Water Reflections at Mourtzakis

Mourtzakis is a family run hotel that is situated about a mile outside the small Mykonos village of Ornos.  It was the first hotel that we stayed at during our 2015 month long expedition around the Cyclades islands.  I was warned that Mykonos was a touristy island and not what I was used to (I'm more familiar with mainland Greece and less well known areas).  I did not let this put me off.  Instead I booked a hotel in a quieter village away from the capital of the island and better still, it was not in the town of Ornos but instead a good 20 minute walk outside the village.  This meant that we had the place to ourselves.  The hospitality from the landlady of the hotel was wonderful and an excellent start to our holiday.  The hotel pool was also interesting.  It was a salt water pool and was completely deserted for most of our stay.  There is nothing like having a nice pool to yourself.  The first time I had this experience was in Tolo in 1999.  I floated in the middle of it looking up at the stars in the night sky.  Mykonos doesn't have the night sky that Tolo in 1999 had (Achivadolimni in Milos is the place to go for an amazing night sky).  It did not matter, having a pool all to yourself that had an incredible view over Korfos Bay was enough.

This painting focuses on the contrast between the water reflections and the middle figure, therefore a mixture of figurative and water reflection.  I chose this composition because I liked the contrast and the patterns that water reflections make. 


Water Reflections at Mourtzakis

 

Here is the earlier preliminary sketch.

Water Reflections at Mourtzakis (sketch)