Stage II

/ Stage II

Watercolors

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STAGE II
Mediterranean Summer 1995 - 1997

Flight responded well to the rigors of ocean sailing, but now she faced new and ugly challenges. It is a tribute to the people, wines and food of the Mediterranean that we stuck it out through three more summers, because it was most definitely not a place for a boat with a short waterline and a 9 horse power engine. We discovered a dearth of sheltered harbors, and were generally having more fun on land than by sea. Gradually, however we made our way further and further east, and by the time we were in Greece and then Turkey, I had discovered enough about my painting needs to move out of remote corners of marinas and the privacy of the cockpit. I began working directly on site in ruins.

In Fethiye, Turkey I made the first piece which I considered good and serious enough to be of lasting importance.

Over the city hung a cliff of bare dark rock, and on its face was a honeycomb of recessed tombs, with columns, pediments and walled doors all carved out of the solid stone. The Lycians had made these in the previous Greek federation city of Telemassus (or City of Light). I had looked forward to seeing these and other Lycian (or Lydian) tombs for weeks, and when they were not visible in enough detail from the boat at anchor, we went into town and I set up inconspicuously in a field below the street, watched over by my husband and a curious tom cat.

Still innocent of technique, I drew the architecture and then filled in all of the black voids where the doors had been opened. Washing on the rusts and ochres of the stone face, and then the sky and distant planes, I felt the painting got the layering of color and drawing necessary without compromise or overworking. It was an important breakthrough, and I still respond deeply to it. The dry heat and full sun helped the piece to dry enough that I could work on it, and I began to understand how to weigh down my paper and palette in the strong afternoon winds and wear light weight clothing as a way of combating heat and sun stroke.

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