A SPLIT CITY GIRL WHO LOVES PAINTING THE SEA

Earlier this July, I've finally had the chance to spend some time in my home town Split, Croatia. As I headed over to the beach, I found myself once again mesmerized by the sea. Like Cousteau, I wanted to explore the beauty of the sea. My eyes just couldn't get enough of it. Even as I was swimming, I found myself trying to take it all in, trying to catch every changing of the light, trying to remember the exact colours of our magical Adriatic and somehow store it all in my memory. My eyes were working hard. Never have I felt more blessed for the gift of sight.

You could say that, a painter in me reawakened. 

The painter of the sea. The admirer of the sea. The lover of the sea.

I picked up my brushes again. I opened my paints again and I set to work. Trying to capture what I saw and felt. Trying my hand at capturing the infinite magic that is the sea. The endless blues and greens and yellows and purples..... The light reflected of the waves in so many ways. The feel of the pebbles on your skin as you're lying down in the shallows and gazing into the horizon.

Perhaps I'll share my new paintings with you eventually (once I get over the fact that it is so hard to protect one's art online), but in the meantime, we'll have a look at some art I've already shared. 

LOZNA BAY, A DETAIL FROM A 2023 COMISSIONED PAINTING 

I've always loved swimming and I've always loved the sea. Like most kids from my region and particularly those from the islands, I learned to swim when I was very young. I remember how once when I was a little girl, only a few years old, I fell into the sea. The lady who was watching over me almost had a nervous break down because she didn't know how to swim and was sure I'd drown by the time someone got to me. I unceremoniously walked out on the beach after diving for a few meters. I rather enjoyed the experience. I was never afraid of the sea. Even before I officially learned how to swim, I never had the fear of swimming. It always seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

If there is something that feels like flying to me, it's swimming and diving. It's the most liberating feeling in the world. Swimming is also wonderful for one's body in so many ways. I mean as a sport it has so many benefits.  I used to do swimming quite regularly. Not only would I swim in the sea during the summer, I'd often swim in the spring and autumn. Winter would sometimes be the only season I didn't venture out to the sea. The mild temperatures of my region made it quite safe to swim in different seasons, and swim for a satisfactory periods of time.  Swimming in cold seas for longer periods of time can be dangerous, but Adriatic is quite warm, so you can enjoy it more, and do more than just a dip even off season.

 When I was in high school, I used to do swimming  every day. My friend's mom signed me and my friend for a swimming and we had a coach and everything, even if we never planned to do any swimming professionally and never did of course. I remember being so tired after those swimming lessons, but tired in a good way.

I cannot say that I'm a capital swimmer I once was. I'm still pretty great at swimming, but I tend to get ill if and when I do swimming, so I don't swim that often. Chron's illness has taken its toll on me along with about sixteen years of immunosuppressing medication. However, the love for the sea in me persisted...and I think it always will. 

So, being back in my hometown was wonderful in many ways. Split is such a magical city. I don't know how to describe it any differently. It's a city that has grown out from an Illyrian settlement and an ancient Roman emperor palace to something rather spectacular. 

Any living city changes and my home city certainly changed. It's a lot more touristy than I remember. It feels more touristy every year. Most of my favourite beaches are locked in with under construction  signs right now. They're doing some big beach project in Žnjan area. I don't understand why they have to do it during the summer, but well what can you do? So, the only Žnjan beach that is easily accessible is the one you can see on these photographs, and it's the beach right under the Radisson Blue hotel. This hotel  also a has a beach bar  where you can rent those sun bathing beds and stuff if that's your thing. 

It wasn't my thing, really. I just focused on swimming and studying the sea. I don't actually sun bathe at all. People never believe when I tell them that, but really if you're doing a lot of swimming, you're getting exposed to the sun a lot and sun bathing is neither necessarily nor should it be recommended. 

I do get tanned every year. It's impossible to avoid, but honestly I don't remember ever laying in in the sun. I usually just look for some shade and relax a bit after swimming. Most of the time, that's that. I do miss my hometown and I'm happy that I can still visit fairly often. 

I spent around ten days in Split at the end of June and start of July. I did get to swim a lot and I've spend my fair amount of time on the beach (or better to say in the sea). I also got to see my friend who lives on Malta, so that was one of the highlights of my stay. 

