This oil painting was made ten years after Card Players (see pp. 96 -97) and reveals certain new stylistic tendencies on the part of the artist. With his intentions still focused on the play of light and colours, Victor Ioannides used his medium in a completely different way. Using a spatula and a thick paint brush, he applied the colour to the painting’s surface in a downward direction, in dense layers. Dominating the work is the colour white, which ‘converses’ with all the other colours and defines the tremendous brightness of the composition. The painter gives the impression that he created this riot of colours by breaking down the colour white into all the colours that combine to produce it. In this painting, Ioannides transcended the natural colours of this particular view, to serve a colour perception of his own, conveying to the viewer a pleasant, happy mood.

It is clear that the subject matter itself was not of particular importance to the artist: while depicting a typical Cypriot village, with its church and traditional buildings, he focused on the play of light, which, through a technique which was new to him, he tried to capture on the painting surface. Human presence, albeit discreet, lends life and movement to the built landscape.