Sketching in Crete: May 2018

Aptera was a city in Greek and Roman times. The people went to the Theatre.

Remains of the Greek and Roman Theatre at Aptera. The Greek period is something like 300 BC. Then the Romans adopted it when they took over 67 – 395AD. The Theatre was a total ruin when we first visited in 2011, with part of it missing and the stones used to make a limekiln. In 2017 the lime kiln was removed and the auditorium circle has been re-created.

From the small slab in the centre, the acoustics are perfect. John gave a rendition of the speech of Richard III “Now is the winter of our discontent….”. I heard it perfectly, at this distance.

The place where we stayed looks out over the bay.

Military vessels pass by into the NATO base opposite, including submarines. Some of them go past, and into Souda.

We drove into Souda, to find out where they went. We found only a peaceful fishing harbour.

The military harbour is hidden.

I took a new sketchbook on this holiday. It had rough pages which meant I needed to work in a loose style. There were some spectacular sunsets

Watercolour in sketchbook from the Vintage Paper Company.

We shared the house with a gecko.

There is a contrast between the peaceful location…..

Sunset over Souda

John studying Spanish

The old plum tree

View to the East

Sunset after rain

…and the fearsome weapons of the NATO warships in the bay.

611: minesweeper

F576: frigate with missile systems and torpedoes

75: destroyer

F454

340: Frigate with anti-submarine weapon and decoys

F221: Frigate with surface to air missiles

P82: Toralla class patrol boat

A833: Armed multi-function support vessel

The ruins at Aptera have stood for two thousand years. Civilisations have come and gone in their time.

Inside the Roman cisterns at Aptera. The city is mentioned in texts of 13th and 14th century BC. These Roman cisterns supplied water to the city. The city was destroyed by earthquake in 365 AD.

These pictures were done on location in various notebooks, using watercolour, pencil and De Atramentis Document ink.

Small illustrations in a 6″x4″Seawhite sketch book

Pictures of boats and other notes in a “Grids and Guides” notebook from Princetown Architectural Press

Watercolours at Aptera and Souda in the Stillman and Bern Delta Series watercolour sketchbook.

Small illustrations in a 6″x4″ Seawhite sketch book

Sunsets and loose watercolour sketches in the Katazome Sketchbook from the Vintage Paper Company

Grids and Guides book from Princetown Architectural press. Good for nerds like me.

Agia Traida, view from the entrance, in Stillman and Bern Delta Series watercolour book, using only ink.

4 thoughts on “Sketching in Crete: May 2018”

Really nice work! I’m returning to Crete soon and will run to the Archeology Museum to continue my work there. Do you ever work there?

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Jane says:

June 3, 2019 at 7:11 pm

Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words.
So far I’ve only ever worked in Western Crete, near Aptera and Kalyves.
The Archeology Museum sounds interesting. I often sketch in museums in the UK, and find museums to be inspiring places. I sketch both the exhibits and the people looking at the exhibits. Both interest me.

I hope your work in the Archeology Museum goes well, and I hope to visit the Museum one day.

I’ve done a number of website articles on my work in Crete:
/2018/10/04/sketches-in-crete-sept-2018/
/2019/05/23/sketching-in-crete-2019/
/2019/05/25/insects-collage

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