I swam every single day until I got ill and that's about the time we've had to come back. I was plagued by headaches, but that's just regular life for me at this point. I'm trying to find a solution for that, but sometimes the medicine doesn't have all the answers. All in all, I enjoyed my stay.

THE STORY OF MY OUTFIT IS GOING TO BE A SHORT ONE

Under this dress I had a swimsuit I bough in Lidl a couple of years and that's surprisingly of great quality. This striped dress was a last years second hand find, I wore it most recently in my Buna post. I can't show you the shoes I wore with this outfit, because all the photographs are taken in the sea, but I'm pretty sure I wore either this pair of black Boromira sandals or my tropical print Art sandals. 

“There is neither happiness nor unhappiness in this world; there is only the comparison of one state with another. Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss. It is necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.....the sum of all human wisdom will be contained in these two words: Wait and Hope.”

Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

“There are some situations which men understand by instinct, by which reason is powerless to explain; in such cases the greatest poet is he who gives utterance to the most natural and vehement outburst of sorrow. Those who hear the bitter cry are as much impressed as if they listened to an entire poem, and when th sufferer is sincere they are right in regarding his outburst as sublime.”
 Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

“Joy to hearts which have suffered long is like the dew on the ground after a long drought; both the heart and the ground absorb that beneficent moisture falling on them, and nothing is outwardly apparent.”

“We’ll go where the air is pure, where all sounds are soothing, where, no matter how proud one may be, one feels humble and finds oneself small- in short, we’ll go to the sea. I love the sea as one loves a mistress and I long for her when I haven’t seen her for some time.”

Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

TRAVEL WITH MY ART POSTS!

MORE TRAVEL WITH MY ART POSTS

It's just occurred to me that this post could be another TRAVEL WITH WITH ART POST. Afterall, I was commissioned to paint a real location- a chapel in immediate vicinity of Mostar. 

#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 

#35 TRAVEL WITH MY ART A COMISSIONED CHAPEL PAINTING MOSTAR 2014

MORE LINKS TO EXPLORE ABOUT SPLIT CITY

DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF SPLIT CITY?

SPLIT CITY GUIDE: THE PALACE 

SPLIT CITY GUIDE: CHURCH OF SAINT DOMINIC

I LOVE SPLIT CITY (TWO OUTFITS)

NEAR SPLIT CITY YOU CAN FIND A HISTORICAL FORTRESS KLIS- READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE!

SPLIT CITY, SEPTEMBER 2021

SPLIT CITY SPRING STYLE 2021

SPLIT CITY SUMMER 2021

SPLIT CITY RESTAURANT DALMATINO 2021

1. A SHORT VISIT TO SPLIT CITY, WHAT TO DO AND WHERE TO DINE?

2. HOW TO FIND PHOTO WORTHY LOCATIONS IN SPLIT CITY?

3. VISITING SPLIT CITY IN WINTER TIME

4. A FLORAL DRESS FOR SIGHTSEEING SPLIT CITY

5. RESTAURANT ASIA, SPLIT CITY 

6. WHAT TO DO IN SPLIT CITY IN AUTUMN?

7. FEMININE STYLING & SUNSET IN SPLIT CITY

8. INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SPLIT CITY

9. IS SPRING A GOOD TIME TO VISIT SPLIT CITY?

10. STROLLING SPLIT 3

11. WHERE THE SEA IS CRYSTAL CLEAR...

12. STREET STYLE PHOTOGRAPHY SPLIT

13. SUNSET IN SPLIT CITY

14. WHAT TO WEAR FOR SIGHTSEEING SPLIT CITY?

15. IS DOMINUS CATHEDRAL TOWER WORTH THE CLIMB?

16. SUMMER ISN'T OVER YET IN SPLIT CITY

17. PHOTO DIARY - EN PLAIN AIR SKETCHING

18. WHY VISITING SPLIT IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA?

19. WINTER IN SPLIT CITY, CROATIA

20. MUSTARD DRESS AND UNIVERSITY CAMPUS IN SPLIT

21. TRAVEL WITH MY ART, MATEJUŠKA, SPLIT

22. SPLIT CITY CENTRE AND A MIDI DRESS

23. TRAVEL WITH MY ART, ZENTA MARINE

24. PURPLE AND RED IN SPLIT CITY

25. SPRING IN SPLIT CITY

Thank you for reading and visiting!