TRAVEL WITH MY ART #29: BAY TORAC AT SUNSET, ISLAND HVAR, CROATIA

April 25, 2022

It's time to travel with my art again. In this post, I'll share with you a commissioned acrylic painting of bay Torac on island Hvar. As some of you now, Travel With My Art is a regular feature on my blog that focuses on destination paintings and illustrations. I use different mediums, but when I want to create a classical seascape, I typically go for acrylic paints on canvas. I love working with oils too, but acrylics are more practical because they allow you to work even when you are not in your studio. Painting with oil paints requires art studios (or rooms with proper ventilation) or the outdoors, so acrylics are often more convenient. I was in Split when my parents commissioned this painting from me, so working with acrylics allow me to complete it while I was there. Needless to say, I enjoyed this opportunity to paint island Hvar again.

So far, I have shared quite a few landscapes with you through TWMA (Travel With My Art) series. Many of my travel landscapes (and seascapes) were all about island Hvar. Even before I started this feature, I shared quite a few paintings inspired by island Hvar and Torac Bay. Now, when it comes to bay Torac, it's is one of the southern bays belonging to a small village Gdinj. If you want, you can read about the other beautiful Southern Gdinj's bays on island Hvar: 1. JEDRA, SRHOV DOLAC AND VEPRINOVA 2. SKOZANJE BAY 3. SOCA BAY 4. BAY TORAC 5. TVRDNI DOLAC AND RAPAK. There are also wonderful Northern Gdinj's bays but I yet have to blog about them. Most villages on island Hvar have accompanying bays on one or both sides of the island. To protect themselves from the pirates and other dangers, people typically lived higher up and had smaller vacation or fishing houses in bays. Scroll down to read more about the making of this painting.

Vrijeme je za putovanje s mojom umjetnošću. U ovom postu s vama ću podijeliti naručenu akrilnu sliku uvale Torac na otoku Hvaru. Kao što neki od vas znaju, Putovanje s mojom umjetnošću je redovita rubriku na mom blogu koja ja usmjerena na moje slike i ilustracije različih odredišta. Koristim različite umjetničke medije, ali kada želim stvoriti klasični morski krajolik, obično se odlučim za akrilne boje na platnu. Volim raditi i s uljima, ali akrilne boje su praktičnije jer ti omogućuju rad i kad nisi u svom studiju. Slikanje uljanim bojama zahtijeva umjetnički ateljee (ili sobu s odgovarajućom ventilacijom) ili pak rad na otvorenom, pa su akrilne boje često prikladnije. Bio sam u Splitu kada su mi roditelji naručili ovu sliku, pa mi je rad s akrilom omogućio da je dovršim dok sam tamo. Nepotrebno je reći da sam uživala u ovoj prilici da ponovo naslikam otok Hvar.

Do sada sam s vama podijelio dosta pejzaža kroz seriju TWMA (Travel With My Art). Mnogi od mojih putopisnih krajolika (i morskih krajolika) bili su o otoku Hvaru. I prije nego što sam pokrenuo ovu priču, podijelio sam dosta slika inspiriranih otokom Hvarom i uvalom Torac. Sada, kada je riječ o uvali Torac, to je jedna od južnijih uvala malog sela Gdinj. Ako želite, možete pročitati i o ostalim prekrasnim južnogdinjskim uvalama na otoku Hvaru: 1. JEDRA, SRHOV DOLAC I VEPRINOVA 2. UVALA SKOZANJE 3. UVALA SOČA 4. UVALA TORAC 5. TVRDNI DOLAC I RAPAK (poveznice u engleskom dijelu teksta iznad). Ima i prekrasnih sjevernih uvala, ali još nisam stigla napisati objavu o njima. Većina sela ima svoje uvale na jednoj ili obje strane otoka. Kako bi se zaštitili od gusara i drugih opasnosti, ljudi su obično živjeli na povišenim mjestima (udaljenim od mora) i imali manje kuće za odmor ili ribarenje u uvalama. Spustite se prema dolje kako biste pročitali više o izradi ove slike.

