ON THE ISLAND OF HYDRA WITH DMITRY KUZNICHENKO

Hydra is a small island 37 nautical miles far from Athens (port of Piraeus) attracting many years now artists from all around the world. It was our second day on the island when we met the Australian painter of Ukrainian origin Dmitry Kuznichenko and his wife Anna.

We reached Mandraki Bay at about the same time. As strangers. And we left it as good friends talking about art our plans and the current exhibitions on the island. Dmitry was fascinated by the purity of Hydra’s landscape and kept talking about the uniqueness of the Greek light.

On our way back to the town of Hydra Dmitry sat down on a wall at the side of the path and enjoyed the view of a beautiful cliff landscape above a picturesque small rocky bay. He reached for his bag and took out a drawing notebook and a watercolor palette. In no time playful lines and color tonality started to mingle revealing on paper what the eyes of his heart could see. 

We met Dmitry and Anna for our evening stroll by the sea just in time to view the strong colors and shadows of Greek sunset that can inspire any artist. Anna was eager to show me the plate Dmitry drew and left the previous day at the small taverna a few meters further. But unfortunately, we could not enter it that day as an elderly tourist sitting in the taverna had fainted and needed immediate medical attention. So we continued our walk towards Kaminia bay. While taking our last turn to exit the harbor Dmitry took out of his bag a small aluminum package and started to unfold it. Inside were leftovers enough to feed the small herd of cats gathered next to the fishing boats.

I turned to the horizon to catch the last light beams colored red by the sun, scattered between sky and sea flanking Kuznichenko’s silhouette. It was time now for all of us to return to the center of the city of Hydra.