Karolina’s painting 1
I liked the original paintings in our room in our Mykonos hotel, Villa Pinelopi. At least they looked like originals, but maybe they were facsimiles. In any case, their simplicity and bright colours were appealing, even seemed quite brilliant to me. They also remind me of urban sketches, except they are paintings. They were signed only “Karolina” in the Greek alphabet, and there is a little bit of information about her online when I googled “Karolina Mykonos artist”. Born in 1939 in Boston as Carol Wells, she would be 74 now.
These paintings inspire me to pick up a paint brush and a canvas, start painting, and not make a big deal of it.
Karolina’s painting 2
Karolina’s painting 3
Karolina’s painting 4
My wife and I spent nearly every Easter (Orthodox) on either Mykonos or Santorini. We had become familiar with Karolina wandering around the harbour area or sitting drinking Greek coffee, laughing and talking to anyone within earshot. In 1995, we sat next to her by chance one afternoon and she sold us (maybe even GAVE us) a ticket for a drawing for one of her art works. Three days later, a waiter in the Taverna told us that she was looking for us – we had “won” the weekly painting lottery. We still have that 10×14 oil painting, inscribed on the back, “To Betty and Jim, Happy Easter, love Karolina”.
What a great story and memory! Thanks for sharing that. I like Karolina’s paintings very much, and she sounds like an interesting and generous person too.
I still have a sketch done by Karolina while we visited her in 1971 on Mykonos….what fun!
I visited Mykonos in 2003 with a friend before we started college. We were roaming around the beach when we overheard a lady tell another local she had the Playboys he wanted and to stop by and grab them. Well, of course that sparked our curiosity so we approached Karolina and struck up a conversation. That was a moment I still remember to this day. She told us her story of how she ended up on Mykonos, her family, and life as it was when she arrived. After a lovely lengthy conversation she suggested we meet later so she could take us out for lunch, show us some places tourists don’t usually see, and the inside of her house. We had such an enriching experience due to Karolinas amazing hospitality. She didn’t have to do anything but she went out of her way to make our experience one of a kind. Before we parted ways she sent both of us off with two original paintings she had painted and they are still hanging on my wall to this day. Sometimes you get an experience that lasts a lifetime, this was one of those. Karolina is a wonderful human.
I visited Mykonos in 2003 with a friend before we started college. We were roaming around the beach when we overheard a lady tell another local she had the Playboys he wanted and to stop by and grab them. Well, of course that sparked our curiosity so we approached Karolina and struck up a conversation. That was a moment I still remember to this day. She told us her story of how she ended up on Mykonos, her family, and life as it was when she arrived. After a lovely lengthy conversation she suggested we meet later so she could take us out for lunch, show us some places tourists don’t usually see, and the inside of her house. We had such an enriching experience due to Karolinas amazing hospitality. She didn’t have to do anything but she went out of her way to make our experience one of a kind. Before we parted ways she sent both of us off with two original prints she had painted and they are still hanging on my wall to this day. Sometimes you get an experience that lasts a lifetime, this was one of those. Karolina is a very unique person