Where Did 2012 Go? - A Year in Retrospect

Here I am on the first few days of 2013 and I sit and ponder where on earth 2012 disappeared to.  We did an enormous amount of travelling admittedly, and unfortunately this does take its toll on my ability to get into some real big messy painting as I intended. I've been pleased to continue on with my Art Weekly though, and am hoping to continue on with these, perhaps in a somewhat looser way in the coming year.

So, now in this blog, I feel the need to run back through the year 'in retrospect', mark the highlights and comment upon things creatively - any time apart from this is probably spent either sitting on the beach, or in a taverna/restaurant/cafe somewhere...... Its a fairly long blog (well, it is a whole year after all), so perhaps grab and coffee, or a glass of wine and enjoy.

January - we returned overland from France to Greece following a great visit to Sydney and New Zealand, with stopovers both ways in Los Angeles, and even though I shouldn't include it, as it was technically not 2012 (between Xmas and New Year), a few days visiting San Francisco, which was brilliant.

February - wintering down in Koroni gave me a chance to continue exploring with collage

 and different mixed media techniques. 

I also came up with some ideas for cards using some of my hundreds of Koroni photos...

March

With the weather warming up a little, it was great to get outdoors to sketch, something I did more of in 2012 than ever before.

I also started sketching daily, admittedly, something that fell into a heap once we started travelling again, but I did really enjoy it and am promising myself to get back into the whole daily thing in 2013.

April - Lots more sketching.

May - off again to France, this time to meet up with Aussie friend, Rita in Nice, before heading to Venice, the Italian Lakes and Switzerland.

We then rendezvoused with another Sydney friend, Peter, and spent a couple of nights in Moneglia, our favourite stop-off spot for visiting Cinque Terre.....

and then, into Tuscany, for a week in a great house in Barga, just north of Lucca. Whilst we were staying there, we were able to re-explore some of our favourite places, Lucca, Sienna, Florence, Pisa.

 Despite all the travelling, talking, eating and drinking, some sketches did actually arise from this whole trip and I am still working on getting the full Sketchbook completed.

June - still with our travelling companions, a few days in Koroni, then a great week cruising around Crete.

July - after another short stint in Koroni, to catch our breaths, I spent a wonderful week at Villa Nicara in Skiathos with my lovely friend, Yvonne, who always inspires me with her wonderful paintings http://paintingskiathos.wordpress.com/.

We both worked hard with lots of different creative stuff happening, as well as plenty of eating, talking and relaxation.

Peter came to meet me and we spent a few days on the island of Skopelos, before heading up to northern Greece to spend some time with his Mum. The only vaguely creative thing I can claim from the stay in Northern Greece is photographs - I was fascinated by the plastic boxes at the Kavala market!

August - mostly spent on the beach in Koroni, or possibly having a siesta to escape the relentless heat during our hottest month.  Despite this though, I joined Gill and her fellow On Location Sketchers for weekly jaunts to all sorts of lovely local spots.

September - more On Location Sketching

October -  back overland through Italy to France, this time with my eldest son, James, in tow. We travelled in my little 'cabrolet', which although fairly tight for space, but was lots of fun, particularly as the weather in Italy was brilliant.  I did get a little sketching done along the way, but should have done a whole lot more.

November - despite various car problems, we made it back, and settled yet again into Koroni, more sketching and also my very exciting foray into 'teaching' Acrylic Painting.
http://artistswindow.com/new/2012/12/acrylic-paintingweek-four/.  Considering these girls only had 3 or 4 morning sessions, they did brilliantly.

.

December - once again, back to France for visa stuff, this time we flew into Barcelona and spent some time there. What an amazing place to be just prior to Christmas, so busy and lively, despite the cold.

Phew - as I said it's been a busy year! No wonder I feel exhausted and that it flew by. I guess as far as creativity throughout the year goes, I can at least say I worked hard on my sketching, continued with my collages, and managed to keep up with the weekly art.  2013 will be the start of a whole new creative journey, and I'm determined to continue exploring new techniques, including collage, and more impasto style painting.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. Here's to even more fun, laughter and creativity in 2013 for each and everyone of you.

Post No7 - 2012 Trip - And then there was Tuscany

So here we are back in the Tuscany region with the two Australians keen to explore its delights!  We seem to spend a lot of time in this part of the world these days as it seems to be right in the midst of one of our usual paths through to France from Greece. No complaints from me though!

This time we rented a lovely house in the hilltop town of Barga, in the northern part of Tuscany, just north of Lucca, and it proved the perfect base. Barga's crammed with lots of tiny narrow streets, some great restaurants and it felt like it was there for the Italians, not the tourist! Another plus was that the house was high up in the town, tucked just under the large church with its intriguing bell ringing (which we later sussed out!) and looked over the town's rooftops and over to the distant mountains - hours and hours of sketching at our fingertips.

The house was owned by the lovely Frank (peeking through the door), an American Italian writer, who was a fountain of knowledge, so when we weren't out exploring we were picking plying him with questions.

So after a day of well deserved 'down time', we first headed off to Lucca, one of my favourites since I stayed there a few years back  - and yet another place we've passed so many times on the freeway and never stopped at.

Lucca is another town full of curving narrow streets, with a wonderful circular piazza in the middle of it. It appears full of large cathedrals that need exploring... next visit.

Siena was on the agenda as well and was once again worth the visit, though it was a tad disappointing not to fall in love with yet another handbag there.

Pisa was well and truly checked out as well. This was a first for me, and that Leaning Tower is truly quite amazing and still very much leaning despite the recent 'fix up' job. Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) surrounding the tower and the massive Cathedral was incredibly packed with tourists, but this didn't take away any of the grandeur of these beautiful buildings.  There was lots of entertainment value watching the tourists posing for their photographs, with them leaning in various directions with the 'photographers' furiously waving their arms about - it looked a little like some version of tai chi!

Ahh and then there was Florence. Such a beautiful city, but one again, oh so many tourists......

I'm always fascinated with Pont de Vecchio. It's such a colourful jumble of buildings, windows and shutters,

 yet walking over the bridge itself, you're lost in an amazing collection of gold and jewellry shops.

After our fantastic week in Barga, we headed  off to the south of Tuscany for our two last nights in Italy, alongside Lake Trasimeno in the tiny town of Castiglione del Lago.  On our way we stopped off at San Gimignano, but it was an Italian public holiday, and alas nowhere to park!  We did manage a walk through the town though whilst Peter waited in a shady spot in the car on the outskirts.

As a said in my recent Art Weekly Blog, I just love discovering lines of any sort in the countryside, and this is certainly the place to find them.

Whilst there, we managed to visit the beautiful Assisi 

 where we came across an interesting array of religious-ness!

Firstly, an angel

 then a pilgrim

 and lots of happyy nuns

We also visited Multipulciano, well known for its wine. A lovely spot set high up on a hill overlooking the Umbrian countryside.

The wine was sampled whilst sitting on a teensy balcony outside a cafe

and it seemed a good time to try on some of Rita's purchases!

Before long though it was time to leave the beautiful Italian countryside. It had been an amazing few weeks of exploring, eating, drinking, laughing, and even sketching.......

But wait, not quite finished yet, after a brief and well earned respite in Koroni, we're off to Crete for a week.... Next blog entry.......