Mountains and Marigolds

One of my absolute favourite places so far in my travels of South East Asia, is Vang Vieng in Laos. While looking out my window to the most dreamy misty mountain vista each morning, I had this idea to document my travels by creating a new design for each region that I visit. 

This was my first concept sketch done with lead pencil. 

Vang Vieng is a truly breathtakingly beautiful town. To be honest, it will be hard to find a more lush jungle setting. The town itself is surrounded by tall limestone karst mountains riddled with caves. It is a dominating impressive backdrop. Most of the riverside cafes and hostels share this amazing view. 

The rainforest jungle is filled with lush deep greens, banana palms, pomelo trees and fields of marigold flowers. The marigold petals are used to create these impermanent decorations for the little spirit houses and temples in the region. 

The mountains change everyday, sometimes swirling in cloud, at times completely obscured by rain. Hazes of purple and orange in the evening are met with piercing rays of sunlight. 

This is my final design to represent Vang Vieng featuring banana palm trees, abstract marigold petals and a misty purple mountain background. I have incorporated within the plant and hills, a tribal pattern echoing the ethnic textiles woven in the area. The ethnic hill tribes weave traditional skirts called Sinhs. These have intricate embroidered geometric patterns.

 (Image) Illustration Titled "Vang Vieng" by Unratio. 

I have put this artwork up in my ETSY shop, available as a digital download in a range of sizes, up to 40 x 60 inches. You can check it out here. 

x Bella