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REVIEW OF 2008 DUBROVNIK PAINTING HOLIDAY
24th June - 1st July
See paintings from this holiday
My guests this year were Freda Cribbs and Maureen Harper (Mo). Both were keen to visit Dubrovnik, never having been to Croatia before. We travelled from Cardiff, where we all attend an art class together.
These two ladies were pretty good artists - and great fun too!
Again we stayed at Mali Raj in Zaton Bay with Darko and family.
The sun was hot and the clear blue sea was perfect for swimming & cooling off.
We spent the first day drawing and painting lovely views of Zaton Bay in the shade of the pine trees fringing the coast, nipping in for a swim now & then - a perfect way to spend the afternoon.
The next day we spent sketching and painting views of Veliki Zaton village, Mali Raj house and the Bay.
Lerka the waitress from the Dva Bora restaurant remembered me from previous years and asked us to do portraits of her. We took photos of her to do the portraits as she was too busy to keep still!
On the Wednesday we drew the little chapel on the hill and explored the pine forested headland. It is a lovely peaceful place with amazing views of the Adriatic to the Elaphite Islands and Dubrovnik.
We went into Dubrovnik the next day and sketched in the old harbour.
A complicated but rewarding scene to tackle.
We bought huge juicy peaches and sugar coated almonds, candied orange & lemon rinds and sweet dried figs from the market.
Having strolled around the shops we refreshed ourselves with iced teas and iced coffees with quince jelly in The Arsenal and Gradskavana, where we sat sketching and people-watching. Moving on we found a lovely spot for drawing beneath the Lovrijenac Fort. Sweet little houses built into the rocks, precarious steps lead down to a tiny pebble beach, local youngsters played water polo in the bay.
Later on, we had an excellent meal at Restaurant Orhan at the foot of the Fort just outside the City walls.
Darko wanted paintings of Mali Raj and views from the windows to hang in the house, so we agreed to paint some for him in exchange for evening meals! We spent a couple of days doing paintings for him and were rewarded with feasts of fish, meats, home grown veg and salads and excellent home made wine!
The food was lovely and the wine was so good even Shrek the cat wanted some!
We took the ferry to Lokrum Island, just 15 minutes the old City. This is one of my favourite places, especially the inland sea, Muerto More, which is joined to the open sea by an underground / underwater tunnel. It is like a saltwater lake, full of still water warmed by the sun, reflecting the orange rocks, green pines and blue sky. It is so beautiful, to swim in Muerto More is like swimming in a painting! We painted, we swam, then went to the Island restaurant and ate a meal called "Funny Citizen of Dubrovnik" - we are still not sure what it was!
There is a lovely old monastery cloisters and garden on Lokrum which is beautiful to paint. We found the tortoise there, tried to catch him but he was too nippy and ran away at an amazing speed!
The peacocks were more obliging
Sailing back to Dubrovnik Od Harbour on the sparkling sea
Our last day we spent finishing off paintings and sketches, drawing in the lovely back gardens of Mali Raj, the forest and the village. We wished we had another week in Croatia and I arranged with Darko to return next May when the weather is a little cooler.
We stayed overnight at The Gatwick Gables in Horley, flew to Dubrovnik with BA and stayed with Darko Kresic and family at Mali Raj, Veliki Zaton, Zaton Bay, Dubrovnik Riviera, Croatia.
If you fancy joining me on a lovely Painting Holiday here next May please click here for details
2009 Painting Holiday in Dubrovnik
To see drawings and paintings from our holiday 2008 please click here
Paintings from 2008 Dubrovnik Holiday
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