Many are the friends who ask me if I choose topics for my paintings only from Mount Athos, as well as why I do this.
The first question is simpler. I also paint other things, but I like to focus somewhere and create several paintings with the same topic.
In winter I had to build a classic car for a client and because I liked it, I created a whole series of 20 paintings (you can see them here: https://bestprint.gr/kamvas/classic-cars.html). In addition, during the last decade I have been drawing childhood themes (which I also love very much), because of my involvement in the construction of invitations. But when I choose and prepare something that expresses me, I always turn to the topic of Mount Athos and I exhibit it. I believe that it expresses me in so many ways, it is an image but at the same time you can say it creates a stream of words. When an apple is painted, it does not cease to be an apple, when a face is painted you may grasp the feeling at best, but each image of Mount Athos is also a great story.
So we come to the question why I do this.
Designing a visit to Mount Athos is not, of course, something difficult, but not so easy as well for someone who comes from afar. It requires you to prepare yourself, arrange your journey, your physical condition if you intent to walk for miles, arrange your professional duties, do your cross and start. Each visit is also an experience. Each visit leaves memories behind. Each project is these memories and each project has to tell its story.
The greatest blessing in everyday life with the speed, the problems and the obligations of each day, is that there is a window there, a window that rests the soul and generates hope. Thus, painting, which in itself is therapeutic, in combination with its blessing, becomes a source of daily joy and rest, very addictive indeed.
Another reason I paint topics from Mount Athos is that it is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. And even after thousands of works, there still will be something new to discover.
Extended range of topics
Lately, I have been thinking to expand my range of topics. Travelling throughout Greece at first, I will attempt to capture as many Christian monuments and places as possible. Then, I plan to travel abroad, depending on my financial capabilities, all over the world, anywhere there is something bright and orthodox.
If I have the chance and time in the years to come, the site will be of special interest, because it will also act as a guide.
Meteora and the Holy Places are definitely the next destinations, but it would be a great help to hear your suggestions. So whoever has a friend to suggest a place that suits my range of topics, will be greatly appreciated. You can contact me here or by email.