The Cat Protection Society of Victoria says pet adoption inquiries have ‘skyrocketed’ since Melbourne’s stage four lockdown began.
Rachel Bitzilis, Marketing and Communications Manager at the Society, says there’s a reason why more Melburnians than ever before are welcoming cats into their homes.
“Every time there is a lockdown, there is a spike in adoption applications… There is also more interest in adoption than cats and kittens available,” Ms Bitzilis tells The Greek Herald.
“There are quite a lot of benefits from the cat’s perspective as well. They find a forever home.
“They also provide companionship.”
Zaki the Greek offers all that and more for his Greek-Italian owner Eliza Malerba.
Little did Malerba know that Zaki would be her lifeline in lockdown and during very difficult times when she rescued him from the Society, but when her lipstick left a mark on his white fur she knew he was “the one”.
It turned out Zaki would be the one rescuing Malerba, she tells The Greek Herald.
Zaki, deriving from the Greek word for ‘sugar’ (‘zachari’), is 10 years old with heterochromatic eyes and is one of the more than 1500 surrendered and abandoned cats that find themselves in the Cat Protection Society of Victoria’s care each year.
On average, a cat will spend 20 days in care at a cost of around $600.
That’s a cost of over $900,000 per year, the Society says.
La Trobe University research fellow Dr. Vanessa Rohlf says the burgeoning COVID-19 lockdown has helped find these endangered animals find a home.
“The reason we are seeing this increase is that we as human beings are social creatures and we are hard-wired to connect, especially in times of crisis,” she says.
“Prior to the pandemic, research showed that those who owned a cat reported time spent interacting with their cat improved their mood and reduced their levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms.
“Pets can offer a stable and secure connection. [They] can really offer some certainty, purpose, and comfort during these difficult times.”
Members of Sydney’s Greek community have been left angry and confused by new taxi licence plate reforms announced by the NSW Government recently, which are set to create a more competitive taxi sector.
When the taxi industry was first introduced in Australia decades ago, many Greek migrants decided to buy taxi or hire car licences from the government as they believed they were a safe investment.
According to the CEO of the NSW Taxi Council, Martin Rogers, a taxi licence, which allowed a business to provide ‘rank, hail and booked’ services, cost roughly $400,000 to buy in 2012 or $25,000 to lease. A hire car licence, which allowed a business to provide ‘booked’ services only, cost about $100,000 or they could be leased for around $8,000 a year.
But when rideshare services such as Uber came into the market, they chose not to pay the licence fee and in 2015 the NSW Government de-regulated the booked market, which meant there was no longer a requirement to pay for a licence to provide ‘booked’ services.
Mr Rogers tells The Greek Herald this de-regulation of the market saw people who owned a hire car licence lose not only a significant amount of business, but also the value of their licence ‘dropped to zero.’
In response, the NSW Government decided to buy back hire car licences from people who owned them for what they had originally bought it for, plus CPI to today’s value. For people who owned a taxi licence, the government provided $20,000 worth of income support which was taxed and capped at two licences.
But this is where Greeks across NSW continue to fight for their rights as those who own taxis still need a licence for ‘rank and hail’ services, but this licence has also lost around $300,000 in asset value because the ‘booked’ service, which made up part of their taxi licence value, is now free. In return, many tell The Greek Herald they haven’t received sufficient compensation.
An independent review and Upper House Inquiry into the impact of these taxi licence reforms were conducted in 2020, with the NSW Government accepting the independent review and its 24 recommendations by Sue Baker-Finch.
This has since led to Transport for NSW holding a number of webinars with taxi licence owners in September this year where they announced their new reforms. These include, but are not limited to, removing the limit on the number of taxi licences and removing restrictions on areas where taxis can operate.
“The government mentioned that what they want to do is cancel all existing taxi licences. So if you own a taxi licence, once the reforms come through, they’ll be gone. What you would then need to do to even operate a taxi is apply for an annual licence for one year through the Point to Point Transport Commission for about $200 a year,” Mr Rogers says.
The CEO then explained how during the webinar, Transport for NSW gave an “inappropriate example” of how taxi licence owners could potentially be compensated for this cancellation. They said owners could be given $50,000 for each licence, but it will be capped at two licences. Anything over that will not be compensated, amounting in huge losses for many Greeks who, as stated, initially paid around $400,000 for a licence.
‘We feel very betrayed’:
Roula Angelopoulos.
Roula Angelopoulos and her sister Theony are some of these Greeks who stand to lose a lot from these reforms as they not only own quite a few taxi licences, but they also operate taxis as well.
