Marilyn Bosworth says goodbye in her way

By Heidi Trautmann

“I am very attached to this place, the air and light which envelopes me when I take my painting things out to capture the atmosphere of the landscape. I use any wooden stick to make marks into the wet colour, for example trees in the far distance and, to give depth, coloured inks – and in the process it becomes less important to make an exact representation of the subject but of the atmosphere. The final touches are done in my studio with fine tools and time to study the result, the unpredictable and fascinating world of water colours.”

This is what Marilyn said on the occasion of our interview in 2006 which is published in my book ‘Art and Creativity in North Cyprus’, volume I,   and there is actually nothing to be added when you want to describe her works on display on her very last exhibition on our island, her home for many years, altogether 28 years. I am sad to see her and her husband Steve leave for good; they will stay in our memory and forever on pages 45-47 of my book. Especially the members of the Thursday Art Group who first got together in Edremit and later in Yeşiltepe at Villa Manzara for altogether 15 years to work with likewise unforgettable models. Her many excellent charcoal sketches displayed in her spacious studio recalled them to me and I could have told many stories in connection with them.  The Bosworth house, one of the few houses left intact in the old Bellapais and Cypriot way, was host to the many friends and artists I found gathering around them on that day to say goodbye and admire her older but also many new paintings, not only water colours but acrylic paintings of Cypriot landscape, of its flora, be it olive or almond trees or pots of local flowers in her garden, portraits of friends and models, in the delicately furnished rooms. For friends and neighbours Marilyn and Steve represent an institution in Bellapais, they belong to its history…

I trust that many paintings will remain in Cyprus with friends and will remind them of the Cyprus atmosphere only an artist can tell and… that the house finds the right kind of people to keep up the tradition and Bellapais way of life, Marilyn and Steve have maintained for so many years.

I want to wish them a safe journey to California ; I hope that we will always have a space in their hearts.