Jamtastic art in Cap d’Antibes

Meet Radmilla, an artist in Cap d’Antibes.

Beautiful Cap d’Antibes is the place Radmila chose to live just over three years ago. Although born in Novi Sad, Serbia (ex-Yugoslavia) she has lived all over the world before finally deciding to settle on the Cap in 2014.

Radmila’s life long passion is painting which she has pursued since a very young age. Being a communist child she grew up in a culture which did not encourage artistic expression. Despite having to follow a different path growing up, art has always been her passion and she has continued to pursue her artistic dreams whenever possible. In fact her artistic expression has manifested itself in something quite different since moving to the Cap. I met Radmila Ivos Beuyukian through Andrea Riffeser, a Cap d’Antibes resident who is also featured in this blog. She very kindly agreed to be interviewed and we met at her house recently to discuss how she came to be on the Cap among other things.

What brought you to Cap d’Antibes?

Basically I am here because we (my husband and I) fell in love with the area.

As a family we spent the last 15 years every summer in this area. We used to rent an apartment either in Juan Les Pins or on the Cap and realised that we really loved it here.

The children kind of grew up here really and they have a lot of friends here. We used to live in Paris but when the children grew up and finished their studies they left France so we said where can we go now? Where is a nice place where the children will want to come and visit for vacations. It was the syndrome of empty nest so we said we have to have a place which is beautiful, where there is a beach and where the children have friends and know the area so that they come and visit us often. The obvious choice for us was Cap d’Antibes.

We decided to base ourselves here three years ago and it’s really working well for us. Normally many of our and our children’s friends from all over the world come and meet here in July and August so as a family being here is perfect for us.

Describe your typical day here.

In the summer I get up at around 6.30 then at 8-8.30 I usually go for a walk to the Jardin du Thuret or maybe down to Plage Salis where I go for a swim, maybe sunbath for an hour and then I come back home. That’s the beginning of my day. Then, in the afternoon, when you live in a place like this, there are so many different things to do. I might paint or if it’s fruit season I make Jam. At the moment I love to do that, it’s my new found passion. I also go and see friends or I go out. There are so many beautiful places around here, which are within half an hour of the Cap, so there is always something to do in the area. There is always somewhere or something new to discover which I love.

Where is your favourite place to be on the Cap?

I think it has to be the Phare especially with the new Bistro up there which is really lovely. You can go up there and just dream and contemplate life while taking in the amazing views. I really love it up there.

Do you ever go there to paint?

Actually I want to but I haven’t done so yet. It is something  I plan to do though.

Tell me about the painting. When did you start to paint?

Oh that started a long time ago when I was very young. Art was always one of my passions. I was a communist child and in my country painting was not considered to be a profession. My parents didn’t encourage me to study arts so instead I studied Economics, however I always continued to paint and continued to take art courses whenever I had some spare time. I still do.

After finishing my studies I went to work in Television in cultural and movie programs. I eventually left that job because I got married. My husband and I lived all over the world, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Italy, Paris and finally here in Cap d’Antibes.

Do you wish you could have pursued the painting when you were younger?

Yes of course, that is the one of the biggest regrets of my life. But I still keep it up even here in Antibes. There is a group of painters and we meet once a week in Arts Thés Miss, a Cafe in the old town. We meet for a session of life painting and sketching. This has been a very nice exercise for me. Anyone can come along, you can book your place or just turn up and if there is space you can join.. We organise the model and then the group splits the costs. . it’s a great place to go.

I started to paint commercially when the children were older. While they were growing up I used to do illustrations for catalogues and print publications. I was always doing something with my art if not commercially then I was taking classes whenever I could. In Paris I took 2 years worth of courses. I am always learning or doing something creative whether it is painting, illustrating, making frames or even making jams, my new obsession.

Tell me a bit about the Jam making as you seem to have jars of Jam everywhere.

Making Jam is a new thing which I only started when I arrived here. n the garden we have fruit trees and they produce a huge amount of fruit.

We have 2 orange trees, 3 fig trees and 2 plum trees, one has yellow plums and the other red plums. Honestly when I saw how much fruit these trees produced I realised that I would have to find something to do with all of it. I started looking into old cookbooks which I was given 35 years ago when I got married. In them I found these beautiful recipes for jams so I just started making jams.

