Author: Ask

I sold my very first painting when I was 19 while still at college and held my very first solo art exhibition in November 1972. In the 8 plus years that I lived and supported myself and my young family entirely from my art, I held a further 7 solo art shows, and have since had a further 8 in the UK.

Traditional Greek Oil Painting by Elaine Ask

Posted on by Ask in Oil paintings by Elaine Ask
Παραδοσιακή μονοκατοικία  Traditional Greek House

70x50cm Oil on Canvas May 24

This is the house where Avyi was brought up by her grandmother. Avyi is one of 5 sisters, the youngest of which had to be brought up by an adoptive mother, as her mother couldn’t afford to feed her. Difficult times. It’s now a storeroom, but Avyi has lovingly painted flowers on every interior wall, and decorated the outside in her own simple style, using leftover paint foubd discarded in the rubbish bins by the side of the road. Real flowering plants adorn the garden, all planted in an assortment of containers in the typically Greek way.

Μ’αρεσε την κληματαριά που αγκαλιάζει το σπιτάκι της γιαγιάς  της Αυγής. Το απογευματινό φως,  επίσης,  μου  τράβηξε το μάτι.  Είναι εδώ που μεγάλωσε  η Αυγή, στο σπίτι της γιαγιάς  της, το οποίο τώρα, χρησιμοποιείται σαν αποθήκη.

Exhibition at artnumber23 in Athens

Posted on by Ask in Oil paintings by Elaine Ask
Elaine Ask’s oil paintings on show in Athens 9-14 March 2024
Elaine Ask’s oil paintings on show in Athens

Its been a long time – many decades in fact, since I had any of my work on show in Athens, but thanks to #ArtNumber23 more Greeks will have this opportunity to see some of my recent oil paintings of traditional Greek subjects. Many thanks to the organisers Constantinos Anjulatos, and Mikey, for all their dedication to this project!

Wildflowers in Greece

Posted on by Ask in Oil paintings by Elaine Ask

Oil painting by Ask

Oil painting “Joy of Greek Wildflowers” by Ask – May 2023

Lilac & yellow wildflowers

After pushing my way through a footpath overgrown with waist high wildflowers and grasses, this awe-inspiring scene took my breath away with its beauty. Early morning, a day or so later, I balanced my easel on the rough steps, hewn out of the warm brown earth, and set about sketching in this scene, till the sun rose too high in the sky around 12 midday.

When I came back to finish the painting, I was met with shock and disbelief, to find that the eager mower I had seen earlier on the footpath, had not only cleared the ‘road’ of flowers, but also totally wiped out the whole display in the field below, leaving it shorn and bare! Only the olive tree was left standing, as a testimony to time immutable.

I carried my easel back to my temporary home, with a heavy heart, as was left with no choice but to use my back up photo, from which to complete this painting.

Proliferation of Lilac and yellow wildflowers in Greece (photo). Γαλακτίτης ο εριώδης (ασπράγκαθο) Galactitus Tomtentosa (Greater Knapweed) and Soncus Arvensis (Perennial Sow Thistle) in yellow.