Art Scene

June 22, 2019 – Published in Design & Decor Summer 2019 issue

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Wonderful world of art – Maris Zammit

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It’s been 19 years since I embarked on the journey into the wonderful world of Art and specially Watercolours. I always had an interest in art and was usually found doodling at school and at home, my favourite pastime was drawing portraits, which I still love to paint to this very day.

My mood changes from one painting to the next. I never paint the same picture twice, well, very rarely, and I always change the subject matter, from Boats to Landscapes, from Portraits to Seascapes, and so on.

My paintings are very detailed, which is my style, and it takes me quite some time to finish a painting, especially since I still have a full time job, and paint mostly on weekends.

At the beginning, I practised painting from the many books I purchased. I then started taking it more seriously and started attending lessons at Harry Alden, where I learnt to paint in oils. In fact, I had done quite a few oil paintings and thoroughly enjoyed it under Harry’s tuition. A couple of years later, a colleague suggested I also attend lessons at Anton Calleja, which I did, and spent the next seven years learning how to paint the human figure. Here I experimented with several media, from pastels, to acrylics, charcoal and also watercolour.

When Anton decided to call it a day, our group still continued meeting every Wednesday, lately at the Veduta Restaurant, kindly offered to us by Randolph Camilleri, who is, in fact, the ‘president’ of our group and also produces great paintings! In fact we call ourselves the Wednesday Art Group. We also go to Gozo once a year and have some en-plein air painting, with some swimming, a Jazz Night and a BBQ thrown in for good measure!!!

Initially, I had two solo exhibitions, one at Bay Street, and the other at the Barumbara Restaurant at the old Mgarr Hotel in Gozo.

Since then, I’ve taken part in numerous collective exhibitions in Malta and Gozo, mostly with the Wednesday Art Group. I am a member of the Society of Arts and have also exhibited there, and won a prize or two, one for a Watercolour, and another for an Oil Painting, a still life, which hangs proudly at home. I’ve also exhibited at Palazzo Spinola for the Notte Bianca

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My paintings have also been exhibited in the U.K., once at the Maltese High Commission.

So, there you have it! I’m still painting away during my weekends, and from the many positive and encouraging remarks, glad that my paintings evoke happy feelings!

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