Now I am drowning in Jams, I have so many jars that I don’t know what to do with them. I give them to friends but I still have so many left. I need to find someone who can sell them for me or maybe I should sell them myself, it’s something I have been considering just so that I can make space for my new Jams. In any case My Jam now have it’s own Instagram page so people can follow me on there if they want to see what I am up to with this season’s fruit.

Which of your Jams is the best would you say?

They are all good but I must say they are never the same so I couldn’t choose a ‘best’ one. To be honest I find it very hard to follow a recipe. I am always adapting it so every season the jam is a little different However I am told that my jams are very good so I must be doing something right .At the moment I have alot of Fig Jam. The trees here produce such a huge amount of fruit over the summer it’s unbelievable. I have three trays of figs just from today and in two days I will have another three trays. It continues like that until September. Can you imagine how many figs that is.

I also sometimes make savoury Jams from things I have grown, for example I have a garlic Jam which is interesting.

Having my own fresh home grown fruit and vegetables is very new to me. Since having a garden I have started to grow my own vegetables, something I had never tried before. I never had “green fingers” and usually everything I tried to grow would die but then I discovered all this beautiful nature here on the Cap. I discovered that whatever I planted seemed to flourish. Suddenly things I planted were growing. I couldn’t believe it. We had cucumbers, tomatoes, salads, everything. Things just thrive here it’s amazing.

Is there anything you don’t like about the Cap?

I don’t like the weekend people who come here and don’t respect the Cap. They come and drive super fast through the streets and throw their cigarettes and rubbish into the street. You notice the difference in the summer. Of course, thank god, this lasts only for a few weeks. The rest of the year we are really so privileged to live here. I cannot imagine any place where I would rather be. The Cap is my new home.

Tell me something people might not know about the Cap.

Something I think more local residents need to know about, especially the younger ones, is the existence of A.D.P.C.A Association De Defense Du Ponteil et Du Cap d’Antibes. I discovered this association through friends who were already members and I became an active member It is basically made up of local residents and homeowners who are interested and involved in protecting and preserving Cap d’Antibes. The more members we have the more we can be heard in the Mairie d’Antibes and influence what is going on in our neighbourhood. We especially want to have more younger members as people under 50 aren’t very well represented at the moment. We hope to change that.

What does the Association do?

The aim of the association is to protect the Cap and also the environment here. This is very important to me and the association as the Cap is still relatively undamaged and clean. We want to keep it like this. There are also many other issues which we discuss and present to the Mairie like traffic calming measures, security, pedestrian access, constructions and any other concerns people may have.

We have just merged with the Association Du Ponteil so we now cover both of these areas. Once a year we have our general assembly/meeting, usually in July, where Mr Leonetti comes along too. At this

meeting we discuss all the issues we have at that time and things we would like to focus on . It’s a very important association for the area.

I joined the association because I like to be involved in the community where I live. I think it is my duty as a citizen. It is also my duty to give something back to the community in which i live. Yearly membership is just 20 euros. For that you can have a voice in the place where you live which for me is very important.

You have lived in so many different countries throughout your life but where would you call home?

I have lived for more than 25 years in France so I think of myself as French and France as my home.

Unfortunately you don’t choose where you are born but you can sometimes choose where you call home. I have been lucky enough to be able to choose France as my home. Not everyone has the privilege of making this choice like I did.

I have always believed that all babies in the world should be born free and without an allegiance to a particular country. It’s not fair that the place where you are born can affect your entire life and also the opportunities available to you. If we gave children a choice world would be a much nicer and fairer place.

What inspires you?

That is the most frequently asked question of any creative. I find my inspiration in many different things, sometimes it can be a shadow… or a sound… or just a feeling. But mainly it is in travel to other countries, in nature and in work of artists I admire. At the moment I am obsessed with colors and with plants. Lets see what the new paintings and new jams will be.

I love JAMTASTIC, the title you gave to this interview, it inspires me already!

Radmillas’ Paintings on FB click here

To follow Cap d’Antibes Jams on Instagram click here

Arts Thés Miss for Life Drawing schedule.

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