BHUTAN VIRTUAL PAINTOUT part 1

The country of Bhutan was selected as the site for the April 2015 Virtual Paintout.     I had to do some homework to locate it between China and India.  It’s no larger than Switzerland and has been called “the last Shangri-La” because of its serene, natural beauty. The Himalayan Mountains are its northern border and Gangkhar Puensum at 22,623 feet is the highest unclimbed peak in the world.  Climbers are not permitted to scale these mountains to prevent the “disturbing of the spirits.”  A 1995 law mandates that 60 percent of Bhutan’s land must remain forested while another 26 percent is already protected as parkland.

Using Google Street View I virtually explored a few areas of Bhutan.  The roads I saw were narrow, rugged and with little or no pavement in many places.  I was thankful the Street View people were courageous and adventurous enough to brave the one lane roads with sheer drop-offs to provide virtual access to views of the awesome mountains and deep, peaceful valleys.

 My first watercolor is of a view overlooking an area in a northern district named Damji, Gasa.  The buildings appear to be typical farm houses and the fields are terraced.  I’m guessing some of the fields are rice paddies.

Street View of the actual location:  https://goo.gl/maps/mTbKL.

I'll send my paintings to be posted on the Virtual Paintout in the near future.  Check some of the other submissions by clicking on the link in the first sentence of this post.