She tells The Greek Herald her losses are in the millions since the introduction of rideshare services into the market.
“I have no issue with any ride-share app. I have an issue with the government that betrayed us, sneakily legalised it and didn’t implement changes for us first,” Ms Angelopoulos says.
“People invested a lot of money to buy a licence. Some of them put their homes as collateral… the government didn’t do the right thing.”
Now, she says, the government wants to cancel the licence plates without a buy-back or compensation for each which is ‘so unfair.’
“That’s why I’ve been speaking up because I can’t expect an older Greek couple who has invested all their life savings for their superannuation to be rorted like this and they can’t speak. They don’t have a voice.”
Elpida Makris is another Greek woman who reached out to The Greek Herald to voice her own disappointment with the reforms announced during the webinar. Elpida owns only one taxi licence, but she says it was still a huge investment for her at the time.
Elpida Makris is also against the reforms.
“A lot of people borrowed money from the bank and pay interest and a lot of people who bought a licence after 2015, they still haven’t paid it off and the government want to destroy the numbers without paying off the people,” Ms Makris says.
“I feel very betrayed by the government. That’s not fair the way they do it.”
Building momentum for proper compensation:
The NSW Shadow Minister for Small Business, Property and Multiculturalism, Steve Kamper MP, has been campaigning for years for people in similar situations to Ms Makris and Ms Angelopoulos to receive adequate compensation.
“Compensate these people properly, enough is enough. It’s unjust what they’ve done. Let’s not get caught up in the argument of which service is better. It’s not about that,” Mr Kamper tells The Greek Herald.
“It’s the fact that there were people that invested in a government supported, government sponsored point to point transport system. No one invests in a system, through licenced investment, thinking the government’s going to renege on them and that it’s going to destroy it overnight. That’s what they did.”
Mr Kamper says to rectify this, the government should utilise the money collected over time from a $1.10 passenger service levy to fund compensation.
“What we’re arguing is to just leave the levy in there. Everyone is used to it now… and through that levy over time, pay off all the taxi plate owners with proper compensation,” he says.
“That’s the key mechanism… that’s the revenue that underpins compensation.”
Steve Kamper MP has been pushing for compensation for taxi licence owners for years.
Mr Rogers from the NSW Taxi Council agrees with Mr Kamper and says whilst his organisation is not against reform, the ‘right level of assistance’ needs to be provided.
“Some of these people who have come into this industry, it is their end of career job. They’ve bought it when they’re 50 years old or 60 years old as an opportunity to use it and then they’d sell it into retirement. There’s a number of them who still have a loan against their licence… and they’re feeling like a bit of a failure and will leave their family with a debt and a burden,” Mr Rogers stresses.
“We need fair and just assistance for licence owners based on the value of their licence in 2015 and we need to have a future model that focuses on vehicle utilisation that delivers appropriate driver earnings rather than, as suggested, unlimited vehicles for both rideshare and taxis.
“Because what I don’t want to see is a lot of empty vehicles adding to emissions, adding to congestion and drivers not earning the appropriate level that they need to.”
But of course, to get this appropriate level of compensation, a call to action by the Greek community in NSW is also needed.
“A chorus sings louder than any one person and it’s important that we all join together and be part of that chorus. I encourage every licence owner to visit their local MP and explain to them their concerns,” Mr Rogers concludes.
Comment from Transport for NSW spokesperson to The Greek Herald:
“Currently taxis are limited in their ability to put on new vehicles to compete with other operators such as rideshare, who face no such constraints,” the Transport for NSW spokesperson said in a statement.
“However, our proposed reforms, which include removing the limit on the number of taxi licences available, will address this imbalance by making taxi licences available on application and therefore creating a more even playing field enabling taxis to better compete with other services.
“Taxi service providers will have more choice and flexibility about how they respond to market changes – either by putting on more taxis, expanding their fleets to include hire vehicles, specialising in rank and hail services only, or providing other niche services.
“We are now consulting with taxi licence owners affected by the proposed reforms about setting up an appropriate industry assistance scheme before any changes are made.
“Our focus, like it’s always been, is to support and guide industry, particularly those most affected, through this transition.”
The Greek Herald will continue to advocate for Greek community members who stand to be impacted by these new taxi licence reforms. If you have a similar issue, you can call us on: 9566 0500or email: info@foreignlanguage.com.au.
Geosynthetic product manufacturer Geofabrics has acquired Plascorp to create one of the biggest manufacturers of industrial products.
