Windward Islands, Caribbean

This scene is an original illustration set in Windward Islands, Caribbean. It lies in the tropics, where the climate is tropical rainforest — hot and wet all year.

Small candy-coloured timber houses stand raised on short stone piers, each one room wide under a steep little gable. Wooden jalousie shutters are propped open, and a rain barrel sits at one corner. Palms lean inland, and the light is hard and bright.

Why are the windows fitted with louvred shutters?

Jalousie shutters are louvres that let air through while keeping rain out — the essential fitting where it is warm every day and pours without warning. Piers lift the floor above runoff and let air pass beneath. Steep small gables shed water fast, and the rain barrel says the household catches its own supply. Palms leaning consistently one way mark the trade winds.

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