Iconic Present is one of my other activities. When I was just eighteen and visited Greece for the first time, I didn’t know anything about the country, the culture or the religion, except some of the mythology we learn at school. Greece had just opened up for tourism after the dark years. I wanted to go there and so I did. I was a young blond girl and didn’t understand any Greek, but I felt at home. Years later I took lessons to learn to speak and write New Greek.
During the years I visited many iconic places on the mainland and many islands. Going to Greece changed me fundamentally. I lived under a tree on Gavdos for awhile, because by then there was nothing else, except some locals. No tourism and no rooms to rent, nothing there and because of that I loved it. In those days every church, big or small or far away on a mountain top, was open. To my amaze there was always an oillamp burning, when there seemed to be no one around.
Those churches were places of comfort and the only cool spots after a long walk. I’ve spend many hours in there. Extraordinary acoustics, so I’ve enjoyed singing in those far away places, just on my own, no one listening, except some goats and sheeps.
More than 40 years later Greece is my second home and I can’t count the flights I took to get there. All together I’ve spent a few years of my life there and still it is one of my favourite places to do my YOUR INNER POWER retreats.
Fascinating iconic icons & fresco’s
There I found frescos, some were hundreds of years old, faded by the time, and fascinating ikones. I knew I could do it myself and that one day I would learn the technique and do it. I’ve been drawing and painting a lot when I was a child. Some years ago I started lessons in the technique of iconography. Actually this word means icon writing and not icon painting, because pictures where used as writing before we had the alphabeth.
Recently I was in Anilio on Mount Pilion, where we met Dimitrios, who opened the church for us and showed the damage and what was saved after the fire they had in the little church.
I like to make stuff; portraits, collages, furniture, clothes, toys and practical stuff. I see it in my mind and find a way to make it. Icons have a tradition of copying, but I see them different and give my own twist to them.Although I love the art in churches, I’m not a fan of the institute, no matter what religion they practice. I also love to sing (choir) music by composers who where obviously inspired by their spirituality and/or what they believe in.
I found my own style
I’ve been giving icons to loved ones and then people started to ask me to sell them. After breaking my ankle in 2017, I was forced to sit for weeks and not able to do the work I did, so I was painting more icons. It’s a blessing!