The products will be used in road and mining infrastructure projects.
“We believe Geofabrics fits the ethos that we have always used in building up Plascorp to its current stage,” Plascorp co-director George Antonopoulos says.
“I am certain Geofabrics will take Plascorp to the next level of growth.”
“[Co-director Jeff Goldberg] and I will continue to work for Plascorp under Geofabrics ownership for a transitional period to ensure a smooth takeover of the business and to help Geofabrics in its endeavour to grow Plascorp to its full potential.”
Michael Loudovaris will also join Plascorp as executive general manager.
Geofabrics is an international manufacturer with plants in New South Wales and Queensland.
Plascorp has manufacturing plants in Victoria, Western Australia, and Queensland.
Professor Joy Damousi and Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick will present an online lecture entitled Cold War Immigrants: Left, Right and the Orthodox Church, on Thursday 14 October, at 7.00 pm, as part of the Greek History and Culture Seminars, offered by the Greek Community of Melbourne.
While the history of the Cold War and the history of immigration have both attracted scholarly attention, rarely have these two studies been brought together to explore immigrants to Australia from both the extreme left and right.
Drawing on the case studies of Greek (left) and Russian (right) communities this research project will examine unexplored aspects of Cold War and immigration history by bringing insights from both bodies of work. One of these aspects is the role of the Orthodox Church in this context.
Professor Joy Damousi.
By examining how the Church aligned itself politically and its role in promoting post-war political agendas this study will also extend new understandings of the role of religion in new immigrant communities.
Sheila Fitzpatrick is a historian of modern Russia and immigration who is a Professor at Australian Catholic University, Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney and Distinguished Service Professor Emerita of the University of Chicago.
Her recent books include On Stalin’s Team: The Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics (2015), Mischka’s War(2017) and White Russians, Red Peril: A Cold War History of Migration to Australia(2021. The Shortest History of the Soviet Union will be published early in 2022. She is currently writing a book on Soviet and Baltic “displaced persons” after the Second World War.
Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick.
Joy Damousi is Professor of History and Director of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Australian Catholic University and Immediate Past Present of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. She has published in migration and refugee history and aftermaths of war.
Her recent publications include Memory and Migration in the Shadow of War: Australia’s Greek Immigrants After World War Two and the Greek Civil War (Cambridge (2015) and as co-editor, Cambridge World History of Violence (4 volumes, Cambridge 2020). Her next book is The Humanitarians: Child War Refugees and Australian Humanitarianism in a Transnational World, 1919-1975 (forthcoming, Cambridge, 2022).
The event will be simulcasted YouTube Live, Facebook Live, and Twitter Broadcast.
You don’t need an account to watch the live broadcast with any of the above services. However, if you want to participate in the Q&A at the end of the seminar you’ll need an account with the equivalent service in order to post your question in the comments / chat.
People who are “severely” immunocompromised in Australia can expect coronavirus booster shots from next week.
It comes after Australia’s expert panel on vaccines, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), approved the booster doses for about 500,000 people.
“The third dose is intended to maximise the level of immune response to as close as possible to the general population,” ATAGI said in a statement.
The ATAGI warns people who are on immunosuppressive therapies like chemotherapy might not be fully protected by the regular two doses of a vaccine.
“Protection from three primary doses in severely immunocompromised individuals may still be lower than the general population,” they say.
“People should continue risk mitigation strategies such as mask-wearing and social distancing even after receipt of a third dose.”
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly supports the move.
“Unfortunately [for] some people that have immune systems that don’t work as well as the general population, those vaccines may not lead to that protection,” Professor Kelly said on Friday.
“So the evidence is now clear that people in those categories of immune-compromised should receive a third dose. That should happen at a period after the second dose, between two and six months after that time of the second dose.”
Greek lentil soup (or fakes) is a staple in the Greek kitchen and a very filling meal. Anastacia Patsolaridis from Anastacia’s Kitchen shares her authentic recipe with us.
Ingredients:
375g French style lentils
2 carrots
3 celery sticks
2 potatoes
4 onions
2 tomatoes
6 garlic cloves
3 bay leaves
3 vegetable stock cubes
250g tomato sauce
11 cups water
Salt
1 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Oregano leaves
2 tsp Extra virgin olive oil
Method:
1. Dice your onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, tomatoes and garlic cloves.
2. Drizzle olive oil in a large pot and over medium-high heat and sauté the onions until softened.
3. Add your garlic and sauté for a further minute.
4. Add the remaining vegetables, the salt, pepper, paprika and oregano. Sauté for around 5 minutes.
5. Add lentils and tomato sauce. Stir over high heat for around 5 minutes.
6. Add all of the water and the bay leaves. Bring the pot to a boil and add the three stock cubes.
7. Once it starts to boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for approximately 45 minutes until the soup thickens. Serve with your favourite sides such as feta and bread and even a dash of vinegar goes well!
