Live like you would die tomorrow, learn like you would live forever! (Gandhi) All artwork, music and photography is of my creation and all are originals if not otherwise stated.
Khios is not a very popular island but I love it! It is very close to the Turkish coast. It is not too small, as it is the fifth largest in the Aegean Sea with a population of close to 54 thousand souls and 842,29 square kilometres in size. Khios…or Chios…is famous for exporting its mastic gum and because of that they call it the “Mastic Island”.
Khios is not overlooked, however but it is certainly not as popular with tourists as is Santorini or Mykonos. But at least it is not as forgotten as Milos (where the Venus is from).
I usually spend some of my summers in Chios. I have been doing it for several years and now have many friends there. Among the things that I love about Khios is the Mavra Volia Beach in Emporios…
A happy swimmer in the crystal clear cool waters of Mavra Volia
Mavra Volia’s first cove
Beautiful coastline of Emporios
Mavra Volia beach is made of this:
(Volcanic stones of Mavra Volia, polished and beautiful but don’t take them home)
There are monasteries like Neo Moni up in the central mountains and many, many churches…
With my friends in front of the “Blue Door” little church in Emporios
Small church in Emporios
The altar of the little church with the blue door
Chios is also the home of Aya Markella. She was assassinated by her step father and her death became her martyrdom. She lived in the XIVth Century in the town of Volissos and she was cannonised by the Greek Orthodox Church. Her feast day in July 22.
The rocks are always red, legend says stained with Aya Markella’s blood
The rocky coast of Volissos and the blue Aegean Sea
Chapel of Monastery of Aya Markella
Going to Volissos, visiting the Monastery and then walking along the coastline to the cross is one of my pilgrimages…
All in all Chios is not too large, not too small but all of it is very lovely to me, especially the mountains as they coexist with the sea…
Church of Agia Galos in northern Chios
The coastline of the west side of the island
Mansions on the hillsides of Emporios
You can reach Chios by plane from Athens, or by ship and from Turkey as well from a fast catamaran as the journey to Cesme, Turkey is only twenty minutes. Chios has an international airport and seaport. Emporios Bay Hotel is where I recommend. From there you can hire a car and begin to get to know Chios. Remember, it is a small island and you can go everywhere in one day as the roads are excellent but the travel is slow as you are constantly going up and down mountains.
All photographs are property of FBC, C.2019 (Derechos Reservados)
(“Woman in Black & White” Omnia Caelum Studios Miami, in private collection)
ROACH CLIP…
Well, I wanted to try to merge some rhythms with some of my images, photographs and digitally enhanced and manipulated photographs of my drawings and paintings from the days of BODO and Omnia Caelum Studios Miami…
I hope you like it:
(All music, text, songs and images are the property of FBC and cannot be copied or reproduced without the written permission of the owner. C.2019 Derechos Reservados)
A mi me encantan los gatos y esta puerta me llamó la atención…
La Puerta Azul
La Puerta Abnegada
La Puerta Verde
En el pueblo llamado Alacati (Alachati) en Turquia, hay muchas puertas muy interesantes…
La 47
Puerta y Flores
Puerta Misteriosa
Siempre hay que preguntarse, ¿que habrá detrás de esas puertas?
Las casas parecen estar vacías, pero no lo creo…
El pueblo de Alacati está en la provincia de Esmirna y es un pueblecillo con mucho interés turístico. Llegan en manadas de todas partes del mundo para caminar por sus callejuelas adoquinadas y luego comer en los restaurantes, que hay de todos tipos y casi todos son terrazas.
