Nov
Pebbles from lesvos – greece
Recently me and my partner went on a well deserved holiday taking a break from weaving, to the island of Lesvos, Greece. We went to visit my partners mother there while she was working as a translator for the refugees that end up there.
Usually we just end up going to my home country South Africa for our Holidays, seeing as my family still lives there and its almost always great weather. So it was really exciting to be somewhere new, and on an island as well! We stayed in the city center of Mytilini and rented a car so we could drive around and explore the island more. It was fantastic to see and drive though the mountains again. As the Netherlands is so extremely flat, even a small hill excites me these days.
We visited Mytilini beach, Watermelon beach, Tarti, Molivos castle, Petra, a lovely thermos spa, the salt pans, a bee keep and lots of small villages. But we mainly visited allot of beaches since this is what you do whilst on vacation. What made these beaches so compelling to me was that they were mainly pebbles beaches. I am more used to soft sandy beaches so it was a wonderful new experience. And of course if I see so many colours just at the tips of my toes, how can I resist gathering and collecting them.
Watermelon beach was exquisite. The view was breath taking, the water so clear, and the pebbles magical. There were allot of black and dark pebbles that originated from a volcanic eruption long ago, resulting in the name Watermelon beach with all the little dark pits. We spent hours swimming, playing and arranging these small rocks. At the end of the day I had collected such a stunning colour pallet of ocean pebbles ranging from black, to speckled and lined grey, to white and green. Since being on Holiday never means you stop being inspired. The life of an Artist is that your work follows you where ever you go.
The last beach we visited before returning home gave another magnificent gift. Tarti beach was full of the most glorious yellow pebbles. Even on the slightly overcast day we visited these pebbles were just like little rays of sun touching your feet.
And of course by the time we arrived home I couldn’t contain the inspiration much longer. Hence the Ocean weave collection branched out to some pebble weavings. With allot of gorgeous natural South African yarns I started weaving away. I am always so amazed and thankful for the stimulus and inspiration mother nature brings. There are no boundaries for what new delights she will bring as soon as we take the time to just look down!
