Three views of Santorini, Greece!

The drawing from Santorini, Greece, is finished - at last!

As I told in my last posting, I have spoiled the sky over the island Santorini and decided to prepare a "mixed technique" work by setting the island on blue papers. Thank you, my Facebook friends, for the "Pop-Up Art Discussion" meeting! The final combination of three separate papers was made yesterday, with the aid of my art school teacher Minna.

The man in photos number 2 and 3 is really me. The original drawing was made from the viewpoint of the "James Bond Style" man (me) in 2nd photo, high above (over 500 meters) over the Mediterranean Sea. Last photo shows that an elder, "not in so good condition" man should not try to climb on the top of Santorini Kaldera when temperature is some +30 oC. There is very sad - and true - story  about the famous glass artist and art teacher KAJ FRANCK who would climb the stairs from the shore to the top of the Santorini mountain and met his death during that trip. - Be careful, don't take risks when having holidays on the warm islands of Greece!

Some issues about cut & paste, perfectionism and friends!

I had most interesting days in the middle of this week! I finally decided to correct one of my Santorini drawings (uppermost) by first cutting away the spoiled sky (2nd photo). After that, I was in wondering: how shall I continue? There were four (4) background colours to serve as bottom of the final work (three blue tones and white), several combinations of these tones to present the sea and the sky (means at least ten alternatives together), several levels of horizon (if any)...A problem for a perfectionist of some sort (two examples in 3rd and 4th photos)!

I am a lucky person, however: I have friends who can help me in artistic questions! A "pop-up FaceBook Art Group" was easy to open by just wondering these alternatives in my own FB profile. Soon there were friends like Arja, Hannele, Irmeli, Leena, Liisa, Marju, Petteri, Riitta, Sanna, Tarmo and Ville helping me withe their comments!

The final decision is depending on myself, of course - but those hints, given by my friends, were really "refreshing"! Thank you all for your assistance! Friends are most valuable asset in everyones life!

Island Santorini in October 2012

Island Santorini, Greece, was something very different: day-time temperature was +29oC all the week, in Finland below +10oC...

Travelling to Greece in October makes sense. Weather is still warm, streets not so over-filled by tourists and prices lower than during summer months ("low season" is just beginning, they say).

I had the honour to meet local, professional artist CHRISTOFOROS ASIMIS who has studied at the Fine Art School of Athens University and lived on Santorini since 1974. I really loved the blue shades of his paintings, presenting the views of local capital city FIRA and the famous small city IO, both situated on the top of the mountains. Mr. Asimis has also painted some fresco inside the big cathedral beneath.

My drawing above shows the view from FIRA towards IO on a sunny (like always) morning. I made it very fast because we were only sitting there to have glasses of local white wine. Tool: calligraphy felt-tip pen, 2 mm.

I can really recommend you to visit Santorini, Greece!