Report written by Waltraud
Guided painting tour June 13th to June 20th 2006
We started in the early morning, it was still dark – on Monday a small group of enthusiastic painters headed with their master Martin Ludwig from Kronach southward to the airport, in order to make their way to the island of light, where we hoped to find the great enlightenment in terms of the art of painting.
Having arrived in Nueremberg, there was enough time left getting to know each other a little bit better and then the plane took off, two and a half hours later we landed at our destination – Santorin – the Island of Light. Exactly what we needed. Holidays – how wonderful!
For the rest of the day we strolled around at the surroundings of the hotel in Perissa and tried out swimming in the sea and the pool. On Tuesday we got down to painting business: under Martin´s eye and instruction surely only a couple of days are necessary to become a professional artist – we thought.
We were put to a severe test. Making sketches and filling them with colour afterwards isn´t as easy as it sounds, and especially for beginners this is more than difficult initially. Soon we recognized that there was a long way between our imagination, i.e. the paintings in our head , and catching reality as a final result on paper before us.
If you were successful in sketching a painting almost perfectly, there still had been the possibility to completey destroy it, when trying to colour it. Many of us discovered that the art of painting is tied to practise, and thus, we diligently practised with watercolours, chalks and Indian ink. Our results got better day by day. In between we went sightseeing at Perissa, Fira and Oia, not only to search for suitable motifs, but also to enjoy shopping tours or having a Cappuccino. Some of us took the chance to get to know the sights of the island by Jeep or boat or bus, others enjoyed their time relaxing or lying on the beach.
We could have spend many more days doing this: painting, relaxing, looking for new motifs, painting again, relaxing,etc.. However, unfortunatelly this dreamlike holiday had to come to an end. Saying good-bye was difficult, not only because of the beautiful weather.
Strangely but surely, we haven´t yet become painters with professional skills, but nevertheless we had to leave the island after the week had passed by. Sooner than we thought we were back home again and our painting tour ended the same way it had started: in the dark...
We kept a wonderful memory to the „Island of Light“ and several painting, which soon can be seen in some art galleries.
Many thanks to our instructor Martin, who managed to advice us with a lot of calmness and patience and who made this combination from a holiday and a painting course so pleasant.
And, last but not least, a warm thank you to the group! We were a perfect team!
Impressionen
Motive - Motive
