Sunbath

Acrylics on 40x50cm canvas, 2003

I love painting, women, sea and sun. Obviously. On this painting I like also the colorful grays. Goodbye beautiful Greek summer. Next year I will try at least to touch the sea water...

Ship into the fire

Acrylics on 40x60cm canvas. Year 2001. Not available.

Similar to previous post but into an oppressive ambient, a ship is burning. This painting was started with a neutral mood, but while processing, it became dark and sorrowful. I thought that I had to cover it and make a happy painting over it, but at last I left it as it was. This painting was bought by a honorable and sharpie well known VIP!

I'm Back Again! "Samina"

Acrylics on framed canvas about 40x50 cm. Year 1992 (?). Not available.

I had some jobs to do the last days, so I was absent from painting. Now I'm back, but for a couple of weeks maybe the posts will be rare. 

This painting, one of my few abstracts, is really sad, although the colors look happy... At September, 26 of 2000, into the cold, salted waters of the Aegean sea, the greek ship "Samina" was sunk and 80 people were drawn... I was really shocked and this "happy" painting was the last Good Bye to the innocent people. Some of the lost were familiar to me. Among them, were kids and young mothers. All of them were victims of human stupidity...

"My Place" Cafe-Bar

55cm x 45cm, acrylics on framed canvas. Not available.

Another one painting, except the mural, to decorate the new "My Place" Cafe-Bar in Karlovassi. This one  I painted yesterday afternoon, inspired by a recent masterpiece.

Graffiti Mural finished!

We had been waiting for a month for the graffiti cans but nothing arrived. So the graffiti artist couldn't finish the mural I started. The "My Place" Cafe-Bar had to open in few days, so I completed the graffiti mural .... without color spays! This is my first graffiti, but it seems like painting, because it is a painting!

Acrylics, on a 4,00m x 2,00m (about) wall surface of the Cafe-Bar "My Place" in Karlovassi.

Here are some details:

Kokkari by night

Another one new painting! 24x30cm canvas, acrylics. Not available.

Second new small painting in the same day (yesterday). This became one of my favorites. The moon and bright city lights reflected on the calm, dark sea... The city of Kokkari becomes a sweet and lovely witch when the night falls!

The way to Big Seitani

New painting! 24x30cm canvas, acrylics. Not available.

Small Seitani and Big Seitani are two beautiful bays at northern Samos. The only way to reach them is to walk on a small trace for about 2 hours. The reward is a beautiful beach with crystal water. It could be a perfect paradise, if there weren't there some ugly houses, built by a few "smart" locals.

The quick sketching.

Acrylics on 30x40cm canvas. Not available.

This lady painted a child on a dolphin in few seconds: This was the idea for this painting. Not so original idea for the surrealists...

The stolen painting

100x75 cm canvas on wooden frame. Vinyl colors (cheap colors for wall painting). Not available (stolen)

One of my few abstract works. It was a gift to one respected relative woman, to decorate a gymnasium. Unfortunately, the painting grabbed by a stealer. So nothing is missing from the gamut: Some paintings are sold, some are not sold, some other have been destroyed by me, other burned by accidental fire, and this one is stolen! Is there anything else not mentioned?

Retired Paintings

The following two paintings were made to decorate a coffee-bar. This summer the bar was upgraded to a more attractive and richer shop, with a new name. So the old paintings gone!

The first one: 50x70 cm framed canvas, acrylics. Not available

The second one: Acrylics on 100x80cm flexible plastic material. Not available.

Week of murals 4

New record! This is the fourth mural of the week! Painted today, at the balcony where we enjoy our breakfast, me and my wife Niki. Size 160x100cm, acrylics. Took 2,5 hours to finish. It's beautiful!

Week of murals 3

Third mural of the week. Saturday. Size on wall 200x110cm. Acrylics. Variation of a recent masterpiece. 5 hours of work.

Week of murals 2

We decided to make a 2 artist cooperation. I, the painter, to paint the background: The night city, the sky and the lightning. The other artist, the muralist, to create the word "My Place".

This post will be edited when the mural will be completed by the graffiti artist.

Edited at 13-09-2010: The graffiti artist didn't finish the mural! I finished it by myself. Here is the result:

Later, in a 13-09-2010 post you can see more details.

Week of murals

This week was not ordinary. It was the week of murals. First time of my life I made three murals in a week! The first mural was made in my bedroom, to fill the last white and empty wall:

I gave it a title: "LA LUNA E LA RAGAZZA" which means "The moon and the girl" in Italian. Why Italian? Most Italian romantic songs include "La Luna". It was natural to use Italian. This painting was made using acrylics on a wall about 200x300 cm. The girl is my wife when she was a child. I have told before that Niki don't wants to grow up. This mural is my offer to feel as a child forever. I have some improvements to do, so it's not finished yet. The moon is finished, so here is its face:

The second mural was made yesterday and it is a background for a graffiti. in a new shop. Its size is about 400x280cm. I will post it when I take photos after finishing. 

The today's mural (the third) is 200x110cm and took 5 hours to finish it. I have to take a photo tomorrow to post it here. No mini size paintings this week! 

