The Kampong

For many years G and I lived in Singapore and it was one of the most magical times of our lives. In those halcyon days we travelled extensively across Asia and often found ourselves sleeping in bamboo huts in exotic little villages surrounded by palm trees and lush vegetation. While this painting has absolutely nothing to do with Asia (and is set instead in the foothills south of Santa Barbara!) something about the similarities echoed in my head while I was sketching it: the red roofs of the little houses, as if in a tropical village, lost in a sea of foliage; the beautiful palm trees strewn so abundantly across the scene; the charmingly haphazard way the trees and flowers and houses inhabited the same space to form a perfect harmonious whole. Kampong is the Malay word for village and as I sketched this by the side of the road in California it seemed a fitting title for this painting. It truly was evocative of our wonderful oriental adventures and what an absolute joy it was to paint!