A Painting A Week No 130 - Reflections of Alonissos

For Sale - 1st October 2013 
Reflections of Alonissos
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

When I was staying in the port of Patitiri on the lovely Greek Island of Alonissis in July, beneath my hotel window was a long line of fishing boats. They would be 'missing' when I woke in the mornings, and then gradually returned later in the day. I wandered past them most days in the hope of some good reflections and found that after 7pm they were at their best! Quite a few of the boats were red, and their reflections against the brilliant blue and turquoise water was definitely a painting in the making.

If you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my  Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you'd rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

Scroll down to the post below to see Art Exhibition in Koroni.......

Art Exhibition in Koroni

In conjunction with the Koroni Arts Festival, my latest and joint exhibition with fellow artist Gill Tomlinson, got off to a flying start with a great opening on 11th September. 

We were fortunate to be able to have the Exhibition in the lovely Maniatakeion building in ‘downtown’ Koroni, perfect with its large white walls and high ceilings. It was a particularly hot and steamy night, and above is a very professional looking video of Gill and I trying to look composed and cool!

Opening night

Ready to roll.....

Some of my small canvasses below

The filming in progress!  We had a table down the middle of the gallery showing off our numerous sketchbooks

A group of my small collages

Quiet Koroni at closing time (between 10 &11pm!)

A Painting A Week No 129 - Virginian Creeper, Chateau Biron

For Sale - 27th August 2013 
Virginian Creeper, Chateau Biron
Size: 15 x 21cm
(Postage and handling included)

I took this photo during my first French sojourn in the Lot district in 2003. I've always loved the photo and intended to paint it, and its taken me this long!  Its a start, but I would like to attempt a large canvas - will add it to the list.

I was visiting Chateau Biron at the time, and was captured by the gold and red Virginian Creeper climbing on the stonework inside the courtyard walls of the Chateau.  Its been a long time, but I still remember it clearly!

If you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my  Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you'd rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

A Painting A Week No 128 - A Little Lavender, Provence

For Sale - 7th August 2013 
A Little Lavender, Provence
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

Summer in France is always brimming with beautiful flowers, one of the most exceptional being the lavender. Huge swathes of it turn the countryside into patches of purple and its always interesting to see what's grown alongside, or sometimes, what pops up wildly in the middle of it. I took this photo near Gordes one summer. It was just a small field, but I liked the combination with the pink shrub, which I believe is the Ile de France Butterfly Bush, or Buddleia.

If you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my  Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you'd rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

A Painting A Week No 127 - Chania, Crete

For Sale - 31st July 2013 
Chania, Crete
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

We were in Crete a little over a year ago with some Sydney friends, and this was my favourite place. Chania is the second largest city in Crete, but it feels more like a bustling town. The 'old town' is built around a lovely harbour, and crammed with the usual Greek tavernas and bars. Behind this, is a myriad of lanes and alleyways to explore - fairly touristy I guess, but the whole place does have a great buzz to it, even when you get further away from the harbour, where'll you'll also find some interesting Minoan excavations, as well as Venetian and Turkish areas.

This painting is of a very small area along the waterfront (our hotel was the pale blue one on the right!), with the haphazard line of awnings, and shops and restaurants below. It was fairly windy when we visited, and the harbour was rough, hence no boats lined up along the front.

If you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my  Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you'd rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

A Painting A Week No 126 - Fishing Boat, Koroni

For Sale - 25th June 2013 
Fishing Boat, Koroni Harbour
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

Not a very exciting title for a painting, but I seem to have Greek fishing boats everywhere I look right now, as well as in Koroni harbour and the bay below us. I've been painting them, sketching them, and sticking them onto collages. Each little waterside village around here has its unique selection of boats, and yes, most of them really do go out fishing each day, or night, and keep all the local restaurants full of seafood. I just love the shape of them, all the accoutrement hanging off them, not to forget all the little 'sticky uppy bits' (which I've recently told my students not to ignore!)

Summer has arrived with a vengance now - too hot for sitting on the edge of harbours sketching, but perfect for relaxing in any one of Koroni's many cafes with an ice cold frappe, or an ouzo in your hand!

If you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my  Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you'd rather deal with me direct, please email me at jackie@jackiesherwood.com.

A Painting A Week No 125 - Sassi di Matera, Italy

For Sale - 5th June 2013 
Sassi di Matera, Italy
Size: 21 x 15cm
(Postage and handling included)

After scooting back and forth across Italy during the last few years, it was amazing to stumble across the unique old quarter of Matera. The city of Matera is in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy and the Sassi area is a World Heritage site, but it still seems to be relatively unknown. Within the boundaries of a fairly modern city, Sassi di Matera (meaning stones of Matera) lies in two canyons which are crammed with ancient cave dwellings, carved into and projecting from the canyon walls. In fact, it is the most intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean area. Over the centuries these cave dwellings have been multiplying and continually used for housing, shops, and the sheltering of animals. Until the 1980's the Sassi di Matera was considered an area of terrible poverty, even after the 1950's, when the government tried to relocate residents living there.  Although it now now been a little gentrified |(but not too much - the boutique hotels are rather scattered!), a wander through the laneways certainly gives you the feel of  'ancient living'. The area and its surrounds also has a large amount of rock churches. What better place to film Mel Gibson's film 'The Passion of Christ'!

Looking down into the Sassi is quite an unbelievable sight, but it really was difficult to capture its essence in photos, mainly due to its size, the fact that its spread over two gorges, and also because you're either looking down into it, or up out of it! With this painting though, I tried to concentrate on a small but fairly prominent area rising up one side, to portray the density and the monotone appearance.

If you would like to buy this painting, please click on this link to my  Art Weekly Online Shop, or if you'd rather deal with me direct, please email me at either jackiesinfrance@hotmail.com or jackie@jackiesherwood.com.