TRAVEL WITH MY ART #8, SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR ( CROATIA)

Time for another edition of Travel with My Art.  The reason why I decided to start this feature on my blog was to give people an opportunity to travel with my art. Sure, we can travel digitally with photographs and videos, but there is something special about seeing a painting of a place and knowing that it was painted or illustrated. Every art medium brings something special to the game and gives us another opportunity to try to capture what we feel with our soul. As much as I appreciate, love and respect photography as an art form, I think that I will always be more a painter than a photographer. I shared a lot of my photograph (as well as those of my husband) on this blog, but I also share a lot of my art.  

I illustrated different places and locations in the past, but something about this pandemic and the inability (of most people) to travel made me realize that perhaps I should dig into it a bit more. So far, I have illustrated mostly places and locations that I have visited myself (Croatia , Bosnia and HerzegovinaItaly)  but once I illustrated a place I would love to visit in Siberia, Russia. I hope these location paintings & illustration will grow into a regular feature on my blog and show how we can indeed travel with art. There are many ways to travel (and I explored this theme a bit more in this post).  

This time I'm taking you to magical island Hvar again. I'm sharing an acrylic painting of Sucuraj (spelled Sućuraj in Croatian). I'm quite excited to share this painting with you. I still have to sign this canvas and apply the final varnish but it's finished as far as painting goes.  If you want to know more about this place, you're welcome to check out my old posts about it here, here and here. If anyone is interested in my outfit, I'm wearing a black vintage dress (borrowed from mother) and a pair of black heeled boots (from Peko like most of my boots). I have actually worn this dress  quite a few times since I borrowed it from my mother. It's such a statement dress, I love it. 


Sucuraj has a special place in my heart because it was typically our family route whenever we would come to Hvar- and that was pretty often. When I was a kid and before we started school, we spent so much time on island Hvar. Moreover, we would always come here for holidays and summer. I always loved Sucuraj and the way it seemed to always greet me as a kid.  One advice I can give to other artists is to paint what you love. There is something very inspiring about painting a place you care about deeply, even if it can be a bit unnerving

A few facts about Sucuraj: it can be describes both as a tiny town and a village, but I don't think it has an official status of a town. Sucuraj can also be describes quite accurately as a touristic settlement and a small port (with a a ferry that docks regularly). This part of the island doesn't have any towns, so Sucuraj is the official centre of the eastern part of Hvar island. It has more than 2700 hours of sunshine per year making it one of the sunniest towns!  It is actually very close to the mainland (5 km), so close that a ferry ride from Drvenik (the coastal port) typically takes less than half an hour. Sucuraj is tiny but charming. There are less than 400 inhabitants living in Sucuraj but this place has its own school, hospital and a tourist office.  You can expect to enjoy a fair number of sunny days  in Sucuraj that will in turn allow you to enjoy the wonderful views this place offers. I'm mentioning the views because the placement of this little port is fantastic, it has a view of both sides of the island. If you look at one side, you can see the Croatian coastline and on the other side you can see semisland Pelješac and island Korčula. This town is tiny so you can see all of it fairly quickly.  The view I choose for my illustration is that of semi-island Pelješac. Scroll down to see the photograph reference I used as well as a little collage I put together that will hopefully give you a feel of this lovely place. 


I remembered to take some photographs while I was painting because I know many find such 'work in progress' photographs fascinating. This painting was extremely time consuming. I was working on a high quality canvas and I had my colours figured out, so that made things a bit more easy but still the sea was not easy to paint. I worked on the sea in stages in what felt like forever. The entire painting took about 50 hours of intense labour to finish. The early stages were not that challenging. I didn't have issues sketching and applying the first layers of paint but trying to capture the sea and its movements- that was challenging. However, you know I'm always up for challenge. If we are not pushing ourselves as artists, we are not learning and getting better. 

MAKING OF SUCURAJ PAINTING- THE STAGES OF PAINTING SEA WATER ACCURATELY

I worked really hard on capturing the water but I also wanted to get a bit creative with it. Bellow you can see the basic process of laying down different foundation colours. Even after many layers  I kept adding fine details, staring at the photographs for hours and trying to capture little drops of water on stones. It was some hard work. 


 A PAINTING PARTY- THIS PAINTING AGAINST SOME OF MY OLDER ONES- I couldn't resist taking a photograph of this painting next to the last painting I did. Funny how they match together. Sure, they both depict island Hvar but not the same part of the island. Still, if you see closely, you'll see how the horizons match. The sea water illustrated is different because on the left one we have a sand beach and the the right we have rocks. Moreover, Zavala and Sucuraj are many kilometres apart (even if located on the same island). Nevertheless, it was fun to compare these two and place them against the two canvases I have on one of my walls. I did an art tour of my home in collaboration with Kezzie. Last summer, Kezzie hosted this cool bloggers art gallery at home link up, the idea being that bloggers share the art they have in their home ( such a cool idea). So, here is a new version of my home art gallery (well, at least of one wall). Maybe I'll show you all the art I own at the moment some other time.

Did you enjoy visiting Sucuraj with my art? What other places would you like to visit in this way? I left my email at the end of the post in case anyone has any inquiries about this canvas painting. That would be all, take care. 


 Thank you for reading and visiting!

Comments

  1. Wow. Your talent is amazing

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  2. What A Beautiful Place For Creating Childhood Memories - I Can See Why You Spent The Summers There - Your Acrylic Water Features Are Mesmerizing - So Life Like - So Dreamy - However, Those Snow Running Mountains Are Flipping Perfect - Couldn't Stop Staring At Them - The White Wash Splashing Over The Rocks To The Majestic Mountains Brigs Ideal Depth To Your Vision On Canvas - Absolutely Brilliant

    Big Hugs

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I think it's stone not snow that making the tips of the mountains white but I'm not certain. Those mountains are quite high so there is often snow on them.

