Ana del Castillo - K2

This painting by Ana Del Castillo Ibarrola captures the majesty of K2, a mountain belonging to the Karakoram range in the Himalayas system. It stands at 8,611 m above sea level and is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest and, possibly, the most difficult to climb under an intensely blue sky. The composition centers on the main peak, whose slopes are covered in white snow and blue shadows, creating a sense of depth and volume.
The artist’s technique uses energetic brushstrokes to render the rocky textures and the icy glare of the snow, while the earthy tones at the base of the mountain anchor the scene with realism. The work evokes the imposing beauty of high-mountain landscapes.
Pigments with acrylics on canvas have been used. The painting does not need to be framed.
The artist attaches a certificate of authenticity, ships the work insured, with a tracking number and with maximum speed.
Ana del Castillo is a photographer and artist, winner of various awards, who works for different agencies around the world, and has exhibited her works in London, Italy, and Spain.

Economist and multidisciplinary artist (Godella, Valencia. 1963). Professionally, she is an economist, engaged in online commerce in recent years, an activity she has postponed to devote herself almost exclusively to traveling, to experimenting as a painter, and to working for different international agencies as a photographer.
Her beginnings in photography go back to childhood; her work has appeared in ABC newspaper, in publications of the Ministry of Culture, various books, catalogs, or on the billboards of buses in Castellón, in addition to various awards and exhibitions in London or Madrid. Her academic training spans several years with photographer Tere Arcos.
She finds in Europe, although globalization advances at a rapid pace, in each country and city unique characteristics that she tries to capture in her images, both of people she finds on the street and of buildings from all eras, or moments in any location.
Her trips to Iceland, Switzerland, South America, Africa, or Norway have influenced her with their mountains, architectures, and seas, among other major themes both painterly and photographic.
Her dedication to painting came later. She began her artistic training with artist Álvaro Romero in the nineties, continued with the godellense painter Germá Llorís, then with painter Fernando Jiménez and with Lucía Peiró i Lloret, a renowned plastic artist. “At the start of the new century she co-founded a heterogeneous group of artists called Equipo-Argo, now composed of thirteen women, who carry out their activity in a warehouse near the city of Valencia; the group remains in constant contact with each other and with art movements in different spheres. One of the group’s purposes is to organize one or two annual exhibitions. There have already been many exhibitions by this group across our geography.
Technically, for the creation of her paintings she uses powdered pigments; “their tonal breadth is ideal for my paintings, turning the workshop into a kind of laboratory of dishes and powders where the binders, resins, etc., compose a chaotic universe in which I feel absolutely serene and creative.”
In recent years her artistic production has been showcased in exhibitions, mentions, and awards. Notable early achievements in 2016 include the group exhibition with Equipo-Argo at Centre d’Art Taller d’Ivars in Benissa (Alicante), the collective in May at espai.inf, an exhibition space at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and the collective Sala Virgen de la Fuente (Teruel), a group show at Casa Cultura Rocafort “La Superficie del Círculo”; in 2017, with the same collective, Mirada de Dona at La Marina El Puig de Santa Maria (Valencia), Sala Exposiciones Antiguo Ayuntamiento Bétera (Valencia), Sala Exposiciones Museros (Valencia), Mirada de Dona at Sala Exposiciones La Eliana (Valencia), Paisatje Urbà at Sala Exposiciones Náquera (Valencia); and in 2018 also with Equipo-Argo at Villa Eugenia de Godella (Valencia) with “Abstractus”, a group show at Sala Exposiciones Municipal de Mislata (Valencia) and Sala Exposiciones Biblioteca Dénia (Alicante) with “Abstractus”, and a group show at Sala Exposiciones Massamagrell (Valencia) with “Black and White”.
She has been selected for the XXXIV Painting Contest “Salvador Soria” Vila de Benissa (Alicante), at the D’Arts Quart de Poblet Festival (Valencia), at the XIII Desideri Llombarte Painting Prize in Peñarroya de Tastavins (Teruel) in 2016. The following year she was selected by the Foundation Legado Andalusí, touring her work across the country, she was a finalist in the Premi de Pintura Ciutat de Manises (Valencia), selected for Valencia Ciutat Oberta Bienal de las Artes de Valencia. For 2018 her work was selected for the Alcalá Dance series in the photography prize of the Association Turística Gúdar-Javalambre (Teruel), she won subsequent editions, and was selected for the International Art Competition “José Camarón” in Segorbe.
In 2014 she received the Camarón prize at the Segorbe Art Contest (Castellón); she has exhibited solo with her series Europa en Instantes at the Bancaja foundation in Segorbe, and in 2016 she won the Las Provincias photo marathon in Dénia (Alicante), won the Balearia prize, and the runner-up in the I Eurostars Hotel Real Photography Prize. She has been selected and exhibited at the Valencian Cultural Entity El Piló in 2016 and 2023, and in 2018 she carried out with Equipo-Argo a collective at the prestigious Godella Villa Eugenia exhibition space, later moving to the municipal exhibition hall in Mislata.
She was again selected with work exhibited in the José Camarón International Art Contest in Segorbe in 2020, 2023, and 2024.
At the end of 2024 she held a collective exhibition at Galería Ronda in Valencia, and she is represented by Galería del Sol, also located in Valencia.
In December 2024 she was awarded the National Heritage Photography prize by the Infanta in Madrid.
She continues to receive numerous awards for her photographs and paintings, and she has several exhibitions on her calendar for the coming months across Spain.
According to the prestigious critic LFMM, “her architectural works transcend the photographic plane to be endowed with a surrealist touch that gives them undeniable value.”

Patxi Guerrero Carot (Professor at Universidad Jaume I) published in various media.