A Summer in Shangri-La!

Phew, finally put in a concerted effort to get this one off the easel! 

Summer Shangri -La 

'' Shangri-La'' was a term coined in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by James Hilton, although it features as a Himalayan valley in the novel, the term has become synonymous with a utopian place where people live in peace and harmony like the Garden of Eden,  now that can’t be bad can it! Even better the inhabitants age very slowly and are virtually immortal! Love, peace and understanding, wow and that far from the madding crowd, sounds just perfect at the moment! 

I certainly wanted to create that moment of peeping out of the undergrowth to spy a place that looks heavenly. That said, I also like the idea that the place that I'm standing is beautiful but as they say the grass is always greener, perhaps Shangri-La isn’t all it’s cut out to be, or remains an illusion, like a mirage. 

As you can see, the painting went through quite a few changes, the mid-section of leaves had to go because it closed down the view too much and everything kind of lightened up with a few pops of turquoise! 

Shangri-La and the search for this magical land didn’t start in 1933, ancient Tibetan scriptures mention up to seven different Shangri-La's, places of peace and harmony; hidden lands that have inspired explorers and researchers to pack their backpacks and head off into the Orient.

To be fair, they really didn’t have to go that far, my Shangri-La is down at the Hunte near Oldenburg!