VAL JOHNSON TRAVELS TO THE GREEK ISLANDS - 2007.
Fishing Boat, Leros Greece 2007
Val Johnson travels to the Greek Islands - Painting on Leros with Michael Winters 2007.
I left Sydney on the 13 May to fly to Athens with Canberra artist Michael Winters, then to Leros. There were sixteen of us on this painting tour of Leros, one of the Greek Islands. Our bags were full of various art materials ready for use. We had three days in Athens, visiting Cape Souinon and the Acropolus. Athens is a big, busy and boisterous city but has all that history- and lots of tourists!
Then we flew to Leros. The Hotel Marilin at Alinda where we stayed was lovely although the same could not be said of the plumbing. Michael had us up early every day, setting us various tasks using a variety of mediums from graphite pencil to coloured pencil, watercolours and gouache and sometimes a combination of all. We had a bus that took us to various destinations all over the island. We ate in tavernas and found that if you had a coffee in one of the outside cafes you could paint there and you could use the toilet! The weather was a bit disappointing as we did have some cool days and a bit of rain-but it did not stop us working. Michael is well known on the island and it was good that he spoke Greek as this helped us communicate. We visited some of his friends and had soirees with them in their homes.
Leros is a beautiful island- not too touristy yet. There are rugged hills and quaint villages with whitewashed houses. There is a lovely harbour with fishing boats. The island is quite hilly. On the highest peak stands the castle and from here one can see over the whole island. Leros is very verdant with many cypress and olive trees and lush gardens with the brightest geraniums I have ever seen. There are even some eucalypt trees in case one felt homesick! The food was good and reasonably priced.
Whilst there we had two excursions, one day to Patmos painting and visiting the monastery, and one day to Lipsi. We went on the ferry which was quite an experience. Organized chaos I call it! Patmos was very touristy compared with Lipsi and Leros. Both these islands did not have as much vegetation either. Lipsi has numerous churches so that was our painting task there. The excitement of my day was that I stood on a snake- You have never seen anyone jump so high or run so fast!
Everyone did lots of interesting and diverse work. Michael arranged an exhibition of our work in the local Theater Society building at the end of the last week. What a success -all the locals came and everyone was very interested in what we had done. It was quite an experience.
Leros is a lovely place to paint- friendly people- and some do speak English! I got by with a few essential words learnt before I went and this worked well. We had 10 days there and then some went home.
Three friends and I went on a four day tour of the Peloponnese visiting Mycenae and Olympia and then on to Delphi. The highlight of the trip was Meteora. You just have to see it to believe it- huge rocks rising out of the ground with monasteries perched on top. After our tour we had three days on Santorini- and there time stands still- you wonder if it is real. A perfect place for lovers.
I am home now and have so many paintings in my head for an exhibition in November - but I think about all those terrible bushfires in Greece - thank goodness the beautiful site of Olympia was saved. What a tragedy for the Greek people.
