Painting and drawing

I started drawing when I was still in the play pen. I used lead pencils in the first years. In the beginning I used to draw a lot of people, my aunt, my mother etc. After a while I was allowed to paint with my grandfather’s oil colors as he was painting (great daubs), too. I didn’t know how to temper colors at first. When I wanted to paint a tree I just took some green etc. I was somehow struggling with colors. I was more an illustrator than a painter and still am. I have tried various times to make abstract paintings but it doens’t work for me.

When I finally studied arts for 4 years I was introduced to draw from still lifes or from photos, which is perfect for me as I need a lot of time to finish my illustrations. Sometimes it even takes months to finish them.

I’m collecting so many little old things just in order to paint or draw them and sometimes I find things in our garden or in nature which are worth drawing. For some of my illustrations I used a graphite pencil, colored pencils and some opaque white for the highlights. The other paintings have been made with acquarel color and acrylics. I’m collecting old frames (believe it or not, I have 180 frames in my flat!) and sometimes they don’t have a picture inside. Then I make it. But usually I prefer old copper engravings of flowers or old towns.

The acquarel in the black frame shows Kefalonia in springtime when the poppies were blooming, the black long rectangular frame shows my field in Greece and the rest are things I found in our garden or in nature.