Fue un pueblo griego, pero después de la guerra de independencia turca intercambiaronse los pueblos y los griegos regresaron a Grecia y los turcos que en Grecia vivían, regresaron a vivir en lugares como Alacati. Esas casas de piedras y esas puertas tan interesantes fueron de los inquilinos griegos…
(Todas la fotografias son de la propiedad de Francisco Bravo Cabrera, C.2019 Derechos Reservados)
I wanted to show some of my pen/graphite on paper drawings from different times. I have always loved to draw. To me, the power of the black line on paper is incredible. And when I begin a drawing it is like starting a profound and deep meditative process. I always follow the rules I’ve imposed upon myself which is to obey the definition of Jazz. I start with the line and then the line creates its own path through the composition. I finish by adding rhythm…it is hard to do, I know, after all it is a drawing, not a song…and I add the rhythm sometimes in the characters that populate my work…
“Jazz Trio”
“The Bass Player”
“Gorka”
These are prior to 2018 when my artistic trademark was Bodo…
If you would like to see more of my drawings and paintings as well, please follow me on Instagram @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera and for my 2019 “JaZzArt en Valencia” collection, please visit my online galleries at http://www.ArtPal.com/rfbravo1155
AND…
If you liked what you’ve seen, please hit that like button, follow and share. And I always welcome and encourage comments.
If you are as water you will never find obstacles and you will always find the level ground and a place to squeeze by…
And no one can hold you in their hands because you flow through their fingers…
Once you are a river you can irrigate the land and bring forth fruit and bring forth grass…
(View from Kalekoy near Antalya, Turkey)
I have always loved to be close to the water. I find that living on the coast gives me a sense of freedom and looking at the sea, or the ocean always gives me peace of mind and a sense of tranquility. No matter how much the waters of the sea look the same, they are always changing, always moving, always offering a new and different panorama and it makes me realise that life is not so complex as we perhaps make it. Yes, there is an enormous complexity in life but that is not our concern as we did not create it, we are the created, we are part of life and therefore need not understand it. Eventually, we will know as we are known…
All we need to do is to simply live life. If you live near the sea and you penetrate the waters with your eyes, with your imagination and with your sense of awe, you will begin to let go of the things that make your life complex and stressful and begin to feel more and think less…
(Marina at Alacati, Turkey)
What can be more joyful and satisfying, as well as a very relaxing way to end a workday, than to sit by the water, with a nice glass of Spanish wine, and listen to the silence of the evening, perhaps only interrupted by the soft sounds of the clanging of the lines that hold the sails as the boats are slightly moved about by the currents of the harbour, and wait for the full moon to make her grand entrance into the stage of the sky…
And once you are a river you can flow into the sea…
And you will be the sea…
I took these pictures on my different trips to Turkey. They are all from the Aegean or the Mediterranean Sea…
I hope you have enjoyed them and if you have, please hit that like button, follow and share and comments are always welcome and encouraged.
I am an artist from Valencia, Spain. If you would like to see more of my artwork (drawings and paintings) please follow me on Instagram @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera and for my 2019 JaZzArt en Valencia collection of paintings, please visit my online galleries http://www.ArtPal.com/rfbravo1155
THANKS!
(All photographs are the property of Francisco Bravo Cabrera, C.2019 Derechos Reservados)
(The Atlantic Ocean as seen from the Florida coast. Photo by FBC, all rights reserved)
I walk along the sands of time, near the ocean, far from home. I never knew what things I did, when I was just a learning soul. And I threw away time, I know it, I was just a wayward child. Now I am leaves that flutter in the winds, I'm just a brush that lives in sand, but I am...
I am a purging sinner, lost in pictures that someone placed within a long forgotten box. I am a fragment, I am not whole, I'm but a whisper that hovers far above the skies at night, just a trace of someone's lonely thoughts, I'm a stranger in a foreign land,
And I am near the ocean, yet I am far, so far from the sea...
C.2019 (Derechos Reservados)
Sometimes, when one is close to the ocean…or the sea…one’s mind opens up to thoughts that are hard to think of in other places. I know that there are many wonderful places on earth where one can meditate among extreme beauty, and although I love such places, my favourite places are next to the sea…
If you are pleased, please like, share and follow.
You can follow my artwork on Instagram @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera
