Interview by Peni Jo Renner

 I am sharing an interview I had with author Peni Jo Renner. Here is the link to that interview:

https://authorpenijorenner.wordpress.com/2025/03/02/meet-author-patty-apostolides/

Loss of My Sister

There are times in one's life when losses happen, and no one is immune to them. At some point, we will either lose a family member, a friend, a pet, one's health, or even a dream.  At the beginning of April 2025, I lost my dear sister Irene (we called her Rena), who had been battling cancer for over 15 years. 

She was my older sister. The girl I used to run to and from elementary school with, chugging up and down that long hill, intent on being the first to arrive, but she was always the first. And when little black kids were chasing us home and trying to beat us up, we ran even faster. She protected me, fighting back and knowing what to say while I was tongue-tied. She ran faster than I, and by the time we reached middle school, the family had moved to another neighborhood. There, my sister and I joined the Junior Olympics. We sprinted in the dashes and relays. We had put our running to good use.

As the years went by, Rena began to drive, then went to cosmetology school, got her license, and worked at a beauty salon. At an early age, just out of high school, she married John and moved away. The piano they found in the house they bought ended up in my parents' living room, where I taught myself to play piano. It was the best gift she could give me. 

Their family grew, and with three young boys, they decided to move to Greece, to Lipsi island where my parents and her husband came from. There, they made a life of it. She formed a travel agency, and he managed tour boats that went to nearby islands. Her sons grew up to be tall and strong.

The years passed by. We visited them and they visited us. Their sons married and moved away.

In 2009, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and even after treatment, it progressed to stage 4, then it metastasized to the kidney, and she lost one of them. Each year, she would faithfully get her tests done, take her chemotherapy, dance, grow her gardens, laugh, and joyfully greet the tourists on the island. She would help with the olive picking in the fall. She lived her life to the fullest. She was loved by many.

But God had other plans.

Rest in Peace, dearest sister. Know that I love you and miss you dearly.

Watercolor Painting

I have been dabbling in watercolor painting since last year. I have taken three workshops with Ray Snouffer here at Howard's Art in Hagerstown, MD. I also have painted on my own and at a community center nearby.

This particular painting that I recently did was a homework assignment and came from a photograph provided by the instructor. We were not allowed to use pencil to draw it first. We were supposed to focus on adding detail to the foreground and less detail to the background. My biggest issue was the negative spaces between the yellow leaves and not having the ivory black paint seep into the yellow flowers, as I did the dark colors last. The best way to view this is to step back and see the whole picture.

The brushes I used were called "Silver," which is a blend of squirrel and synthetic, and the paper was Master's Touch, which is not cotton, but I had run out of the cotton paper so I used what I had to work with.  The watercolor paints I used were from Schmincke and Renesense. I also added some Grumbacher to it. 

I realized that painting relaxes me, and it feels good to become tuned into nature. My work as an online professor of English classes has me focused on the computer for stretches at a time. So this is a nice respite and eases my eyes from the computer screen. I will try and do this more often, as time permits.

I have ordered the Arches 100% cotton and hope to use it in the near future.

 

Holy Friday Lamentations (Eggomia) - Greek Orthodox Stasis 1, 2, and 3

In our Greek Orthodox faith, during Holy Week, we have an intense experience attending services, chanting hymns, and praying.  On Holy Friday, we light candles, chanting hymns and processing around the church following the flowered epitaphio.

Here, I share the stasis of the Holy Friday Lamentations (Eggomia) that are sung Holy Friday evening. I play the music with my violin. Some of the music arrangements (stasis 1 and 2)  are from the newbyz.weebly.com site, and I thank them for it! The words included in all the videos were translated from Greek to English by Nancy C. Takis. 

HOLY LAMENTATIONS

STASIS 1

 

STASIS 2

                                                                                STASIS 3

Mixed Media Painting of a Garden and a Poem

 My latest creation, a garden made of watercolor and acrylic paints. The photo image is never as crisp as the original image.

Nevertheless, it is finished.

Can You Imagine?

Can you imagine
strolling down this path,
smelling the scent of roses?

Can you imagine
sitting for awhile
hearing the cheerful birds chirping

Can you imagine

feeling this natural beauty
lift your spirits and your soul?

Patty Apostolides, 
April 21, 2024

Watercolor Paintings of Gardens

 I have been tinkering with painting in watercolor since last year. I took a couple of watercolor classes with Ray Stouffer last spring and fall (2023), focusing on water scenes and landscapes, and more recently, with Willard (winter, spring 2024). 

Painting with watercolor, to me, is more difficult than acrylic. I have to be careful about wet vs dry painting. Sometimes the colors mesh together if I don't allow them to dry first before adding the next color. Using a blow dryer on the low setting helps speed up the drying process. 

My son gifted me a calendar of gardens recently, and I attempted to paint a few of these gardens. Here are my latest two watercolor paintings using the Renesans watercolor paints:

Here, I have painted these scenes in various stages and layers.  I used 140 lb cotton paper. I normally sketch the design first with a pencil. The paint always looks darker when you first add it to the paper, and then when it dries, it appears lighter. 

I painted a section, let it dry, then painted another section, etc. They say to paint the light colors first and later the dark, so that is what I did. I added layers upon layers for texture. I used different brushes with different sizes. When something needed more definition, I used a dry brush.

It took me about 2-4 days of painting to get these perfected, and the work is never done. I sometimes stop, even though I feel it can still be worked on, so I don't ruin them. With watercolor, I learned that I cannot really paint over my mistakes, whereas with acrylic, I can. Acrylic paint is more forgiving. That is what makes watercolor so challenging and rewarding.

I started with the Grumbacher Academy paints in 2023, but switched a couple of months ago to the Renesans paint. What I like about the Renesans paint is that it is more vibrant than what I had been using before, and it has honey in it. It's made in Poland.

Violin solo of "Agni Parthene"

 

I have been expanding on my creativity with my music, art, and writing. Here, I have included a video where I play the violin for a sweet Greek Orthodox hymn for Virgin Mary.

Agni Parthene" ("O Pure Virgin") is a Greek poetic hymn written by the Greek Orthodox bishop, St. Nectarios of Aegina, in the late 19th century. Many miracles have been attributed to him, particularly healing. This hymn consists of 24 stanzas with a refrain, "Hail, unwedded bride." For more information, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Virgi... I used to sing the first parts of this hymn to my son as a lullaby when he was a baby. It is a beautiful poem dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the melody is soothing. Years later, we visited St. Nectarios's tomb in Aegina, which is an island near mainland Greece. I felt peaceful there.

Credits: I play the violin in this video. The equipment I used was a microphone, Behringer soundboard (Flow 8), and Audacity. Photo credit: Pictory.AI Note: The copyright owner allows this content to be used on Youtube

Basic Drawing

 I've always wanted to dabble in drawing, but never had the time. Recently, I attended a basic drawing class, and I practiced my drawing. I was unprepared because the pencil I used was a regular No. 2 pencil but the paper was correct. I ended up drawing an image I found in the drawing book. It was an image of a mountain man. After I took it home, I purchased several drawing pencils that helped shape the nuances and shades better. After I was done, I realized that this mountain man could easily be a Greek mountain man. There are similarities in the rugged look, beard, and long hair. Even the knitted hat was similar.