Our schedule for this year was shuffled a little from the original plan, so it was on Sunday that we visited local artist Marinka in her studio. As this was our last day, it was a perfect opportunity to finish up paintings and hold our final review.

The door to Marinka’s studio

It was lovely to see Marinka’s watercolours too, her series on “Planet Hvar” is due to be exhibited in Hvar town next week, at the Zvijezda Mora church gallery. We had an interesting demo of how she makes her frames out of cardboard, toilet paper and wood glue. The final product looks so professional and beautiful – and very light! After exploring the garden and painting areas, we settle down to work in the shade.

Artists at work

This is a wonderful creative space, with works of art here and there, everywhere you look – very inspiring!

Time to finish paintings – note the bottle of lavender oil bug repellent!

There are cats here too, snoozing in the sun. One had serious issues with a bit of rope tied to the  railing!

Cat playing with rope

After lunch, we hear a donkey bray – great excitement! Given that the donkey used to be the normal method of transport on the island, it’s remarkable now for its almost complete absence. So Marinka took us up to visit Pano, who apparently loves visitors, especially ones who bring him figs!

Friendly local donkey

Later in the afternoon we set up our swap of mini-paintings. Each artist produced a set of 6, so that we all get one from everyone else, and one for Marinka. We set them out on some stone steps and stand back to admire them all! My set included places we’d been this week.

My set of mini-paintings

And here’s the set I collected, one from each of the other artists – so beautiful! I love to have this souvenir to remember our week of painting places together.

One painting from each artist

And Marinka’s art for the day, she said, was our dinner. The aroma of her stuffed peppers had been wafting across the courtyard for the past half hour and we were all getting distinctly hungry! The non-painters arrived, and we all bustled about setting the table, pouring wine and spritzing ourselves with lavender oil, Marinka’s favourite way to repel mosquitos!

Marinka’s art for the day – stuffed peppers!

Wonderful day, wonderful dinner and new friends made. I look forward to seeing Marinka’s exhibition next week, and I’m asked to take photos as, sadly, the other artists are heading in different directions tomorrow. They’re off to explore other parts of Croatia, starting with the early ferry back to Split. Happy travels, everyone!

Making new friends

Here ends this year’s artist retreat!