Flowers

 

Christmas at Antonello in Kolonaki - a symphony in red.  

 



 

 

An Eastern rug serving as a backdrop for the riot in red in the main window

 

 

 

 

 

Red pomegranates on the floor

 

 

 

 

 

the smaller window

 



 

 

looking in

 



 

 

detail

 



 

detail

trays of berries

 

view of the shop from the entrance

 



 

 

first time I've seen hellebores in Greece

 



 

 

 

 

a silver candelabra dripping with wax

 

the artist behind the counter

 



 

 

mirrors enhance the space and reflect the flowers

 



 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you have a good, stress-free time.

This is a photograph of my sister and me. I don't remember when or where it was taken, but I remember the coat I was wearing very well.

We both look very solemn - I wish I could remember the context of the photograph...

One of my favourite things....

In winter we walk by the sea almost every day. About once a week we do a longer walk and end up at Skippers for ouzo and lunch. It's one of our favourite things and we always have a wonderful time.

 

 

 

 

We start from the end of our road which is where the beach we use in the summer is.  The sand sculpture on the left is a permanent feature in winter. It is created by Leonidas who has been doing this for 10 years.

 

 



 

 

The sea is on our left as we walk down the hill. The views are fantastic.

 

 

 

 

I particularly like it when the sea is very calm 

 

 

 

The hills in the distance are Salamis island 

 

 

 

 

 

 At the bottom of the hill we reach another beach

 

 

 

that leads to the promenade which is usually full of people taking a stroll, but was deserted yesterday 

 

This is where Pennarubia is, a popular cafeteria

 

 

 

Once we reach the marina, we walk to the end of the quay - you can see the Hymettus mountain range from here.

We retrace our steps and enter the main section of the marina

 

We walk along the main road of the marina which is where all the piers branch out

 

 

 

 

we sometimes walk to the end of one of the piers. Were we to walk along all of them, this walk would talk over two hours. As it is, it will take us approximately an hour to reach our destination, Skippers

 

 

 

This is the second largest marina in Greece

 

We reach another cafeteria, Dia Noce - this was a favourite of ours about 4 years ago

 



 

 

 

line after line of boats

 



 

 

 

this walk is very enjoyable

 



 

 

the marina admin offices are about half way

 

 

 

 

We eventually reach the area where they lift the boats out for maintenance 

 

 

 

always interesting to watch the process

 

 

 

 

and then we continue our walk 

 

 

 

 

The marina is so packed with boats that they are running out of space, so some temporary extensions to the piers have been set up

 

 

 

 

and walking to the end of one of those gives you a good view of the scale of the place 

 

 

 

After about an hour we reach Skippers which is situated inside the marina. It was quite cold yesterday, so, not many people about which suited us fine, as we were able to sit in the front row

 

and enjoy a view of this gallion

 



 

 

we don't know its history, but we think it might have been used for the making of period films. We sat here for about two hours, had an ouzo and some lunch and then started walking back home. A wonderful day.

 

Soaring Flight - Peter Lanyon

Soaring Flight - Peter Lanyon, at the Courtauld Gallery.

During the 1950s Lanyon produced near-abstract works that were deeply rooted in the coastal landscape of West Cornwall. Fuelled by a desire to experience the landscape as fully as possible he took up gliding at the end of the decade in order to extend and transform his art.

Drifting and plunging on the thermal currents he saw earth and air in constant flux and described the experience on canvas. Freed from an earthbound perspective, he produced works that offer a sense of his encounters with the land, sea and air. The paintings capture the bright blue sky, light and the harsh lines of the jagged coast. The paintings express the sky's different movements, textures and currents, encountered as Lanyon navigated through thermals and up-draughts to soar through the sky. The sensations of gliding were also connected to various emotional states, which he strove to convey in the paintings.

In August 1964 Lanyon's glider crashed and he died two days later in hospital. He was 46 years old.

Bird Wind, 1955 (oil on board)

 

Bird Wind pre-dates Lanyon's gliding paintings but was crucial for their development. It relates to birds in flight over a coastal landscape, the colours evoking land, sea and sky. The prominent dark grey line marks the trajectory of a bird flying upwards at a steep angle, slowing to the point of falling, and at the vital moment, turning sharply to recover flight.  Lanyon was fascinated by this manoeuvre, known as a 'stall turn'. He likened it to sexual abandon, a momentary loss of self.

 

 

 

 
Silent Coast, 1957 (oil on board)

Lanyon's landscapes often evoke turbulent and energetic conditions. Silent Coast is unusual in its calm and contemplative character. It refers to a drowsy sea viewed from high cliff tops. The painting's stillness derives from the arrangement of its large blue forms, pressing together and disturbed texture. Lanyon understood the sea as an echo of our 'human instability, waywardness, fickleness, mood and temper'. When he started gliding, the air also acquired such associations.

High Ground, 1956 (oil on board)

High Ground might be seen as a broad view of a landscape composed of field patterns, sea and sky. However, our viewpoint is uncertain and the painting's rich textures and array of marks draw us in, as if we are also seeing the landscape close-up. Lanyon explained that the diagonal line rising from the bottom left helped him to 'leave the ground and go up into the air and sky'. He recalled that 'about this time I saw three gliders over a cliff and decided to go up there myself'.

Solo Flight, 1960 (oil on board)

Lanyon painted this picture in June 1960 when he was preparing to fly solo, a momentous event for all trainee pilots. The thick red line describes the circuit of a flight. Lanyon explained that he wanted to convey 'a sense of solitary quietness and sharp awareness of the substance of the ground below'. In order to convey the proximity of the land over which he flew, he chose to paint on board to achieve a heavily textured surface.

 

 



High Wind, 1958, (oil on board)

Like Turner before him, Lanyon sought to convey the experience of dramatic weather conditions. This painting cannot be read as a simple landscape; rather, it confronts the viewer as a wall of tremendous energy, the action of Lanyon's brush akin to the forces of a gale. He produced this work the year before he learned to fly.

 

 

Soaring Flight, 1960



Thermal, 1960

At the bottom of this painting, a thermal is beginning to force its way up through the sky below the glider, spiralling in white strokes through grey-blue air - weightless and yet terrifically strong. Then higher up, where the brushstrokes are looser and more fragile, comes the sense of a weakening air current, as if the glider was poised between rising and falling. The sky is not some motionless or picturesque scene: vapour is hanging in changeable veils, clouds materialise on the canvas never quite resolving into fixed patterns.

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