Alex Deligiannis and Darwin plumber Michael ‘Pelican’ Makrylos have given evidence to a Supreme Court trial into an alleged shooting spree.
Mr. Makrylos told the jury he lent his ute to accused gunman Benjamin Hoffman hours before the alleged spree on June 4, 2019, without knowing it was equipped with a Bowie knife and 50 shotgun cartridges.
Mr. Makrylos denied supplying Mr. Hoffman with weapons.
Mr. Hoffmann has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Mr. Hoffmann has pleaded not guilty to all charges. (Supplied to ABC News: Elizabeth Howell)
Mr. Makrylos told the court he bought the ammunition and knife for an upcoming hunting trip the same day Mr. Hoffman is alleged to have murdered four men.
Mr. Makrylos says the knife was a gift for his then 11-year-old daughter.
“It’s no secret that she loves to go hunting with her dad,” Makrylos’ wife Christina is quoted in ABC News.
Mr. Makrylos told the court he met Hoffman several times on the day of the alleged shooting spree.
Mr. Makrylos says the last time he saw Mr. Hoffman on June 4 was at about 4:00 pm or 5:00 pm when he agreed to lend the accused his car, despite knowing the knife and ammunition were still unsecured on the back seat, according to ABC News.
Mr. Makrylos was also shown photographs of the gun Mr. Hoffmann allegedly used that afternoon in the front seat of a white ute.
Mr. Makrylos identified the car as his property but told the jury the gun was not.
The jury was then shown CCTV from inside the shop, timestamped at 10:10 am on June 4, 2019, which showed Mr. Makrylos entering Coolalinga Guns & Ammo.
Mr. Makrylos identified himself in the footage.
Witness Jim Dick told the jury he sold Mr. Makrylos the knife and cartridges and remembered he asked for heavy-load shotgun cartridges to go pig hunting.
Mr. Dick said the customer asked him, “What would do the most damage?” when selecting which cartridges to buy.
Mr. Dick also said Mr. Makrylos told him the knife was a “present” for a “friend or a mate”.
Michael Sisois, 57, was killed at the Buff Club in Stuart Park (Photo via ABC Darwin)
Alexandros Deligiannis, the man prosecutors allege Hoffman was after, later took the stand.
Deligiannis told the jury he previously had a sexual relationship with the woman Hoffman believed was his girlfriend.
The witness denied “pimping” out Mr. Hoffmann’s lover and Mr. Deligiannis told the jury he had “never” been violent with her nor had he ever supplied her with methamphetamines.
Mr. Deligiannis also denied “pimping out” other women for sex work.
The trial is scheduled to run for another six weeks and will continue on Monday.
The UK government has rejected UNESCO’s calls that it reconsider repatriating the Parthenon Marbles.
UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Commission for the Return of Cultural Property to Countries of Origin (ICPRCP) called for the repatriation and an investigation into the acquisition of the marbles during a meeting in Paris last week.
“We disagree with UNESCO’s decision,” a UK government spokesperson tells Ta Nea.
“Our position is clear – the Parthenon Sculptures were acquired legally in accordance with the law at the time.”
The spokesperson shifted the responsibility to the trustees of the British Museum where the marbles currently reside.
“The British Museum operates independently of the government and free from political interference. All decisions relating to collections are taken by the Museum’s trustees,” the spokesperson added.
A British Museum spokesperson told Ta Nea that “the Parthenon Sculptures are an integral part of (the Museum’s collection) story and a vital element in this interconnected world collection”.
The ICPRCP says Greece has made “legitimate and rightful” requests for their repatriation.
They say “the case has an intergovernmental character and, therefore, the obligation to return the Parthenon Sculptures lies squarely on the UK Government “.
The European Union’s executive called for an investigation into alleged migrant pushbacks in Greece on Thursday.
It follows a report by German media outlets Der Spiegel and ARD which claim Greek and Croatian officials carry out operations that are, at times, violent.
“Some of these reports are shocking,” the EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said.
