette and brushes became more vibrant and luxuriant when painting the landscapes. This view, near Paphos, incorporates thistles in the foreground sketched in another of his works. The orange colour contrasts beautifully as it fades away in the distance against the shades of blue in the sky. Typical of the East, the horizon acquires a shade of mauve as the sun is about to set.
Alan Cotton was born in 1938 in Redditch, Worcestershire, England. He began painting as a small child with brushes made from his mother’s hair. It was this interest that took him away from the monochrome grime of the town into a landscape where he could create his own sense of order.
The artist writes about his time in Cyprus:
“In Cyprus the landscape in springtime, before the sun has bleached it, is vibrant with colour. Everywhere there were crops, vines, olive orchards and species of plants I had never seen anywhere else. Here, especially on the slopes of the Troodos, the ground is harder to cultivate than in Provence or Tuscany, so the hillsides have been sculpted to create narrow terraces on which to grow vines or olive trees. Perhaps, more than anywhere, Cyprus enabled me to use vast swashes of colour against which the foreground plants created tremendous spatial depth.”
PNT-00133 > Alan Cotton, Cyprus Summer Landscape near Paphos, Oil on Canvas, 61x75 cm, 1977.
