Sarina Beach

The beach has always been a great source of inspiration to me. Travelling to Sarina, seeing the beach for the first time was a surprise. Not tropical as expected, scrubby almost. Tourist brochures paint a different picture.

Santorini 2004

In August of 2004 I made the trip to Santorini via Gothenburg in Sweden with my friend, Claudine Slater. We took the early flight with 200 other enthusiastic Swedes to this beautiful island. Approaching the airport by Kamari beach our pilot banked steeply revealing the airstrip and ocean within our window frame, slightly hair raising!

Two weeks were spent traveling between Kamari and the coast visiting places like Oia, Imerovigli, Thira to name a few plus Exogonia visiting the Argiros Winery and Art Space Winery where we spent an entertaining few hours with the owner.

All of these paintings have been painted Plein Aire. Kind cafe' owners would allow me to sit and paint in the early morning capturing the light of the day. Staying a couple of days in Oia gave me plenty of inspiration with views across the Caldera and the beautiful landscape that is Santorini.

I took cut up pieces of canvas that packed easily into my bag along with a small Pochade box with a limited palette of colors. These have all been painted in my favourite medium, oils.