Johansson says the evidence presented in the report seems very credible, that people on the EU’s borders were being subjected systematically to violence and that EU money was being misused to support forces that commit such “unacceptable” acts.
The German media report said it had evidence including footage of a Greek coast guard forcing migrants back into the Aegean Sea.
The Greek Herald has not independently verified the allegations.
A Greek national flag and a European Union flag flutter inside a newly inaugurated closed-type migrant camp on the island of Samos, Greece, September 18, 2021 (Photo: REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis)
Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis has denied reports of migrant pushbacks and said it operated within international law to protect Greek and EU borders.
“We strongly deny these allegations. Greek borders are EU borders and we operate within international and European law to protect them,” Mitarakis said in a statement.
“We make no apology for our continued focus on breaking up these human trafficking operations, and protecting Europe’s border.”
Under international law, people have a right to claim asylum and it is forbidden to send potential asylum-seekers back to where their lives or well-being might be in danger.
But these principles have often been ignored in Europe in recent years amid periodic surges in the number of migrants fleeing wars or poverty in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
Frontline states in the migrant crisis such as Greece and Italy have often felt overwhelmed and have at times sought to force people arriving irregularly to return to where they came from without assessing each case individually.
Dunja Mijatović, the European Commissioner of Human Rights, issued similar calls in May for Greece to end pushback operations.
Greek diasporic communities around the world have struggled to connect with their “heart’s home” during the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic.
Art has played a crucial role in satisfying this longing and Gill Tomlinson’s prints are no exception.
Tomlinson is an English artist living in Charakopio in the Peloponnese for the past 14 years.
She pumps out prints that capture the vibrancy and blue hues of the agricultural town from her local studio.
She’s amassed a loyal following on her social media who marvel over the art which brings them just that much closer to the sun-stoned beaches, white heat, and blue skies of Greece.
The Greek Herald chats with Tomlinson about her beginnings, inspirations, and the method behind her creations.
Tomlinson’s paintings have garnered her a loyal online following
Can you tell me more about yourself and your background?
I was born in the north of England in 1957. I was brought up mostly in Scotland in the family business, which included tea rooms, a general store, and a filling station. From age 11, I lived in southern England in Sussex. My parents ran a sweet shop and tea rooms there. My first job was as a secretary around the age of 17.
I started working in Greece as a holiday company representative shortly before my 20th birthday in Vouliagmeni. The following year in 1978, I worked in Corfu, then Crete, Tenerife, Ibiza, and Zakynthos. All as a holiday company representative so it was seasonal work and back again to the UK in the winter. I then worked three seasons in Skyros at The Skyros Centre & Atsitsa in wholistic health and fitness places.
There was really no art in my life until I was about 36 when I started to feel the need to be creative and furiously began taking lots of adult education courses, which led to doing a foundation course in art and design in London. Then followed a degree in textile design for printed fabrics at Chelsea College of Art and Design. I graduated from the two-year accelerated degree course with a 2:1 [UK degree classification] around my 40th birthday.
After the degree, I was lucky to get a job as a print designer at a silk mill in Essex. I also did quite a bit of freelance textile design. Some of my freelance designs were sold in the [United] States to Liz Claibourne, Gap, Paul Smith, Kalvin Klein Kids, and Banana Republic.
I then worked for Cath Kidston for over five years as her print designer, in the early years of her business. I was previously her Saturday shop girl for two years in her first shop in Holland Park while I was studying.
Whilst living in the UK my husband, a graphic designer, and I took our annual holidays in Greece for several years. Santorini, Paros, Naxos, Lesbos, Kerkyra, Zakynthos – wherever we could get a reasonably priced deal during the summer.
My husband and I left London around 2004 and took a residential job in Herefordshire, looking after a retreat center. We had enough of London and my hubby was not ready to make the jump from London life to life in rural Greece, so this was a necessary interim measure! The dream of living in Greece full time was always mine. I’m very lucky my husband went along with it!
We ‘found’ Charakopio during a two-week trip around the southern Peloponnese in 2006, looking for somewhere to live. Having first checked out several possible locations via online research, we were nearing the end of our two weeks off work and hadn’t found anywhere we really liked. Then we drove south of Kalamata and a few kilometres before Charakopio we thought ‘this feels quite nice’.
We moved to Charakopio to live on the 2nd of March in 2007 and have been here year-round ever since.
Your love for Greece began as a teenager and your art journey began in your late 30s – when did you decide to combine the two and make Greek-inspired art?