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  3. Ame tu pintura es muy bella te hace sentir paz y te conmueve y la cuidad que nos trae a colación es muy hermosa me gusto conocerla a través de tu pintura y de las fotografías. Te mando un beso

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  4. that is such a beautiful painting! I always think you capture water so beautifully, and nature is a hard thing to capture! It's so nice that it's like a set with your previous painting too!

    Hope that you have a nice weekend planned ahead of you :)

    Away From The Blue

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  5. A stunning picture! These colors look wonderful! I have visited many countries, but the Croatian views made a great impression on me.

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  6. Your pictures are miracle! I am impressed! Beautiful!

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  7. Your pictures are miracle! I am impressed! Beautiful!

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  8. Hello Ivana, how you doing? I hope you had a nice week :)

    First of all thanks for your feedback, you know I really value your opinions and that you take the time to share your experiences with me 🙂

    Ooooh this was a really good post, full of many interesting details going from fashion to traveling around Hvar Island and then your art process, which is really complex and interesting to see.

    I am impressed by the views at Sucuraj, I always tell you that these places remind me of some places in Spain, like the Balearic Island or Costa Brave here in Catalonia. You take really good photos as reference, which is crucial when it comes to do artwork like this, full of details and things that could help to refresh your memory while painting.

    And then there's the vintage dress, it looks like new honestly! And the best thing is that it doesn't go out of fashion despite the season, it is like something that you could use anytime right?

    And thanks for sharing the process with us, something I hate about social media is that sometimes we take for granted the work of artists. And a painting or an illustration or any other piece that took many weeks or even months can dissappear. Honestly I can congratulate you for your hard work, 50 hours of work.... woow, but then you can see why! Appreciating your work at 100% Ivana :)

    Have a lovely weekend!
    Pablo
    Hey Fungi

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Pablo. I hope to visit Balearic Island and Costa Brave some day and get to compare these places myself. I do agree that a good reference is important when it comes to realistic paintings. With a good reference, painting can be easier.

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  9. Beautiful place and your picture is absolutely gorgeous!

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  10. Hello Ivana
    50 hours it took you to paint that picture? Wow is very beautiful, the water painting is perfect, so I understand why it took you so long to paint! As for your dress it is very beautiful and you are very chic I also liked your boots, perfect match!
    xoxo

    marisasclosetblog.com

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  11. Your painting is capturing the mesmerizing colours of the sea so perfectly! Croatia has such amazing nature and I love that the seaside is still so pristine and untouched <3

    LackaDaisy

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  12. What a beautiful painting, Ivana! Thank you for taking me to Sucuraj island on your blog!
    That vintage dress from your mother is so cool and elegant, and you are so beautiful in it<3

    Akiko
    www.akikohiramatsu.com

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  13. Rad je fantastičan. 😍 Sve pohvale! 👏👏

    Sweet-dreams-14.blogspot.com

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  14. Absolutely beautiful painting Ivana! I want to jump right into it. The movement, the colours, the mood... all wonderful. Lulu xXx

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  15. Suas postagens são ótimas, estou seguindo seu blog e curtindo bastante!! Parabéns!

    Meu Blog: Blog da Carolina

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  16. So stunning. Love the water in the paintings!

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  17. Such a great Friday post. Lovely to learn more about your art. Wonderful painting!

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  18. Thank for virtually taking us to your beloved Island Hvar again and for introducing us through your amazing painting to your childhood haunt of Sucuraj. What a beautiful - and sunny - place and once again you captured the movement of the waves lapping against the rocks magnificently! xxx

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  19. This is a lovely painting of Sucuraj. It looks and sounds like such a charming place that is only made more special by your wonderful childhood memories of it. I love how you always share a story and history of the place you are depicting in your artwork.

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  20. Oh, Ivana. I think this is one of my favorite paintings of yours. It looks so incredibly real that I had to check it was your painting and not the real thing!!
    Bravo!!
    OXOX
    Jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

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  21. Ivana, you are on a roll with your paintings! Your technique on the waves and with the water's colour and depth is just stunning.

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  22. What a beautiful painting. We want to visit Croatie whenever it is possible again.

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  23. The landscape is gorgeous, I love blue water and hills in the background. Your art captures the beauty of the place. It's stunning, well done. xx

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  24. You painted the sea masterfully!!! It's mesmerizing - the way you painted water! and oh those colors, such depth! Love your series, Ivana!

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  25. Love these beautiful blue waters. The painting is really beautiful. Definitely transports you to another place just by looking at it.

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  26. Fascinirana sam tvojim talentom i kako si vjerno dočarala more na ovoj slici da ja na trenutak nisam znala koja je fotografija, a koja slika. Stvarno je očaravajuća.

    New Post - https://www.exclusivebeautydiary.com/2021/04/guerlain-shalimar.html

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  27. Your talent for capturing the movement of teh sea is absolutely fantastic! love your Mum's 80s dress, too! x

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  28. This is DEFINITELY my favourite painting of yours to date and I would be proud to display such a wonderful piece of art on my walls- the water detail is exquisite and the sun-embued colours are just a delight! It really is wonderful!
    So nice to see your art together. I STILL never did my 'favourite pieces of art from the galleries post'-I started it but then never finished it. Must return to it!
    Your mum's black dress is so stylish!

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  29. stunning photos and your painting is beautiful. love your post a lot.
    straight closure wig

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All your comments mean a lot to me, even the criticism. Naravno da mi puno znači što ste uzeli vrijeme da nešto napišete, pa makar to bila i kritika. Per me le vostre parole sono sempre preziose anche quando si tratta di critiche.

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