TRAVEL WITH MY ART #19: SUĆURAJ, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

Welcome September! Hello dear readers and fellow bloggers.  How are you doing? I hope you are well and that your September is up to a good start. Today I will share a new painting of mine with you. This post will be the nineteenth post in the category TRAVEL WITH MY ART. What does that mean? It means that once again I used my art to take you somewhere. A few months ago I had this idea of creating an art feature that would be dedicated to travelling i.e. illustrating different places and location. What can you expected to see here? So far, I have mostly painted and illustrated places I have visited myself, but sometimes I also painted places I would love to visit. The star of this feature has definitely been island Hvar. I have painted this magical island many times and truth be told, I'm pretty sure I'll continue doing so, because this island means so much to me. As long as island Hvar continues to inspire me, I will continue painting it. 

BOATS IN SUCURAJ- ACRYLIC ON CANVAS - What kind of painting is this? The medium is acrylic paints on canvas. How long did it take me to paint this scene? I cannot say exactly, but definitely not under 100 hours. As far as composition goes, this painting is busy. At front of the painting there are five boats, three of them traditional fashion boats and two more modern ones. I added a lot of details to these boats. Because these boats are in the foreground, I tried to make them come 'alive' by capturing details such as light reflection from the sea and so on. Behind them there is obviously the sea surface and beyond that many other fishing boats. Moreover, these is a whole other village scene across the sea. There is a church and multiple buildings in the background. There are pine and palm trees as well as some greenary. There are so many details in this painting. It was no easy feat.  I would say that it is an ambitious painting. Not the most ambitious painting I did, but definitely a 'busy' one. I have worked on it for a few weeks and invested a lot of time in it. It is a canvas painting so layering paint was not a problem. I could just add as many layers as I wanted (this is not the case when I paint on paper). One of the reasons why I love working on a canvas. As for the style, I'm not sure myself. The style of painting is a mix between realism and impressionism, I'd say. I did my best to capture the colours correctly. Is this painting for sale? Yes, it is.  I'm not in hurry to sell it, though. You can email me if you're interested in buying it.

REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHY AND INSPIRATION EXPLAINED

I used my own photograph as a reference, one that I shot while sitting in a cafe Sućuraj and drinking coffee (probably back in spring). I visited Sućuraj many times, too many times to count. From when I can remember, this was our typical port of choice. We always took the ferry from Drvenik to Sućuraj when travelling to Hvar (and we visited the island several times a year, pretty much every year of my life). Back in 2020, when I lived on island Hvar, I explored this little village several times and learned more about its history. So, no wonder it keeps inspiring me.  Bellow you can see the exact photograph of mine I used as a reference as well as some other photographs that served as an inspiration. The goal was to depict Sućuraj during a sunny day with bright colours. I think I did pretty good in terms of my colour choices. 

MORE POSTS ABOUT SUĆURAJ- WHAT TO SEE AND DO? (links bellow)

SUCURAJ (AND OTHER DESTINATIONS ON ISLAND HVAR) SPRING 2021 

SUCURAJ WINTER 2020    

SUCURAJ SUMMER 2019

SUCURAJ SPRING 2018

WHAT TO SEE AND DO IN SUNNY SUCURAJ 

 Sucuraj has more than 2700 hours of sunshine per year and that means that statistically, it is 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. 

STROLLING AROUND, HIKING AND ENJOYING LOVELY VIEWS UNDER THE SUN

You can expect to enjoy a fair number of sunny days that will allow you to enjoy in 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. One of the things you can do here, besides catching a ferry, strolling around is to visit historical churches. There is no admission fee for the churches. 

VISITING THE HISTORICAL BUILDINGS AND CHURCHES 

There are few historical attractions in this town and well and they include: 

- a Franciscan monastery from the 9th century,

- a fortress from the 17th century,

- a church of saint Anthony from the 17th century century,

- a church of saint George from the 19th century (that includes remains of a much older church),

- a stone lighting house from the 19th century. 

THE CHURCH OF SAINT GEORGE  (THE ONE DEPICTED ON MY PAINTING)

The Church of Saint George (Crkva sv. Jurja) is a beautiful neoromantic nineteenth century church build next to the remains of an older church. The Church of Saint George was build in 1863. In the garden in front of the church you can see the remains of the older church that was mentioned in the historical documents of 14th century but its true age is not known. You can see and visit these ruins as well. 

WORK IN PROGRESS PHOTOGRAPHY , THE MAKING OF A 'SHIPS IN SUĆURAJ' PAINTING

I know you guys often enjoy seeing WIP (i.e. work in progress) and step by step photography, so I prepared a little collage that shows different stages of this painting.  The process is fairly simple: sketch the outline, apply the first few layers of paints / general lines and then work on the details until you're happy with it. This last part can take a long time.  

MORE TRAVEL WITH MY ART POSTS (LINKS BELLOW)

If you missed any of my previous posts or you would like to have another look at my art, you can find the links to this travelling art feature bellow.

#1 PALERMO ISLAND SICILY (ITALY)

#2 BAY MALA STINIVA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#3 IRKUTSK, SIBERIA (RUSSIA)

#4  MATEJUŠKA, SPLIT CITY (CROATIA)

#5 HVAR CITY, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#6 ZENTA MARINE, SPLIT CITY (CROATIA)

#7 ZAVALA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#8 SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#9 MALA STINIVA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#10 HVAR TOWN, ISLAND HVAR ( CROATIA)

#11 JELSA TOWN, DANCE O THE SAILS (CROATIA)

#12 ZAVALA, ISLAND HVAR, (CROATIA)

#13: SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#14: BAY BRIZENICA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA) 

#15 BAY LOZNA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#16 BAY VEPRINOVA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#17 BOL, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#18 PLANINICA, (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)

MORE PHOTOGRAPHS AND DETAILS OF THE CANVAS (some edited, some not)

Thank you so much for visiting, reading  and commenting. Take care!