I don’t remember ever deciding. The love of Greece was always there. The ability and desire to make art came later. When I began making art and developing my creative skills, I just found I most enjoyed making art with Greek colours and imagery. Whilst on a foundation course, one of my first projects was all about Greece! I remember being disappointed in my course when I was dissuaded from making my final year project about Greece. The tutor felt I had ‘done that’! Haha… I’m still not done!
Can you give the context of that trip to Greece as a teenager? Why was it so inspiring?
I really don’t know! I was about 16 and stayed in Athens for a week at the Hotel Stanley near Omonia with my parents! We did an excursion to Mycenae, Epidaurus, and Nafplion and did the three-island cruise! And of course, went to the Acropolis, Plaka, etcetera. Before that, we had holidayed in Majorca and the Canary Islands which didn’t make the same impression on me. Maybe it was just my age? Maybe it was the exoticness of Athens? I do remember loving the markets on Athinas street. Later, I had a boyfriend who had the Greek bug, so I made a couple of trips with him, and we backpacked around the islands.
Describe Charakopio for me and why it’s such an inspiration for your art.
Charakopio is a fairly large, working village on the main road between Kalamata and Koroni. It’s about 4.5 kilometres north of Koroni. Almost everyone drives through Charakopio to get to somewhere else; usually to Koroni, sometimes to Finikounda! Most people are farmers or builders or both. There are a lot of tractors on the road.
We have a large builders merchants store plus several metalworkers and a supermarket. We also still have three pandapoleons -there were more a decade ago – as well as two butchers, two bakers, three hairdressers, a barber, a florist, a garden centre, and a handful of other shops including a fresh pasta shop. Plus, my art studio! There’s a zacharoplastion/cafe, another cafe which does food, a couple of old kafenions, a grill taverna, and a taverna which *pre-pandemic* had live music on Fridays. We also have a large primary school. No bank, no post office. There is a scattering of holiday accommodation between the village and the nearest coast 1.5 kilometers away. Most summer visitors are Greeks, but we also have some foreigners who holiday in the area plus quite a few foreigners who own holiday homes in the surrounding area.
For me, it was always about moving to Greece to live. I didn’t really care too much where in Greece. I just wanted to be here.
How would you say the Charakopio locals react to your art?
Tomlinson’s art studio in Charakopio
The older generation is mostly bemused by the strange art shop in the village. Some people are very complimentary about the ‘pool auraia pragmatic’. Most of my customers are foreigners with summer homes here; local foreign residents and Greeks from the diaspora visiting in the summer. The locals very much identify with the paintings which are direct representations of local houses or places. I’ve often been told stories about houses which I’ve painted which I hadn’t heard of before.
How long would you generally spend on a painting? Can you describe the process?
The method behind Tomlinson’s madness
It varies a lot! A quick watercolor sketchbook drawing done on location may take about an hour. A mixed media painting done in the studio would take several days. Some larger mixed-media paintings on canvas can take weeks. It totally depends on the size of the original and the techniques used. I do tend to work fairly small, and I like working in series.
I’ve just finished a series of thirteen new paintings for our 2022 calendar. We publish one annually. This process starts with a desire to make something with lots of texture, so I look through lots of my old photos and print a few off and rifle through my plan chest, pulling out bits of papers, sketches, and half-finished paintings I’ve previously made. All this was used both as a reference and a starting point for the 13 new paintings. In this series, I applied paint or gesso thickly to the blank paper and drew into it to start with. I then over-painted layers of acrylics and also used wax to form a resist. I also used ink and a dip pen and paint markers later in the process. Some of the paintings had quite a lot of collaged elements and some had none. The collage came from my stash of hand-decorated papers.
How does art help the Greek diaspora connect to their “heart’s home”?
My art seems to connect on an emotional level with people who love Greece as I do. I’ve had similar reactions from people from all over Europe, as well as Greek Americans, Greek Canadians, and Greek Australians. A painting of an old Greek village house, for example, might evoke memories for them even if their memories are connected to a different part of Greece than the subject in the painting.
There’s a certain nostalgia in my work that harks back to the old Greece; probably the Greece I first knew in the late 1970s. I’m drawn towards painting crumbly old buildings, traditional pots, churches, village scenes, seascapes, taverna chairs, stepped streets, caiques, electric meters, and geraniums in oil tins. I suppose you could say it’s a romanticised view of the place. It certainly is Greece as seen through the eye of a foreigner. So perhaps that’s also what people connect with, but I think the main thing is they recognise the love and longing for the place. I spent much of my life, while living in England, longing for Greece. Now, here I am!
