Post #3 about Posidarjje, Croatia

Once settled in our apartment (Ana & Miro rent out 3), we had a chance to explore the village.  Every yard has its own garden and often there's a table at the front entrance loaded down with tomatoes, figs, wine, olive oil, and honey.  There are apartments and rooms to rent for about 50 Euros in high season and about 40 Euros in the off-season. Lots of Germans and Czechoslovakians stay here during the summer. The village has a marina for its fishermen.  There are two local grocery stores and about 20 minutes away in Zadar there are large stores such as Interspar which is like a German Walmart.

Village street with small market at the end of the day. Streets are two-way but only one car wide!

Yards are filled with grapes, figs, and bayleaf trees.

The village marina

There are some apartments and a small hotel that is privately owned.

During the heat of the day the streets are empty, but after 4PM they are alive with local residents and children

Palm trees and other Mediterranean growth abounds.

This is a grape arbor that covers a parking area.

Apartments are available for vacation rental throughout the village. Everything is sparkling clean.

An example of a front yard garden

Window boxes are a favorite

An example of three intersecting, narrow streets.

The morning fish market

Fresh from the sea and gone by 11AM!

One of several local cafe's, this was next to a bank where we could get Kunas - the local currency.  Croatia is now part of the European Union, but the currency transition to Euros is not yet in place.  When we were there, 6 Kunas = $1.

The local grocery store.  The clerks did not speak English, so it was sign language and guessing for each visit. The local schools are now teaching English to all the children, so anyone under the age of 25 does speak English if they've attended school.

The local news and souvenir stand 

Local buildings in ancient stone only partly destroyed in the conflict with Serbia.

A local memorial.

Bustling morning produce market near the local bakeries

Local boats are shaped a little differently from those in the USA.

Note the solar panels atop the old stucco'd & tiled building! We also saw many windmills along the mountain ridge-lines. The Croatians are far ahead of us in using renewable energy!

Interspar is one of a number of German and other European big box stores that are setting up shop in the region now that Croatia is part of the European Union.  But it was good that Ana was with me to interpret the labels.  Once again, some of the clerks spoke English but others not so much.  By using my credit cards with the international chip, I could avoid figuring out too much on the local currency!

Staying in Posidarjje, Croatia - a hidden gem on the Adriatic!

The airport in Split is where we landed. It's small and easy to navigate, UNLIKE Heathrow which was a nightmare!   The highways are wide open and the speed limit is about 90 mph, which is a little hard to get used to!  On the way between Split and Posidarjje, our host, Miro, stopped so we could get our first glimpse of the dramatic coastline.

Once we arrived in Posidarjje, there was no shortage of things to see in this small village on the Dalmatian Coast.  Posidarjje is a village of about 1800 people and it's on an inlet of the Adriatic.  We stayed in a pension owned by our Croatian-American friends, Miro and Ana.  Ours was the lower balcony. In the right hand corner of the photo is a wood-fired grill which makes anything cooked on it taste marvelous.

 

Ana's gardens are beautiful and her front entrance is magnificent! Aside from hydrangeas, there are olives, figs, and a grape arbor that serves as the carport for their vehicles.  Rosemary and bay leaf thrive everywhere. There are quince/ apples and pomegranate as well.

Ana's front yard garden

Sunflowers thrive

Olive trees grace the yard as well

The drama of the Adriatic was in the views from the back of the house, our balcony and down at Ana & Miro's beach:

Sunrise

Mid-day

Mid-day in the other direction, after the thunderstorms.

The view from the dock overlooking the beach

Miro's boat

A view in the westerly direction from the dock

The dock

So I set up my painting gear on our balcony since the weather was sunny and dry except for one afternoon of thunderstorms...much needed by the olive and fig trees.  What's not to love about this place for an artist?!

Again, thanks to Bivenne Staiger, my watercolor teacher, for getting me up to speed in this new medium.  It was going to be too complicated to travel with my usual array of oil paints.  Here's the link to Bivenne's website: Bivenne Harvey Staiger

Watercolor study for the large oil painting I'm doing for Miro & Ana's Connecticut home

Hanging out at the beach and dock on a lazy afternoon

The local lizard - lots of them and all harmless...this one on the stairs to the beach.

Ana's quince/apples

Pomegranates 

I've just returned from Posidarje, Croatia, which is located somewhat northeast of Split. Ted and I were visiting friends to learn a bit about their homeland. I knew the scenery would be spectacular and very paintable. It was better than I ever imagined!

 Located on the Adriatic Sea, Wikipedia describes it like this:

Croatia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Croatia (ⁱ/kroʊˈeɪʃə/ kroh-ay-shə; Croatian: Hrvatska pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː]), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska  listen (help·info)), is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic at the crossroads of Central Europe, Southern Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles) and has diverse, mostly continental and Mediterranean climates. Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. 

The country's population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, with the most common religious denomination being Roman Catholicism. Having joined on 1 July 2013, Croatia is the newest, 28th member state of the European Union.

Hooray For Summer: Time To Paint!

Whether you live on the Cape or vacation here, you are bound to run across artists who paint "en plein air," which means we are out and about painting on site at any of the terrific vistas that surround this place.

I'm one of these en plein air painters and during May I had a good time painting works to place at "Birdsey On The Cape" in Osterville, MA at 870 Main Street.  The scene I'm focused on here is at the Oyster River in Chatham.

While some artists travel light, I am not one of them.  I have a van.  It's stuffed with art materials.  The portable easel used on site is a bit like a praying mantis and can pinch the fingers as it is set up, but its old fashioned design works pretty well.

Once I'm set up,  I have to work quickly since the light doesn't stay still and neither do the shadows that help the painting look lively.  So the painting gets blocked in over the course of about two hours and then its time to switch canvases and come back another day if the painting needs additional work. 

I use cotton canvas, Belgian linen, or specially prepared panels as the surface on which the painting is placed.  Oil paints, low-VOC mineral spirits, and brushes help me get the work done.  If I'm lucky, the elements of the scene won't get moved away...for example a boat that I might be painting might get moved by its owner or the tide is rising, the wind picks up, and the position of the boat shifts and so do the shadows it casts.

The painting I've posted here was done over two days and it took some dodging the fishermen's trucks and boat trailers to stay at it, but it's now done and available in a gold frame at Birdsey On the Cape.  Sue Carstenen is the owner of the gallery and she'd be happy to show it to you.  Stop by or give her a call at 508-428-4969.  

Here are some photos of my recent efforts. The painting is now on exhibit and available for sale at Birdsey on the Cape at 870 Main Street, Osterville, MA.

It's the end of Winter and right now my Connecticut farmland works are hanging at Maple & Main Gallery in Chester, CT.  http://mapleandmaingallery.com/


 I have a number of large beach scenes being exhibited as well as at the Lyme Art Association in Old Lyme, CT. http://lymeartassociation.org/  Since many of my smaller works sold out this season, I am also in the studio working on the painting basics that get me ready for painting out of doors this Spring. My favorite framer had a wonderful sales so I have many gorgeous new frames to surround each of my works!  Hooray!  One of the works at Lyme Art Association for the "On Holiday" show is this one:

Look for more scenes that are similar to these as I paint away in a variety of sizes: