Saturday 27 June 2009

Picture from an Exhibition!


The last week has been exhausting and Rosemary and I are practically on our knees, but the exhibition has been very well attended. We have made lots of useful and interesting contacts and caught up with a lot of friends. Last night I managed to remember to take my camera and here is a photo of one of the main room of the Gallery in Aghios Nikolaos, showing my work along with ceramic artist Leanne's pots.

Monday 22 June 2009

Exhibition - Precious Heritage

The exhibition opening was really well attended on Friday and now it's up and running I've got time to get back to other things. Hope to go to the Katharo tomorrow with Steve and Rosemary to check out Campanula spatulata - I've been asked to collect leaf samples for the University of Florida, so am taking a day off! (Hopefully). I'm on duty tonight and Rosemary was there this morning. Apparently there will be a write up in Anatoli, so we are all looking forward to seeing what they say.

Sunday 21 June 2009

Spili


After a great time with Nick Turland and his wife Chris, Rosemary and I started for home last Sunday, stopping off in Spili for a bit of botanising. Rosemary found lots of grass specimens for pressing and I found this amazing cricket who had just shed his skin. In the bright sunshine he looked a strange creamy white colour, but in the photos he looks absolutely stunning.

Hectic!

The last ten days have been really hectic, but I'm hoping now that the exhibition is underway things will calm down a little. Everyone was very supportive and I couldn't have managed without the help of Rosemary, Steve, Jane and Barbara, even so I am exhausted and now I am back online in the Hobbit House I hope to be able to get back into a routine. This is my first day off for weeks, and I am trying to 'chill out' and tidy the place up a bit - art materials, books, maps, everywhere! But I'm going to 'tune in' to Radio 4 on the computer and catch up with my blogs etc and try to get the Flowers of Crete newsletter done - haven't done one since March!!! It was good to see so many people at the opening and to hear the positive comments from the President of the Cultural Organisation of Aghios. Let's hope it is going to be worth all the hard work!

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Photo of me and two of my quilts


Here's a photo of me taken twelve months ago at the opening of my art exhibition in Elounda, standing in front of two of my quilts. The larger Trip Around the World is entitled A Cloak for Hera and the smaller Cathedral Windows is called 'Klimt'. I'm working on a wall hanging which I promised my son ages ago, called 'Cloak for a Greek Hero' - as I wanted to keep the Greek theme for my wall hangings. I am also (as per previous post) trying to find time to start planning an exhibition piece for the Touch Festival in Aghios Nikolaos in September this year - maybe once my exhibition is over this month I will have more time.

Quilting Course in Crete next Spring

I am offering a quilting course based on The Flowers of Crete here in Pano Elounda next Spring - the date to be announced. The course will cover a variety of quilting methods and the use of transfer methods to apply images of flowers to fabric, including silk. There will be two sample quilts to offer inspiration - one will be a traditional quilt, using hand-painted or stencilled blocks and the other using an experimental approach, which will let your imagination run riot! All materials will be included in the cost of the week's course. More information soon!

Monday trip to Rouvas Gorge




Following a chat with a lovely German couple at the hotel in Malia, Rosemary and I threw caution to the wind and took ourselves off to the Psiloritis mountains to try to find a rare and endangered orchid Cephelantera cucullata. This lovely little orchid is extremely difficult to find and the kind Germans had told us it was in flower and where to find it. After several missed turnings in the mountains, which did mean we found lots of other interesting stuff, we ended up in the right place. We would never have found it, however, if it hadn't been for a noisy party of Greek men and boys who we encountered on our travels and who, as luck would have it, were going to the very spot to have a picnic!! We followed their trucks down some very bad dirt tracks through some spectacular scenery and ended up exactly where we needed to be. A short stroll into the forest led Rosemary and then me to the object of the trek. I was so excited I was on the verge of an asthma attack and, unfortunately, the camera chose that point to play up, so my photos aren't great! After a continued search we decided it was time to head home. Not far back up the track, Rosemary spotted more orchids behind the 'reserve' fence and we managed to get some shots of Limodorum arbortivum, but sadly too far away to get a decent shot. However, as we are so proud of ourselves for actually finding them, here are a couple of images. After a few diversions for road works, we got back to Elounda while it was still light and in time for Rosemary to have dinner with Bob! Me, I cooked myself a very basic corned beef hash and settled down to gloat over the photos and the day with my feet up. Very satisfying!

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Busy week!


It's been a really busy week, with loads happening and lots of exciting news, but am too tired to write much tonight. The last visitors have left for the UK well rested and with batteries re-charged and I am at the house for a few days before the next guests arrive from Finland. I'll write more (hopefully) tomorrow, but in the meantime, I'm posting a nice photo of Rosemary and me at the exhibition we put on at Malia Park Hotel during Environment Week. We were there for the evening on Friday, talking to guests about Flowers of Crete and the need for protection of the flora here. We met some really nice and interesting people and were guests of the hotel for dinner after the exhibition. The Guest Relations Officer Dimitra took this photo, which I am really pleased with.

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Scorching hot!

It's 9.30 a.m. and absolutely scorching hot already! I've just taken a load of picture frames and art stuff down to the Hobbit House in Elounda where I stay when the house is rented out. The new guests arrive at around 6.00 p.m. and I am meeting them in Elounda at Babel on the harbour. Babel is run by Greek friends of mine and is one of the best places to sit and chat. They even make a great cup of tea. Not always easy to find here. Once the house is ready. I am going up to Kritsa to see friends Nigel and Jenny, to get their signatures on the Sylogos papers (charity) for Flowers of Crete. Here papers have to be submitted x 6 and each set of papers needs at least 2 signatures, so when I came to take them to the lawyer, I realised some pages had been missed. Nigel is a well-known artist, and it was his sculpture of the Maid of Kritsa that was unveiled last Saturday week. For anyone who would like to see this work, it's on the road to Lato out of Kritsa and is on the crossroads where the maid died at the hands of Turkish soldiers. More about this later, as I ought to be vacuuming before it gets too hot.

Monday 1 June 2009

Exhibition


It's surprising just how much there is to do!! And I've had to think about everything I might need for getting ready for exhibition 'Precious Inheritance' in Aghios on 19th June. As if that isn't enough, I've been mulling over ideas for a quilt for the Touch Festival Competition in September - Rhythms (of Life). Have got some ideas which I've 'run past' Rosemary. More about this later. Must say the house is looking lovely!!!

Anthemis arvensis


Here is an image of A. arvensis taken on the Katharo Plateau on Friday. This daisy-like flower is common on Crete. It is easily confused with A. chia which has black margins to its bracts.

Flowers of Crete Wish List

Thanks to donations from friends in the UK and Finland, Flowers of Crete is now able to purchase a reflector for taking photos of flowers on dull or overly bright days. This item has been on the Flowers of Crete wishlist for some time and we are really grateful for their contributions which have made this possible.

Items on the wishlist inlude

A Professional copy of Google Earth
Macro lens for Nikon camera
Copy of Flora Europeae covering Greece
Archive quality inks for printer
Translator into Greek and German

There are many other items that would help to make our work more professional and efficient, if you would like to know more, please contact Julia or Rosemary.

We are terrifically grateful to everyone who supports us in so many ways. Flowers of Crete is going from strength to strength and we are helping to record previously lost or even new species on the island.