ACRYLIC PAINTS ON CANVAS (BRAND ROYAL TALENS- #NOTSPOSORED)

This medium for this painting is acrylic on canvas. I used the same acrylic paints I normally do. The canvas (100 cotton) is from Michelangelo gallery in Mostar. I typically buy my canvases there. I normally frame my canvases in Mostar, but since I was in Split when I painted this one, I found what is possibly the coolest framing shop in the world (I had to include a photograph bellow). Curiously enough, this framing shop isn't even expensive. If you are looking to frame your paintings or photographs in Split, this is the place to do it!

This historical tower in Split city (Croatia) actually has a framing shop within it!

That is where I framed this painting. I have chosen a classical white wood frame.

THE MAKING OF THE PAINTING TORAC AT SUNSET

As far as the making of this painting, it was a pretty standard affair. I'll talk about it in more detail below. I used a photograph as a reference. First I sketched the general outline and then I worked on the details. One of the challenges was in not making the painting too dark. As it depicts sunset, the colours were quite dark but I think I did a good job of balancing light in this painting. The photographic reference was a bit blurry but that was not a problem. I have spent enough time in this bay to know it by heart. In fact, I painted it many times in the past.

Što se tiče izrade ove slike, to je bio prilično standardan posao. U nastavku ću govorit o tome detaljnije. Koristio sam fotografiju kao referencu. Prvo sam skicirala opći crte, a zatim sam radila na detaljima. Jedan od izazova bio je ne učiniti sliku previše tamnom. Kako prikazuje zalazak sunca, boje su bile prilično tamne, ali mislim da sam dobro uravnotežio svjetlo na ovoj slici. Fotografska referenca bila je malo mutna, ali to nije bio problem. Proveo sam dovoljno vremena u ovoj uvali da ga znam napamet. Zapravo, slikala sam ovu uvalu puno puta u prošlosti.

I opted for a slightly different perspective on my painting, making the position of the viewer just a tiny bit more elevated. I wanted to create a feeling on being on the stone pathway right next to the boat and looking at the bay from the above. The positioning of the reference photograph makes the boat look much smaller than it is. It's at least four meters long so I made some changes so the painted version would look more realistic. Once you get more confident with your painting, these kind of changes are easy to do.

So, what elements do we have on this painting? Firstly, the boat obviously plays an important role. When you're doing a commission (even if it is for a family member), you focus on that the recipient of the painting wants and what matters to him. Here the boat was obviously the focal point but I invested time and effort into other details as well. The boat is located on a stone pathway and bellow the boat there is another stone path. I invested time and effort into getting those stone pathways right and it really shows. In the end, that is what the receipts were most amazed with. They said that stone pathway looks more real then on the reference photograph and in real life.

I made some changes to the house as well. In the reference photograph, it's almost completely shielded by the olive trees. I moved some of the olive tree branches to make the house stand out more. The olive trees took a lot of time and effort to get right and so did the pines. Still, I wanted the greenery in this photograph to pop out. There isn't a lot of it but it was important for me to get it right and I think the trees really add something to the composition and the tone of this painting.

Finally, there are the elements found in most of my seascape: the beach, the sea and the sky. In the reference photograph, the pink in the sky was not as visible, but I know what sunsets on island Hvar look like so it was not hard to recall the correct colours. Semi-island Pelješac and island Korčula are the islands visible in the distance. As for the sea and the beach, they were challenging because they were darker then what I usually painted them but I think I did a good job capturing this pebble beach and the stormy see. What do you guys think?

Obviously, this painting is not for sale. If was a commissioned painting, so it's sold. However, you may prints in my Redbubble shop or other printing shops such as Arthaus.

Naravno, ova slika nije na prodaju. Bila je naručena slika, pa je automatski prodana. No, ako želite možete pronaći printeve u mom Redbubble dućanu ili u drugim print dućanima kao Arthaus.