MYKONOS

The meltemi is a dry north wind that blows through the Cyclades from June to September, and it does something unusual: it scours the humidity out of the air. Mykonian light is therefore unusually hard-edged — shadows are crisp, the sky holds its colour to the horizon, and whitewash cuts against it like cut paper. The island already looks like flat colour with a heavy contour line. We only drew what was there.

The whitewash is lime, hand-applied up to three times a year, which is why every corner is soft and every surface is warm ivory rather than blue-white. And the domes are red. Blue belongs to another island.

The windmill is one of the Kato Mili, its twelve masts rigged with canvas like a ship's sail — because the miller reefed them the same way, and the whole roof turned to face the wind.