The Potted Olive

This is a door from my imagination, although it’s certainly similar to many doors I’ve painted over the years whilst out and about on location. This door represents all the old doors on crumbly old village buildings – many shut up for eleven months of the year when their owners live in Athens, or further afield. For one month of the year, or less, they are opened and the house comes to life. Usually it’s in August, when their city owners come the houses are aired, cleaned and opened up. People swim, hang out on balconies, chat in the streets and tavernas and enjoy village life for a short time… Sometimes people come to the village ‘for the olives’ – for a short time between October and January. For the rest of the year the doors remain firmly shut, defending the house against the winter rains. The little olive tree, constrained by the size of its pot somehow survives the neglect…

This mixed media painting was created with layers of acrylic paint, wax and ink on watercolour paper. The first layers of paint were applied with a roller to create a beautiful, toothy texture for the wall.  The ground texture was created from a plastic biscuit tray, pressed into the wet paint. These, slightly raised textures resist the paint beautifully in places. The initial image was incised into the wet paint. When dry, alternate layers of paint and wax (from a Church candle) were applied and variously scratched into and sanded back to give a weathered look. Black, waterproof ink was drawn into the image with a stick and a fine pen was used for the delicate olive leaves. The finished painting was treated to a coat or two of transparent spray varnish.