Puya and Espeletia

Bright yellow espeletia flowers, tall dark puya stalks, a carpet of calamagrostis grass, and patches of chusquea are signature features of the Andean páramo of Chingaza National Park. In the middle ground of this scene at over 10,000 feet above sea level, the blue-green hue of a polyepsis forest clinging to the slopes above the Chingaza River marks the transition between the lower elevation cloud forest and the higher elevation open grassland and shrubland of the páramo. The park is the chief source of drinking water for the 8 million inhabitants of nearby Bogotá.

This is one of four medium sized works in a series that explores the subject of Chingaza páramo.

Studio painting – June.