Wings that can fly!

The last two days we have been paining this wing.  It is part of an angel with six wings. 
Might look simple, but I can assure you, it was not...
Tomorrow is our day off, and I then have only two days left before I return to Denmark.

A little bit sad; I will miss the lessons with Theodore - but I will not miss the heat...

Face of Maria - finally finished

Today we finished the face of Mary.  We have been painting eagerly for 3 Days under close, very close supervision of Theodore.  Although there are several things  that could  be improved, I am very happy about the result.

This is what I have been trying to accomplish for years, now I know how to do it, what  it takes now is some more practice.

The last part of the day Theodore showed us several different ways to paint backgrounds and halos.
Tomorrow - we will take a closer look at hands.

Marias new face II

Oh how much I enjoyed this day. Working with the eyes and mouth of Mary!! I like it so much.  We did not finish it all today, there is still some work to be done tomorrow.
So even if the heat today was extreme, I was content with it all. Went outside and poured half a litre of water down my back - it felt very refreshing.
Now, I will spend the rest of my day in my hotel room, toooo  hot outside.

                                                         ***

I so much enjoy todays lesson in A Course in Miracles:  "Everything that happens to me are lessons God would have me learn".  I only have to remember one thing: there are no exceptions!

"Forgive, and you will see this differently." These are the words the Holy Spirit says to all my trials, my sufferings and my pain.
My answer: I will forgive, and this will disappear.

Marias new face...

ENDELIG da, er vi kommet til det sted i undervisningen, hvor vi skal male Marias ansigt...  Tænkte det ikke skulle være så svært. Og det var det heller ikke.
Men det var en fuldstændig ny teknik stort set.   Nu er vi halvfærdige, og jeg kan næsten ikke vente til at gøre arbejdet færdig i morgen.
Dette bliver muligvis det smukkeste jeg har lavet til d.d.  :))

*****

Finally, we have arrived at painting the face of Mary..  Thought this would not be so difficult, and it was not.
Although the tecnique is totally different from my usual way to paint, I did not find it totally new.
It is difficult to wait until tomorrow - to finish the work on this icon.

This might probably be the best I have ever done.

I will show you when it is finished... Theabove icon is one I painted last year...

Flowers for my teacher

Because you are worth it...

Be mild...

I thought today was going to be - not so difficult. I was wrong!  But I felt so ready, after a good night's sleep and all.  Not so.  It seemed as if I could not even draw one straight line.  And when I did, I wanted to improve it a little bit, and it was all wrong - again.  Theodore helped me out, and I made the same mistake again, it should be just a little bit darker towards the end, and then - ups the dark area got too big.

And when Theodore said he did not understand why I was so good the other day and today could do nothing, I was prepared to wnkjwhiohnfvxszk!!!
Perhaps it is the heat, my age, the noise etc. etc.?  No, the thing is - this is me.  This is my skill, the problem is I want to be perfect, or at least very good.  I push myself,   I am never content, it is as if I am hearing my parents in the background, come on, you can do it,you can do better than this, be good now, work on it...

This will stop now.

I will be mild with myself.  I will not compare myself with a master. I do the best I can, and that will be fine! I will accept myself, just the way I am.

So help me God.

Busy days in Larissa...

This is NOT a vacation I am on.  This is hard work from 9 o'clock in the morning til at least 15.00 in the afternoon, 6 days a week.
After several days painting different garments and also the open book, our teacher thought we might be ready to paint a face.
We will be painting the face of Mary.  But first we will paint her garment, this time in a very dark red colour, lightened with blue.  It is so beautiful!  So the whole day yesterday we spent painting her garment,mainly the part covering her head, nice clean parallel  arches, fading out on one side...
It takes much practice.  I cannot wait until tomorrow where we will continue.

This is not just another ordinary course in iconpainting.

When the course was finished yesterday, Theodore and his  wife had invited us (Violeta and me) for an excursion.  We headed towards the north of Larissa, and our first stop was in a valley, where the river comes from the plains of Larissa and is passing the mountainous area on its way to the ocean.  Here - on the other side of the suspension bridge is the well of Daphne, with wonderfully clear and clean water. Just like in Norway!
We also visited the small old church at this place with a very wonderful old icon of St. Paraskevi, which is said to give miracles to people, especially with eye problems. You can read about the saint here:
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Paraskevi

Leaving this peaceful place we went further north - towards the sea.  I was so much looking forward just to float on my back....

Theodore's parents have a summerhouse just two steps from the beach, so we quickly changed and went for a swim. AHHHH....

They prepared the most delicious grilled dinner for us. (the father at the grill), they are so very friendly.  Interesting it was to listen to Theodore's father tell stories from his own childhood, and his fathers' childhod, stories about fleeing from hostile invaders of their country, bulgarians, turks and germans, and about living as refugees in Jerusalem for years.This is where he learnt to speak english so well, attending an english school for 6 years. Amazing stories.Thank you mr. Papadopoulos!

At 8 in the evening we left for mount Olympos, to visit the  small village Panteleimon. 

I could hear some music as we entered the village - a girl playing the song "I am on the top of the world"  - that is what we were!

 This is the favourite place of Theodore and his wife.  And that I can understand.  It looked like a village from a fairytale.

So, this is where our day ended - in a nice restaurant with a panoramic view of Olympos on one side, and Thessaloniki in the far distance , the lights from the ancient castle and -  the sea.

I am very blessed.