Painting Greece

Oil on gessoed hardboard (.15 inch deep)

18 x 24cm, 7 x 9.5″

This was inspired by the lot across from the village school where children go up until 7th grade. There are maybe 10 children in each class and a new, young teacher comes yearly, fresh out of the university. This year we have Niko’s (my dh) cousin, and even though she is said to be very good, we continue to approach learning naturally.

The almond trees have now lost their lovely white blossoms, laced with a delicate aroma as subtle as the shades of pink barely visible withing the petals. Spring is in full bloom now with lavender, sage, violets, calendula, poppies and pretty white and yellow daisies. People are beginning to move toward the beaches, tentatively dipping their fingers and toes in the cool water.

Have a beautiful day!

Be well…

Oil on gessoed hardboard

20 x 30cm, 8 x 12″ (approx)

Bid

This ’stavlo’ is well over 80 years old. It stands behind the cemetery where the ferryboats load and unload villagers and tourists. I don’t think there are many who actually notice anything special about this stable, as it is as common now to them as the pavement beneath their feet, or the slightly decorative iron for their balcony rails, or the almond tree in the yard. The cement road just below this painting leads into the village where shops and restaurants and cafes and bars and rooms for rent all pull the attention away from these quiet and, sadly for most, forgetable places.

Finished:

BID  starts at 100 dollars

Work in Progress:

oil on gessoed hardboard

18 x 24cm, 7 x 9.4″

After attempting a portrait I needed something light. Lemons are not at all light-weight, but at least I don’t have to worry about capturing (or not capturing, in my case) someone’s subtle expressions. Lemons are bright, juicy and tart. Just thinking of them makes the mouth water, but again I don’t have to capture the slight pucker of the lips and the twitch of the eye of someone tasting the lemon. Yes… lemons are lighter.

Be well…

Oil on gessoes hardboard

18 x 24cm,  7 x 9.4″

Maria was my Yiayia (grandmother).  I found this photo yesterday and thought I’d give it a try.  She’ll need some drying time before I can go back in and make some adjustments in skin tone and some of the features.  Kudos to those who can do portraits easily.  I find it very challenging and exciting.    It’s not even getting the features exactly right, but the subtlety of expression that gives the portrait life.  It is like writing.  In creating the character, what comes alive is not what the character looks like, but the little quirks and mannerisms of that character that ultimately makes the character breathe.  If I don’t completely mess up the next stage of this portrait, I’ll post her.  If I do mess her up, I may even post the flop.   It would be a great excercise in ego-dousing.  The thing about any flop is that all the chance for greatness lies in the mistakes.  Noticing the mistakes makes you more aware and so you seek knowledge and thus learn.  It may take a while for the new knowledge to manifest into good brushwork, or the right curve around the nostil, or a believable skin color,  but it is bound to happen.

I continue to strive for a post a day.  With the summer season coming fast, and tons of work outside, I may only get to post a few times a week.   I have been struggling with this the past week  when I saw that I didn’t have a painting to post.  I’m letting myself off the hook.  I realized yesterday, as I was painting Maria, that I am more interested in the process of painting rather than painting just to get a post up.  It is my way of nurturing integrity in the artistic process.

Be well.

Oil on hardboard

20 x 30cm, 8 x 12″

SOLD

We have been without a phone for the past few days. It happens in places still dependent on Nature and not on concrete for the execution of daily life. Our phone line got wet from the rains and all communication from the modern world was cut off from us here. But communication never stops. I delighted in speaking with words and expressions rather than through my fingertips with the extra hours I found in the day away from the computer. Imagine what it is like for those living in lighthouses on forgotten rocks in the Aegean, where supplies come to them every week by boat, a brief converstation and then alone again. Communication with the elements is left and I cannot think of a greater mentor than that.

Be well…