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.

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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.

Barcelona then France yet again

Here we are back in France again - how many times have I started a blog with that I wonder!  We had an unscheduled trip solely to collect my French visa, now that its been renewed for another year. The easiest route was to fly Athens/Barcelona which worked out well as I'd always wanted to check out Barcelona!  I was very impressed too - its a beautiful city with lovely wide avenues lined with wonderful decorated buildings with wrought balconies. The Gothic centre though, where we stayed, is totally different and full of fascinating narrow alleys and laneways.

France is freezing cold! It is rather nice to be back but I'm pleased its only briefly, as I suspect the cold weather will get to us before to long! The landscape is looking particularly beautiful considering its winter. I think the most prominent colour is bronze, with the bare vines glowing under the winter light. The rolling hills are framed by the distant mountains, which have a good dusting of snow and generally the whole of the Languedoc looks much drier and browner than where we live in Greece, which was green and lush when we left!

We spent my birthday wandering around Narbonne on a beautiful sunny but cold day, all wrapped up against the weather. There's always something spectacular about these clear winter days in the Languedoc.

Towards Spain

We recently spent a couple of days at one of our favourite spots along the coast just above the Spanish border. Collioure is a wonderful colourful fishing village, a little touristy, but not too spoilt. In the early 20th century it was a favourite haunt of the Fauvists; Matisse, Dufy, Dupain etc. and even now many of the houses along the pretty narrow streets are painted in vivid colours, recognising this Fauvist style of painting. The light is also considered particularly special along this part of the coast.

The next town along is Port Vendres, though not quite as stunning as Collioure, its coloured fishermans cottages overlook a pretty working harbour and marina.

Next stop Spain. We ventured along the winding coast road into Spain and stopped briefly at Port de la Selva, a white higgeldy piggeldy town sitting low on the water with the afternoon sun peeking through the clouds.