Greek Village Sketch

This drawing, which captures washing day at a cluster of houses near us in Harakopio, started life as a simple line drawing in one of my small sketchbooks. The house on the right has been empty for at least a decade and is gradually being overcome by ivy. The other dwellings are mostly rented out – so the occupants tend to come and go. The house with the steps, on the left, has recently become vacant again and I’m rather missing the sight of brightly coloured washing blowing in the breeze.

After increasing the initial drawing in size (from A5 to A1!) and reversing it!….. I carefully transferred it to a pre-stretched canvas using my favourite, if rather time-consuming, acrylic transfer technique. I almost fell in love with the giant black and white drawing, but also wanted to add some colour…. So, working with Golden brand fluid acrylics, I gradually built the layers up, rather like painting with watercolours…

Then, to give the scene a sense of being lost in time, I began to add stencilled textures to the edges, using one of my favourite plastic table runners (purchased in Nea Koroni supermarket!). It’s tricky getting this process just right, so I’m going back and forth a bit with the layers of paint at the moment…. Next, three pieces of text were added, using the same acrylic process, and blended into the painting with acrylic medium and paint.

Can you help me out please? This painting is currently without a name! I’d love to hear your suggestions for an appropriate title. Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments below, or on my Facebook Art Page. Many thanks for your help. A complementary ‘mystery gift’ will be sent to whoever supplies the chosen name.

As soon as the painting is finished I’ll share a short video of it’s evolution here with you. Meanwhile, I’ve posted a few more work-in-progress photos over on my Facebook Art Page, so follow me there to see the latest versions and/or to suggest a name for the painting.