Arizona paintings
I visited the American South West in 1987, partly to give a guest lecture at Arizona State University and partly to research illustrations for my book on Taste. I was struck by the exotic desert landscapes of course but equally by the lush suburban scenes of Scottsdale, where I stayed. ‘Donald’ was my host, the late Donald Bush, then Professor of architecture at ASU.
Back home the paintings were worked-up in the studio from photographs and sketches done during that trip. Like that the Mediterranean, the intense light of Arizona enabled me to use the strong colour palette I had earlier developed for the Raga series. As I worked on the Arizona paintings I realised that impressions re-drawn from memories were often more intense than the original experiences, so that returning to themes after several years have passed has become a recurrent practice.
All images are copyright Peter Lloyd Jones