My life, here in London, is very different from the one I live on the island. Surrounded as I am by all the wonderful and exciting things this amazing city has to offer, you probably think my days are filled … Continue reading
‘Yvonne’s World’ Digital painting by Beth Edwards (1stAngel) How many times have you heard this: “Attention! Ladies and Gentlemen. This store will be closing in 20 minutes. Please proceed immediately to the nearest checkout with your purchases and exit through … Continue reading
ITS COMPETITION TIME! Would you like to join me for a FREE painting holiday here on Skiathos? ‘Painting Skiathos, in conjunction with ‘ARTISTS & ILLUSTRATORS‘ magazine, is offering one lucky reader: A WEEK’S PAINTING HOLIDAY FOR TWO (worth over £1.000!)* … Continue reading
Art Exhibition – getting ready Mary and I arrive at the Gallery Then its down to work: we’ve got paintings to hang! Tassos (Gallery owner) using his expert eye Tassos (Gallery owner) using his expert eye
I must be the only English person on Skiathos who needs to go home to the UK for a holiday!
But home I must go…..my work here, for the time being anyway, is done (finally!) and I badly need some rest and recuperation. I must also see my family before they forget what I look like!
It has been a long arduous journey. Maddeningly frustrating at times, when, for every step forward. I seemed to be taking three steps back but that said, as I look around now at all we’ve managed to complete in such a relatively short time, I feel a huge sense of achievement. From this:
To this:
The villa, the pool, the studio, the landscaping are all but finished – though there’s still much planting to do – and though I say so myself, I think it all looks pretty amazing!
The island has proved a wonderful place to be and the friends I have made along the way, with their constant, all-embacing support and encouragement have shown me that Skiathos is indeed a very special place and one that I feel very privileged to be able to live in.
I shall return after a month or so, ready to start the art classes and painting holidays in earnest with a (hopefully!) new-found energy and fresh enthusiasm and this time without the distraction of cement-mixers and builders rubble! I look forward to meeting new artists (and would-be ones) and to continuing my love affair with this magical part of the world and it’s generously welcoming people.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my week by week account of my new venture and that you’ve been sufficiently inspired so that one day you may decide this is somewhere you would like to visit (and paint!) too. A warm welcome awaits you at Villa Nicara.
I’ve been busy working on a couple of new paintings. These are two I’ve just completed which I’ll add to the current exhibition on the Bourtzi (to replace the ones that have been sold):
‘Skiathos Dancers in Traditional Dress’
oil on canvas, size 1m10 x 76cm
‘Skiathos Dancers’ Detail 1
‘Skiathos Dancers’ Detail 2
‘Olive Tree’ oil on canvas 60 x 80cm – SOLD
‘Olive Tree’ Detail 1
‘Olive Tree’ Detail 2
‘Olive Tree’ Detail 3
I now feel my own stand better lives up to the exhibition title of ”COLOURS OF SKIATHOS’
If you’re visiting the island do try to visit – it will run till the end of August – and new works are added all the time.
Also, fellow English artisit Gail Stathakis is holding her first solo exhibition; ‘The Skiathos Dream’ at the ‘Archipelagos Gallery’ (newly acquired by the charming Tassos Bifkinis and his delightful wife, ViVi) in Skiathos town. Be sure not to miss it – It is a wonderful opportunity to see Gail’s exquisite pastel drawings of Skiathos landscapes. Earlier in the week I attended her opening night. here are some photos of the event:
There’s another general exhibition of Skiathos artists work being planned for mid August (this time at Evangelistria Monastery, hopefully ) so I have lots of painting to do…not to mention a new website to build….
But for now, I’m ready to get on that plane, leave the sunshine, beaches, olive groves all behind, head for home….and get some SLEEP!
(back soon!)
If, like me, you’ve spotted these words in a classified ad. at the back of a glossy home-decorating magazine……. and if like me you became inspired by the accompanying tantalizing images of the over-large pots, or ‘pithoi’, offered for sale, you will understand my long-held desire to one day fill my own mediterranean terraces with such fine examples of grecian pottery.
Well, Crete passed by me today, in the form of a heavily laden van and a couple of ‘likely lads’, from the mainland, touting their wares through a loud megaphone. It resonated up and down the valley below and simply couldn’t be ignored.
I could barely contain my excitement but, remembering my bartering techniques acquired on a recent trip to Morocco – I felt confident I would and could remain firmly in control!
After much head shaking, ‘tut-tutting’, tooth sucking, wild gesticulating, walking away with a convincing lack of enthusiasm (or so I believed anyway!) and, most important of all, my pleading of poverty (which at this stage of the build is not entirely untrue!) a deal was eventually struck, a bargain made (I think!) and an agreement reached, that suited all concerned.
The fact that I’m now the proud owner of far more large pots than I’d allowed for and that, along with all the palm trees that somehow managed to get included in the ‘final price’, there’s every possibility that the villa looks as though it belongs in Agadir rather than Skiathos, is neither here or there!
But, I have to say, they do look absolutely fabulous sited all around the new pool……
…….. and if that means I’m back on the bread and water for the next couple of weeks – well, so be it! They’re worth every penny ….
….and there’s an added bonus; I can sleep well at night now, safe in the knowledge that a very large family of ‘poor, starving children’, an ‘ailing, long-suffering, mother’ and ‘soon-to-be-departed grandmother’, somewhere on the mainland, will all be going to bed with full bellies tonight – and, more than likely, for several months yet to come!
(Ever felt you’ve been had?)
Every year in August, the Mayor of Skiathos’ Cultural Committee organises an Art Exhibition, on the Bourtzi, to display and promote the work of local artists. It is always a highly successful and extremely well-attended event with virtually the whole population of Skiathos, turning out for what is one of the most eagerly-anticipated highlights in the Skiathos calendar.
These are some photos of the last year ‘s event showing the work of just some of the artists (out of more than thirty who exhibited) . Namely Despina Mitselos, Asia Brassan, Gail Stathakis, Stamatas Patir, Giasemi Kondili, Georgios Vrezarianos, Eleni Mermiga, Panagiota Koroniou…… and myself
Here are four of my paintings from the ‘Skiathos Churches’ series:
