Today we went to an amazing beach on the north coast outside of Latsi. It was extremely windy and hot! People had their clamped paintings blown off their easel! It was a great learning experience to figure out how to paint in such conditions.. I wasn't very successful at all today.. but I learned from it and that is what is important.
here are a few photos from the day.
Yesterday was a very full day and after another amazing traditional dinner I fell sound asleep!
We started off going to the foothills of the Troodos Mts and painting there midafternoon. We then headed to the coast for a refreshment and then headed to an incredible Byzantine church from 15th century--Panagi Choreteni. It was beautiful! We did some studies and will return next week.
Today we went along the highlands to another village--Pano Arodes. It is an amazing place that must sit on a fault since it has tremors on a regular basis. The villagers have been rebuilding for centuries. As you wander around you can see cracks and ruin from previous quakes. I went down one small dirt alleyway and found and wonderful old ruin. But it had tremendous living energy as if the quake was yesterday. One of the locals wandered out to talk and told me the quake was from the 1920's that did that major damage. It was very hot and he would bring me water and gave me copy of a painting he did! The village people were so sweet! These villages are off the tourist path so you meet the real Cypriot people.
A wonderful day and the incredible Mike Chaplin mange to get a photo of me painting. Tomorrow we are heading to the coast and up a valley-- another wonderful day in the making!
Life is always full of amazing experiences, if you just let your eyes see them.
The church in the town square.
The Clay ovens that they use not only for bread but slow roasting marinated meats in clay containers. They slowly cook over 2-3 days. The results melts in your mouth!
An amazing day starting with painting in the rocks that border the Akamis Peninsula then to the jewel like Mediterranean Sea, finding Lapis along the path and finally scouting the local harbor and spotting a local find-- fisherman regularly being up artifacts and have them drying in the sun! So much and it is only day 3!
We went to the north side of Cyprus today. The coast is VERY hot and humid and we weren't very far from the Turkish border- which prompted lots of jokes. One of the oddest thing things I have seen is this pole with a single dried palm frond stuck in the top. Really was quite curious! At some point it deserves a painting! Open to ideas... it didn't provide any shade, wasn't really decorative... ?
