Postcode ARG: Argentina

Ischigualasto National Park, San Juan Province

The name of this park translates to "Moon Valley" or "Valley of the Moon" due to its vast and strange, perhaps moon-like landscape. It also happens to be one of the best (if not, the best) site for DINOSAURS in terms of quality and quantity. The large balls in this scene are rocks that have smoothed into shape, purely by the wind over millennia. Temperatures here can reach an incredible to of 50°C and low of -10°C.

This was an interesting scene to paint and draw. There seemed to be distinct layers of foreground, mid-ground close, mid-ground far, and background. Each "ground" had a slightly different colour, though overall it is quite sandy and dirt-coloured. Because I had just attempted a challenging scene from visiting Chile, I was keen to go easy with this one and only used one colour of different values or concentration. In order to remain true to watercolour, I decided to leave a chunk of white in the sky rather than blocking it in with blue. I'm happy with that choice. Once again, you can see me dabbing away with the 1/4 inch brush in the foreground to depict rocky ground - I think it might be a common feature in future postcode entries...

Image reference: Atlas Obscura

To travel on this journey with me, follow @thepostcodediaries on Instagram for the art, and subscribe to the blog via email notifications or RSS feed.