SUĆURAJ ON ISLAND HVAR : WELCOME SPRING!

 Hello readers and fellow bloggers!  Welcome Spring. What does Spring means to you?  To me, it means a great many things. This year, it meant a possibility of a longer spring break. As the school I'm currently teaching in is an International one, obviously this means different cultures and nationalities. We try to organize our school breaks in a way to meet everyone's cultural needs. This year we opted for a shorter winter break in favour of a longer spring one. Therefore, I have finally found some time for blogging.  I must say it's nice being able to finally visit your blogs and all. I love my work, I really do, but it can be incredibly draining and tiring. Long story short, I really needed this break.

What else has a longer spring break entailed? Well, the possibility to visit my family and friends in Split and on island Hvar. I welcomed Spring on island Hvar. How do you welcome Spring? I'll tell you how I'm planning to welcome it as well. Besides the actual travelling (for a mixture of reasons, but I guess the social ones come first), I plan to do some virtual travelling as well. Hopefully also some reading and/or painting in the nature and so on. I still have some free time ahead of me and I'm quite excited about it. Now, back to the location featured in this post: Sućuraj, on island Hvar.

These photographs were taken on an early morning. It was a Tuesday morning following the Eastern Monday to be more precise. The weather was wonderfully sunny and the strong wind has calmed. I remember feeling blissfully happy as I strolled around Sućuraj and reminiscented about my art inspired by this place and so on. 

Sućuraj is a place that has been featured on my blog a number of times. I would definitely recommend the island experience (any island) to everyone visiting Croatia. It is up to you to decide whether or not you want to take the car with you. Like everywhere, a car will always give you more possibilities, and it is always good to consider renting a car. The ferry ticket from Drvenik to Sućuraj (Suchuray) is a lot more affordable it being, as I said, a short distance. Typically (and I'm sure this is the case everywhere) the price of the ferry ticket depends on the duration and the length of the ferry ride. You can check out my post about Drvenik here. 

MY PREVIOUS VISITS TO SUĆURAJ

Visiting Sućuraj (pronounced Suchuray), Island Hvar 2018

CATCHING A FERRY IN SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR 2019

VISIT SUCURAJ ON ISLAND HVAR WITH ME 2020

THE STORY OF MY OUTFIT

Sustainable fashion matters to me.

What does that mean?

I wear vintage and second hand items often. 

I try to support the local designers and artisans.

But most importantly, I always shop my closet!

I'm saying no to fast fashion and consumerism!

THE CAMEL COAT- See 30 ways to wear it HERE!

THE BLACK AND BLUE TUNICS- this tunics was a gift, not sure have I photographed.

THE BLACK SKIRT- see here

THE NEW BIKER BOOTS- see here

MY ART #19: SUĆURAJ, ISLAND HVAR- 2021

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. 

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. 

MY ART #8, SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR- 2021

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, maybe more. 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. 

Let's talk a bit about Sucuraj (spelled Sućuraj in Croatian, official Sucuraj site here). Sucuraj is a touristic settlement and a small port. This place is the official centre of the eastern part of Hvar island. It 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. I'm not sure is the tourist office open during the winter, though. 

To see how often I paint Hvar island, you just need to have a glance at my 'Travel with my Art' posts. 

#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)
#19 SUCURAJ, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA) 

#20 BEACH SOLINE,VRBOSKA,  ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)
#21 STARI GRAD, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA) #22 MAKARSKA (CROATIA)
#23 ZAVALA  PANORAMA (CROATIA) #24 ŽNJAN BEACH, SPLIT CITY (CROATIA)
#25 JELSA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA) #26 ZAVALA BAY, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)

#27 MALA STINIVA IN SUMMER, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA)  #28 TRAVEL WITH MY ART, BASINA BAY, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA) #29 TRAVEL WITH MY ART, BAY TORAC, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA) #30 TRAVEL WITH MY ART, VALETTA, ISLAND MALTA (MALTA)   #31 TRAVEL WITH MY ART : CAPE PLANKA (CROATIA) #32 TRAVEL WITH MY ART: ZAVALA (CROATIA)

#33:TRAVEL WITH MY ART  LOZNA, ISLAND HVAR

#34 TRAVEL WITH MY ART BOTA SURF CENTRE, VRBOSKA, ISLAND HVAR, CROATIA

TRAVEL WITH MY ART #35: BEACH KAMENJARA, VRBOSKA, ISLAND HVAR (CROATIA ) (modaodaradosti.blogspot.com)  2023 

For more information, visit my old posts: 
1. CATCHING A FERRY IN SUĆURAJ ISLAND HVAR, CROATIA
2. VISITING SUĆURAJ ON ISLAND HVAR: WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?

WHAT TO SEE AND DO IN SUNNY SUCURAJ (ISLAND HVAR) DURING SPRING

STROLLING AROUND, HIKING AND ENJOYING LOVELY VIEWS UNDER THE SUN

Winter here are pretty mild (but at times windy) and 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. The stores are open during the winter, but there is only one cafe from what I've seen. In winter,  going swimming or trying out water sports isn't an option for most people but you can still enjoy a nice day at the beach. There are quite a few beautiful beaches to choose from. This town is tiny so you can see all of it fairly quickly. If you are planning a short visit, you can basically walk everyone. A short visit is actually a nice idea, especially in winter when swimming isn't an option for most. You can also do a one day visit thing, catch the ferry, and go back to the mainland the same day. The advantage of visiting this place in the winter is avoiding the crowds and the disadvantage is that you will probably not be able to enjoy the crystal clean sea. Unless you are brave and can face a colder sea and it's not a very cold sea either.  At an average of 15- 16 degrees Celsius, Adriatic winter temperature is still warmer than many rivers in summer time.

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 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. They are placed right next to the church in the garden. Below you can see the photographs of the church as well as the photographs of the garden with the ruins. 

Thank you for visiting.