A feast of colour, fun and originality

Cassandra Constant, Viajando II

My dear friend Cassandra , from our schooldays in Spain, is an artist at ease in all mediums, but what truly gives such joy to her art, is her exploding sense of colour and the way she uses different mediums to highlight this.

She will be exhibiting some of her work together with other artists, in the "Art for Youth" exhibition, to be held in London's Royal College of Art, this coming 10 and 11 Oct. Anyone in London then can apply for tickets. the sale of the art works will be for the UK charity UK Youth!

 

A great Photographer

My dearest friend Chryssi, died last June and on another blog I paid tribute to her qualities as a friend,and person. Here I would like to remember some of the wonderful photographs she took in her short career.

One of her first exhibitions was portraits of a small village in Northern Greece; seeing the faces one is struck by the emotions protrayed. Old faces can say so much!The exhibition was held in this semi deserted village and helped to revive interest in it.

The photograph below was of a series she did of Istanbul, very atmospheric.I went there with her for the wedding of her brother.The family orignally hailed from the Pondos area of Turkey but came to Greece in the 1920's,and so was still closely linked to Istanbul.

For me her sensitive nature ennabled her to be open to atmospher and people,a great gift. If you want to see more pictures by her go to Flickr and look up Chryssi Patrona.

end of holidays in ancient arcadia

 

Dear fellow bloggers and readers,after an extended holiday, am back in the harness of real life!

archeological site of Olimpia


This year like the previous 15 summers spent it in Greece as my other half is Greek. We have a house there in the hills near to ancient Olimpia. The photo above is the original olimpic stadium nestled in a forest of pine, cypress and eucaliptus trees. The Peloponnesos is very green, contrary to what most people expect from the Greek countryside. It is often compared to Italy's Umbria. although a huge fire in 2007 destroyed alot of trees in the area coming very close to the archeological site, it is recuperating quickly.

This part of the Peloponnesos is well wort a visit as nearby in the mountains (40 kms) is the old temple of Bassae dedicated to Apollo and constructed by the architect of the Parthenon, Ipecterion!The temple is now covered by a tent structure but still worth visiting.

My favourite beach this summer is a small beach visited by locals and with green around and only one small bar which has had the foresight to provide some shade! Cold frappé coffee in the morning as you arrive and lovely swimming.

Have a good start in September everybody