All of the Tigua paintings that we sell are signed by the Ecuadorian artist, Blanca Chugchilan.

Blanca left us unexpectedly in the spring of 2022. I think of her everyday as she was my beautiful and talented God-Daughter. All of the paintings are available to purchase.

Tigua artists high in the Ecuadorian Andes are renowned for their colorful paintings of rural life. Their delightful folk art, painted with chicken feather brushes on sheep hide, celebrates their mountain life with its festivals, legends, and traditions dating back centuries.

Tigua is a collection of small communities southwest of Quito. Most of the people here farm the mountain slopes and valleys, herding sheep and llamas and growing their crops on the patchwork of steep, windswept fields. Tigua artists are deeply bound to the land. Even the most successful painters still plant and harvest their own fields of potatoes, beans, and grains.

Today, Tigua artists paint almost exclusively on sheep hide. Tigua paintings are invariably small, their dimensions limited by the sheepskin. Many artists also paint and decorate the frames of the paintings as well. Because the paintings are done on sheepskin some small pinholes may exist. This is a natural occurrence and are not noticable from the front.