To be continued...

Dull seascape

Framed canvas 40x50cm. Acrylics. Not available.

I made my last painting exhibition about five years ago. This painting was the easiest to make. Simple theme, almost without colors. It took me about 15 minutes to finish it. Most visitors enjoyed it more than other, difficult for me to make paintings. Sometimes complexity is overvalued. This simple painting is the proof.

Getting pretty...

Acrylics on canvas frame 40x55cm - Not available.

I have not included most of the upper head (nor the brain) of this lady. I need taller surfaces. 

I'm sorry for the sarcasm... 

Sometimes I can't recognize myself. Sometimes all my thoughts turn to gray. My paintings turn to mud. The life seems so sad and unhappy... Anyway, I take it as illness, a few days fever... But some other times I think that maybe this fever is not so bad as it seems... Maybe it came for me, to tell me that bad times are a respectable part of my life, an equal part to joy, the black and the white pieces of the yin-yang circle of my life. These days the black part of me is stronger. I think that I have to let it free for a while...

The movie

Acrylics on paper 25x30 cm. 1997. Availability: Not yet.

This is a group of actors just before a take of cinematic scene. Very fast work without corrections using thin colors (watercolor technique) without white. I love this silly drawing and I don't know the reason. From the day I made it, is over my fireplace and I can't replace it. Completely different people are joined for one purpose: Maybe this is the key to understand my preference. I use to work alone... Is there any psychiatrist around?

View from my window

Acrylics. Canvas on paperboard 30x40cm. Not available.

This was the view outside of my window 10 years ago. Today the look is completely different. No tree, no hen-coop (the small building at the center) no houses, no forest. Instead all of them there are nice lodgings, but not so lovely to paint them. The curse in our life is this: People and things important for us, just pass... But we still have the skill to recover: Just walking. And when memories bring tears to our eyes, we keep looking forward and keep walking (like the commercial). Constantly walking and we don't look back (like the 80's song).

The current owner of this painting is a neighbor. Naturally.

Lovers

Acrylics on canvas paperboard 30x40cm. Availability unknown.

Another one old painting about basic instinct. Everything about primitive passion is always seductive to everyone. The opposite is simply a disease according to how mother nature works. Is there any missing color? Red maybe?

30 years before

I started painting about 35 years ago, when I was 17. I found two photos of these (almost forgotten) happy years of youth. The first photo was taken at 1981. I was serving in the navy. Here, on my old's house roof I was proud for my brand new seascape.

The second one was taken at 1985 (4 years later). The photo was taken from a reporter (during my summer painting exhibition) to be published by the Greek weekly "Domino".

Today I'm not so handsome but I paint better than 30 years before. It's fair!

The white land

Acrylics on 30x40cm canvas on paperboard. 10 years ago. I'm not sure of availability. Inspired from a stamp-size reference photo on a magazine.

Today I didn't paint. I dedicated my afternoon to improve the look of this blog. I hope you like the result. Today the smell of color replaced by the smell of ...wood!

I still post my older work. I haven't forget my earlier promise to post (later) my present work here!

Eve and snake

Acrylics on 50x70 cm canvas. Not available.

If someone likes drinking or playing pool or enjoy classic rock songs in a remote and quite place of our town, maybe has already seen this piece. It decorates a shop in our town Karlovassi for the last seven years.

I like to paint such themes. Eve is one of my favorites. Fantasy and magic has to be part of our misery life. Painting is the magical piece of my wonderful life's puzzle.

The little church by the sea

Acrylics on 30x40cm marine plywood. Not sure for availability.

One more classic Greek landscape here. Fresh and simple! Unusual, relaxing and very easy theme.

Two Ladies 2 (Revisited)

Acrylics on canvas on a 30x40 cm paperboard. Not available.

A very good friend of mine (the third lady) liked the first "Two Ladies". I didn't own the original any more, so I made a  not so similar reproduction. I was unable to ignore my friend's wish! 

Unfortunately the last two weeks were tough for me. I had very little time to paint because I was observing a two week e-learning course for my job. More, my father visited the hospital again for his anemia. I hacked to steal some hours for starting a new mural on the last white wall of  my bedroom. You can enjoy the final results in the next few days...

Harbour with boats

Acrylics on marine plywood 130x100cm. Not available.

One more Greek landscape. This one belongs to the very good friend of me, Manolis. He lives in a small town besides the sea called "Agios Konstantinos". He is a tough (and maybe the only one) opponent for me when we play billiards some winter nights. He's an amateur painter too.

Old and new

Acrylics on marine plywood 150x130cm. Not available.

This was made to decorate a restaurant at our harbor 20 years ago. Unfortunately a fire destroyed the shop, along with the paintings. I didn't care at all about the paintings...

Three paintings for my parents

All these 3 early paintings were painted on 0,7x25x30cm marine plywood with acrylic colors.  Not available.

They seem as commercials of past Greece. Landscapes like to my parents, so I found three beautiful postal cards and painted their themes. Of course (as all the reproductions) they offered another one useful lesson. They are small, easy to make and nice, but not enough. Just a little beautiful port to rest for a while. The big journey goes on...

