WORK AND LIFE
IN CROATIA
The life of an artist does not start with a piece of canvas on the easel ... it starts long before, and it is always a mixture of personal and professional habits. That's why I started this diary - I want to show you what I see, how I find my ideas, at the end: why I paint.
Welcome in my croatian world.
The photo shows one of my favoured coffee bars in Split: Ovcice, at the town beach.
(All photos in this blog by Tina Simunovic)
22
JAN
24
Wild and free:
Solta for explorers
My partner uses to go fishing whenever he's got time. It is a "One Man"- or "Two-Men-Trip", together with a friend from the neighbourhood. This time he invited me and Oscar, the dachshound, to go with him. It was a cold and windy morning, but I forgot the weather and my icy fingers when I saw the bay we came in. The island Solta has so many of them; wild and free as if no human ever came there.
DEC 23
THE COLORS OF MY MORNING JOG
At 6:20 am I start. Around 6:40 I am on the hill. And surrounded by sunrise colors. A small collection of photos.
A SPECIAL TREE
NOV 23 I mean ... this tree really needs a landscape format, doesn't he? I will paint him, for sure, if I find the perfect canvas for him (10x200? ;-))
RAIN AND SUN
NOV 23 Two kinds of weather at the same time: an invitation to paint!
Here you see the rain in Split
on canvas ...
... and here's the whole work.
OCT 23
Every morning after my jog I run the steps up to our second apartment and sit down on the balcony - and wait. And look. And enjoy the best sunrise ever.
Sure I had to paint this look ...
... when the sun sends her golden
light on the sea ...
... and draws sharp shadows on the walls of the houses.
Sept 23
NOT CANVAS,
BUT STONE
SEPT 23 Vanessa is six and a half years old. And she's got a deep understanding and love for art. My little granddaughter-in-law spent two weeks with us in our island house. And one night was full of thunder, lightning, heavy rain. What to do so, if you cannot sleep? Painting is always a good answer. Vanessa prepared the so-called canvas some days before: She collected stones for a multimedia collection of art ... ("This stone looks like a mobile phone, doesn't he?").
While thunder and rain kept us awake, we created stone-phones, stone-tv, stone-laptops, stone-movies. What do you think, is our work worth to be shown in a gallery? ;-)
MY PLACE OF PEACE
August 23
There are, that's what croatians say, more coffee bars than people in this land. The fact is: Wherever you wish to get a cup of coffee, you will get it. Another croatian truth: If people say "let's go for a coffee", it can mean everything - coffee, beer, wine, Rakia ...
So. Well. My favoured place to get a coffee or whatever I want, is a nontouristic address. In the little harbour Lucica Poljud, near the football stadion in Split, where the sailors meet and some neighbours and a very few others like me and my friends, I come to relax. Best time: sunset. When the last light draws golden waves in the sky.
11
JUL
2023
AN EVENING TO REMEMBER
I admit: I was so so nervous on the day of my first exhibition in Croatia. But when I came to the gallery, there where people already waiting for the opening, and after the 50. visitor I stopped counting - I am HAPPY!!!
Yes, I sold quite a lot of my works. But much more important: The people who took a look an my artwork - croatians, germans, austrians, americans - all enjoyed what I've done.
And: There will sure be a second exhibition in Grohote! See you next year!
Work and Artwork
JULY 11/23 Still only some hours, and my first Solo in Croatia opens. And three men are working hard on thanging my artwork on the ancient stone wall of the "Bratska Kuca" in the center of the island Solta, Grohote. I am nervous! And happy though ...
SOLO IN GROHOTE
JUNE 11/23
I AM HAPPY! My beloved island Solta will be the place for my first Solo Exhibition in Croatia! It is fantastic to show my paintings exactly here, where I find most inspiration. I use to work in my studio in Necujam - three kilometres away from the lovely Gallery "Bratska Kuca" in the island center Grohote. I am looking forward to meet guests and locals there!
MAY 10/23
The weather offers an idea of summer, so we started to work in the garden - the three of us: The little dachshound, Oskar, gives his best to help ...
... the final view on the flower bed ...
... and the best worker.
APR 28/2023
Do you know "Sally-my-handsome"? Her botanical name is Carpobrotus acinaciformis - a succulent perennial. Native to South Africa, but feels at home in Dalmatia. On the island Solta you find her flowers from spring to early summer. In the morning, before sun kisses her, she appears like a rose ...
...and then she opens herself and appears in all her beauty ...
... from rose to sunflower! A beautiful pink lady, but a dangerous one: She grows very quickly, does not have any enemies and even resists fire.
24
APR
2023
From Reality to Artwork
On my jog on the island Solta I found a wonderful early morning view of the cove Piskera in Necujam. On the left you see the painting - and below you can follow my way from the photo to the sketch and the painting.
A perfect afternoon
under olive trees
22/04/23 Jale is a very precious friend of mine. While we are in Split, we meet nearly every day, and if only for a quick "kavu" (coffee). Jale is one of those people who always find something to do ... if he does not work on his sailing boat or goes fishing or paints walls in his house .... or cares for his olive trees. In Kastela, about six kilometres from Split, he owns a little olive grove. We spent the saturday there, and I could not stop following the ways of the sunlight on the trees during the afternoon. There will be some new olive tree pictures soon ...
The world is pastel and silence
12/04/2023 Its an ordinary wednesday at an extraordinary time - 6:24 am. Finally, finally after two weeks in Split we are back on the island. I went for a jog, my morning routine if I find the power to wake up early enough for running in a world that yet didn't become noisy and crowdy.
So I start to run - and stop. Inspiration overfloat. Thanx God I took my phone with me to catch the pastel sky before sunrise ...
(Solta, Necujam, put Rata)
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