When I first received the invitation last year, to participate in an art colony in Serbia, I had no idea, what to think of it. In fact, if it hadn't come from a friend, the reputable Serbian painter Snezana Petrovic, I would have most likely completely ignored it... which, as I know now, would have been a big mistake.
It took some time and explanations to sort out the details and for me to understand what it was all about. I learned, that Serbia has a long tradition of these so called art colonies and that they could be anything from a few guys meeting on a village square for a day to a highly professionally organized event like "PIGMALION".
This is a project run by Slovenian entrepreneur Gorazd Cuk, who just built a new home for his colony surrounded by the lavender and other fields of his plantation in the beautiful countryside of southern Serbia.
I was there with my beautiful wife Karin and my extraordinarily gifted colleagues @gric and @kathrina-sofie, who "tattoed" the colony logo on Karin's arm with an eyeliner!
The famos Serbian painter Danica MasnikoviΔ was also there. Goran Mitrovic was there for an afternoon and contributed an absolutely fantastic painting, he prepared at his studio.
The above foto shows the group, together with our host Gorazd Cuk and this years selector of artists Maja Zivanovic.
I had started my painting a few weeks ago, since I knew it was going to be too much work to finish while I was there. I posted the work in progress in a few previous posts about "Libra". Gorazd Cuk asked me to paint this, as it is also his zodiac sign, like mine, and he had seen an earlier version of the painting.
For me it was great to set up my workspace outside and to paint with my colleagues and talk about our work and god and the world :-)
Of course it was nice, to have all these pretty girls around ;-)
Made it hard to stay focused on working though... eventually, I decided to finish my painting at home for the exhibition planed in Belgrade. It still needs a lot of work in the shadows and to get the colors richer and more deep.
Gorazd Cuk seemed to like the progress I made and also the drawing I made in his.. ahm... sketch book.
Karin is such fun to be around and she is very creative... Since she modeled for the painting in the first place, she said, we could just as well show it "complete" ;-)
There were also other activities, like going to the city of Nis nearby, where I learned a lot about Serbian History and tradition. After some sightseeing, we spent a great evening there with yet another delicious meal.
One evening friends of the host and other artists came over for a great dinner and party. Ahm... sorry folks.. don't think adding those pictures will help my career ;-)
Of course, I could not pass the opportunity, to check out some heavy machinery, we found nearby...
Oh, and... did Imention the food? Mr. Cuk employed two exceptionally gifted ladies, who really spoiled us with all kinds of local specialties. On top of that, the one lady's daughter, who is a professional chef, stopped by almost every day with more goodies. It was great to have a box with extra cookies for trip back...
It was very hard to leave this little paradise with all these wonderful and warm hearted people. We will be back for sure!
That made me wishing to have joined the party. What a wonderful gathering and location and host you had. I like the atmosphere between your wife and you, too. Good that you let us have a little peep. Also beautiful legs, she has.
Painting outside is for sure less convenient and more exhausting but so worth the experience, no?
I got also the feeling of former painters who left the cities and painted in nature.
Thank you for sharing this!
Lots of love,
Erika
P.S. to have a paradise one has to leave it. ;-)
Hehe... everyone always thinks of the party! Tsts...
But yes, everything else was perfect, including the fact, that I could bring my wife. She is wonderful :-)
I enjoyed painting outside. Thing is, I could do it at home too, but I guess I'm too lazy to set up.. and in Germany, you never know when the rain hits....
Much love back for you π
Can you please visit my blog? I feel bored and lazy. I need this sort of brilliant comment of yours. HaHa! Hope to catch you by your vanity.
Weather is not inviting at all to go outside. ... I guess I have to much time on my hands this weekend. But also cannot drag myself to go out. I could clean the apartment, though. LOL!
Looking right now at your painting from where I crouch on my bed.
Out and about... need to beg for your patience, but will be back tomorrow morning π
This looks like so much fun! I wish I could afford to fly the lot of you over here and we could have a pigmalion at my pad, though it would probably not be as luxurious as this, but there'd be some shoreline to sketch.
I LOVE that pic of your darling wif posing with her painted likeness. That image should be a painting as well! It fits so perfectly and the colours too.
Did you get to drive that machinery or just pose with it?
Now I want a holiday in Serbia.
Oh, that would be such a thrill, for all of us to come over. We should start a campaign on Patreon or something like that... and nothing to worry. Your place by the sea looks wonderful, plus its not about luxuries, but about the gathering and sharing views and ideas!
I only sat on that machine for the photo, although I would have loved to move around with it π
Come Donna come :)))
Beautiful photos which are very good representative for great time the whole group had there. I understand the sentence - falling in love in Serbia. My love too. :) I like the creativity of your wife. The combination of her and your painting is great.
Glad you understand what I mean... will last for sure π
Wow, so wonderful experience!!! I know there are similar events here in Italy, I think they are really interesting to do it!! PS: your artwork is fantastic!
You have it too? I have to admit, I had never heard of it before. Would be interesting to go to one in Italy!
Oh wow that painting is life sized! XD Good thing that invitation came from a reputable source and you ended up going and having a great time! If it's any consolation I think most people would have done exactly the same thing, those scammers and spammers ruin everything for everyone XD
Glad you had a good time :D
what a lovely team ,and i enjoyed watching pictures ,
Thank you! Yes, great team for sure:-)
Thank you for sharing what looks like a wonderful experience! Lovely!
So impressive! How i wish i can mengle and meet talented people likes this. Thanks for inspirations sir!
You have a cool team!
Yes, it was a very special group :-)
I need more laid back artists in my life. The artistic events I go to always seem to stressed. How long until we can all by cyborgs and just hang out in virtual space in an alien landscape we can create together?
It looks like a good time was had by all. I love the photo of your wife with the painting, seen from the back.
It really warms my heart to hear that you liked so much staying in my country, now you are infected with Serbian food and maybe rakija? @reinhard-schmid :)
To be honest, I donβt think we had any rakija... excellent local wine though. And yes, quite possibly caught the Serbia virus π
yes, you must have had Rakija - how can you be in Serbia without having any of it? Serbians pride themselves on their own home made stuff, and you cannot refuse when offered! Goradz had his own brand last year that we even started drinking at breakfast! There is always a bottle of rakija on every table, but I guess after drinking it, you probably forget you did (or what you did that night, haha). I still have the bottle (now empty) of the PIGMALION brand that Goradz gave me to take home with me.
Hahaha, @thermoplastic explained everything, better than I would :) Rakija is unbreakable part of Serbian life, and also it's part of our cultural heritage. Machine that makes it we call ''madness machine''
This video is called, ''Making Rakija for beginners''
enjoy guys :)
great - the moonshiners in the USA would be jealous: there it is illegal (also in Canada) to home brew. Not so in Mexico (I think) at least there they home brew pulque and also mezcal - but at least in Serbia, there are no worms in the bottle, haha.
Our Government had some crazy idea to ban it too, they needed to accomplish some level with some EU regulations if we would like to enter EU in some distance future..And than they got ''revolution''..very soon they stopped mentioning those regulations :)
We don't have worms but we love to put some fruits in it and sometimes wood to give it special taste and smell.
great stuff - I just caught that in time because I looked at Kathrina's page. Sometimes people fall off the radar when I don't hear from them, lol
Glad you had a good time, I can say same about my time there last year.
resteemed and upvoted
I'm very glad you've spent a good time in Serbia. Hope that we will meet next time! Greetings from Belgrade.
This is an exceptional experience ideed! Serbia is a great host of art colonies. There is one very near to where I live, here is a link in case you decide to expand :-)
Gamzigrad colony
Live is an adventure, isn't it!