My father made the frames and hanged them into the living room. My mother every time asks for more! I should demand money for these!

A lady's back

40x50 cm canvas on paperboard, self made colors with minerals in acrylic base. Not available.

This is a very early painting, about 25 years ago. For many years it had a royal place in our living room. Now belongs to a beloved relative family.

Last days I was a little busy and painting became the victim. Yesterday I started again and I was very pleased with the results! 

Girl riding a white horse

Vinyl colors on hardboard about 60x40cm. Not available.

I think this was the first time I painted a horse. Many people liked this piece. I also like to paint horses.

I didn't post for a while. My aged father was visited some days the hospital because he needed some blood, so I was visiting my father as a good son. The daily painting was suspended till today. These days I love painting people.

A day in the country

Acrylics, 30x40cm canvas on paperboard. (Not sure of availability)

I really like this one. It was a lesson of simplicity. I have to revisit someday this style of drawing. I'm afraid that I can't stand to make "studies". When I paint an apple once, I will not paint it again and again and again... The wanted is to discover myself into this beautiful, not full of apples world!

The last drink

35x50cm canvas, acrylics. Not available.
Still oldies... 

Mediterranean touch

40x50 canvas, acrylics. Not available.

This one made from a photo as most of my work. I love the view of houses against the beauty of nature. Sometimes I paint a beautiful landscape without human interruption. I like it. When I paint some houses or other human constructions, I like it more. I love it! I believe that the earth is better with us, living on it. But we have to respect this beautiful planet. It is the god, the mother and the father. It can forgive our selfishness, but not for ever.

Fishing boats in twilight.

Still oldies... 30x20cm, acrylics on framed paper. Not available.

The Rock

Acrylics on canvas on paperboard 30x40cm. 1999. I do not remember more details or availability.

Marathokampos

Marathokampos is a beautiful county of southern Samos. The main town includes buildings over 150 years old. The smaller town by the sea called "Ormos" (Bay) goes for port. 25-30 years have passed. A spring rainstorm was on the way. I took a photo which I painted 15 years after. I still smell the wet ground.

40x50cm on framed cotton, acrylics. Not available.

Limani, late afternoon

The same place as before, in front of the bond. The natural light slowly surrenders to artificial. Into these magical moments in the right place, someone can work miracles. It's the right time to forgive, or been forgiven. To love and to be loved. To give a promise or to get one, which will be kept. Into this magical moment thousand people enjoy the view of the sunset, while are snuggling another beloved person. If there is a possibility to see sometime the God, this would be the right time.

30x40cm canvas board. Manually colors (acrylic medium with mineral powders). 2001. Not available.

Limani

25x30cm - acrylics on canvas. Not available.

This is "Limani" (Port) of Karlovassi. The distant white houses on the hill are part of "Paleo" (Old) Karlovassi. I walk almost everyday across this place. I smell the salted sea, I feel the gentle movement of the sleepy waves, the grey anger of the winter... Every time I leave the island, I enjoy it. New places make me free and happy. But when I return, I feel that invisible chains keep me prisoner forever in this blessed place. This is simply my home. I'm sure that you know what I mean!

Yannis Ritsos

The great greek poet was exiled on our beloved island. He had a huge free soul full of compassion for the humble and poor people. Yannis Ritsos loved his new home. He became very soon a part from it, writing there his best poems until the end of his life. He loved purely and deeply this land with tenderly feelings. His sweet light in our path, will lighting our life for ever...

This is one of my new small almost daily paintings. Acrylics on canvas 24x30 cm.

Agia Pelagia 2 and Yannis Ritsos

This is the same place as previous post, about the same time. This was inspired of a colored sketch made by the famous Greek poet Yannis Ritsos. The original found on the front page of the last issue of "Methorios", which is a very special magazine about our (still beautiful)  island Samos. I didn't know that Yannis Ritsos was also a painter. His huge talent in poetry was overshadowing his other virtues (for me). 

This painting is about 50x40cm framed canvas, made with mixed media. Not available (my parents own it now).

Agia Pelagia 1

About 1km distance from previous post's place, is the old (abandoned now) Agia Pelagia monastery. This painting was made from a small black & white photo which I found in a nearby restaurant. This painting is still there, into the shop, which now became the head office of local association of women "Okiroi". Painted on a wooden surface about 120x80cm with vinyl, four only colors (blue, red, yellow & white). Not available.

Palaio Karlovassi

This is a beautiful place of the island Samos, where I live. There was established the first city of Karlovassi, ("Palaio" = Old) on a hill close to the harbor. On the top you see the church of Holy Trinity (Agia Triada). 30x40 cm canvas on a board. Acrylics. Not available.

These are still older paintings. I paint every day new small paintings. Soon I will post them here. Thank you for interesting!

Secrets for three

This is an older painting on canvas board about 40x50cm made with vinyl colors (Not available). Classical style with many very thin layers of colors and blending with fingers for almost every stroke. I remember that I was very proud for this painting, because it was like a photo. A cheap brainless camera could do the same, in just a moment. Anyway, this is a necessary stage for every aspiring painter. I confess that I love this stage until now.