November 30, 2025 0 Artist Spotlight, Artwork spotlight, Contemporary art, Costa Rica Belinda In Focus | Coastal Landscape Painting In Focus | Coastal Landscape Painting by Ana Elena Fernández See this week's newsletter. Latin American Contemporary Watercolour Painting Travelling around Costa Rica, from the Pacific coast to the Caribbean beaches around Puerto Viejo, I’ve taken so many photographs of sculptural tree forms. Branches stretch over the sand like makeshift bridges, linking jungle and ocean. Trunks lie half-fallen, embedded in the shoreline, creating shade, climbing frames for capuchin monkeys, or a quiet place to sit and watch the tide move in and out. For me, these natural structures are among the most striking features of the country’s coastal landscape. Ana Elena Fernández (b. 1961, Cartago, Costa Rica) is a leading figure in contemporary Costa Rican watercolour. A member of the Asociación Costarricense de Acuarelistas and a graduate of the Universidad de Costa Rica, she has exhibited widely nationally and internationally, including at the National Gallery, the Museo Costarricense de Arte and at the Museo Internacional de la Acuarela Alfredo Guati Rojo in Mexico. Her practice centres on details of the natural environment, fragments that often sit at the edge of our attention, such as a single leaf, a patch of sand, or a nest resting on a branch. These coastal tree forms are part of an ongoing series for Ana Elena, and we are delighted to share three beach watercolours paintings from this group. Costa Rica has a long-standing watercolour tradition, much like England, where I grew up. Perhaps for that reason, I am particularly drawn to Ana Elena’s watercolours. She uses the medium to examine light and colour with clarity, producing intimate works that speak directly to Costa Rica’s coastal settings. This series, in which branches lie across sand like informal sculptures, exemplifies her attention to the subtle structures of the shore. For this week’s In Focus, I want to highlight one painting: Salt on my lips. Ana Elena Fernández, Salt on my lips, 76 x 56 cm | 30 x 22 in. Why this image? Salt on my lips features a fallen tree branch stretching diagonally across the paper, resting on pale sand patterned with grey/purple shadows that seems to be slowly enveloping the wood from underneath. What stands out for me in this coastal landscape painting is Ana Elena's trademark treatment of light. The branch is illuminated from above, its upper surface almost powdery in tone, while the underside shifts into muted greys and warm browns. Across the sand, the shadow falls in a soft violet that grows denser near the underneath of the trunk. This technique gives a sense that we are on a beach under the strength of the midday sun. Behind the branch, a soft green haze indicates foliage and distance, suggesting the meeting of jungle and sand that is so distinctive along Costa Rica’s Caribbean coastline. Ana Elena remarks, "The light is an all-present element in my work, and the Costa Rican light is different; it sometimes looks green in the humidity". Salt on my lips also reflects Ana Elena's ongoing interest in time. The branches she paints are moulded by slow processes, such as erosion, sun exposure, salt, and the seasonal changes that define coastal landscapes. It's an example of her wider practice: pared back, and focused on elements of the Costa Rican environment that are often passed by without notice. Her work suggests that these modest forms can carry the sensory weight of a landscape. The diagonal composition introduces a sense of movement across otherwise still sand. It allows the branch to occupy the paper with a presence usually given to much larger subjects. It is this attention to unassuming forms that gives the work its clarity and its impact. Ana Elena Fernández and Costa Rican Coastal Landscape Painting Ana Elena Fernández, Playa Danta, 76 x 56 cm | 30 x 22 in. Two additional watercolours from this series highlight Ana Elena's practice. Playa Danta depicts a a single trunk right by the water, set against warmer, wetter sand, drawing attention to the gnarled span of the branch and introducing a beam of bright sunlight casting across the ocean. 3:30pm it titled pointedly to a specific afternoon time, showing a softer, more pastel colour palette as the heat of the day just begins to subside. This painting focuses on the meeting of light and shadow on the sand, while also introducing a more granular, textural surface quality. Together with Salt on my lips, the paintings showcase Ana Elena's practice of observing how natural forms behave under light, and how subtle shifts in colour or structure can alter the viewer’s understanding of a scene. You feel as though you can feel and smell the coastal landscape, even hear the ocean waves lapping across the sand. Ana Elena Fernández, 3:30pm, 76 x 56 cm | 30 x 22 in. Salt on my lips will be included in MÍRAME’s forthcoming pop-up presentation at the Andaz hotel from 26 December to 2 January. Full details will follow shortly. I’m pleased to share Salt on my lips, along with 3:30pm and Playa Danta, as part of this week’s In Focus. To learn more about Ana Elena Fernández coastal landscape painting, explore her available works or receive early details about our upcoming exhibition at The Andaz, please visit miramefineart.com or contact Belinda Seppings at MÍRAME Fine Art. MÍRAME Contact Information: MÍRAME Fine Art Email: [email protected] Follow: Facebook | Instagram Ana Elena Fernández | Costa Rican coastal landscape painting
