Fond Farewell

The time has come to say a sad farewell to Malta.

Special thanks to all my friends that have

made life here so wonderful.

Good times:)

There have been so many inspiring places and people in Malta

I can't begin to name them all.

I'd like to leave you with a short video I made here of

the Blue Grotto.  I incorrectly named it Blue Lagoon

at the time and stand corrected, but you can

see how beautiful it really is here.

Blue Grotto

Now a new adventure begins!

Next week we head to France.  Stay tuned....

 

Standing Against the Wind

Standing Against the Wind  9x12 oil on board

for purchasing info click here

It's been unseasonably windy in Malta.  It wasn't quite

gale force winds today.  How do I know? This time

I managed to actually keep my visor on, but

everything else still needed to be taped or weighted down.

We still had a good time in the garden just outside

of the capital Valetta. You can see part of

the old wall that still surrounds the city.

Sun Bathers

Sun Bathers  6x6 oil on museum board

to purchase for $100 click here

There's a beautiful park near my house that overlooks

the rocky Maltese shore. There is always something interesting

to paint there. I meet there with a friend to paint every week.

It's become a joke with us that whatever I choose to paint

moves almost immediately. I definitely need to

paint faster!

Snoozin'

Snoozin'  6x6 oil on museum board

to purchase for $100 click here

My friend Jeni Caurana and I were painting in the

park and hit the jack pot with this guy dozing in the

sunshine with his hands crossed.

 

He woke up, noticed us, and came over to 

have a look.  I asked him what he thought and he said-

"I'm going to go back over and hold my stomach in!"

LOL

 

 

Strollin'

Strollin' 5x7 oil on museum board

to purchase for $100 click here

Is this gentleman the quintessentially British chap or what?

Even my British friends say so.

I loved his character as I saw him strolling along the

seafront and he politely posed for me to

snap his photo.

Artistically I was worried that he would look

too stiff in the the painting, being so

proper and everything, but

I think I lost enough edges in the process to

keep it from being too ridged.

What do you think?

Secret Garden

Secret Garden  9 x 7  watercolor

You'd never guess from the street that my house has a beautiful, secret garden.  It's my own private paradise with lemon, orange, and olive trees. There are palms, bougainvillea, cactus and a fish pond! Surprise!

I wanted to take things outside today in this beautiful Maltese sunshine.  It was

quite pleasant in a sheltered area away from the wind off the sea.

This watercolor adventure is turning into lots of fun!

to purchase click here

 

 

The Park

The Park  4x6 watercolor

This is the park I walk through with my buddy Robi

everyday.  It's one of the few places with trees

in Malta. It's also a place that's loaded with cats

and Robi finds that very exciting!

When the lights went out in Malta my set up in my

still life stage went dark, my monitor

was off too, so no more photo reference.

It was too late to pack up my stuff and go outside,

so I decided to pull out some photos and

my dusty watercolor set and play around.

I got cozy in the fading light by my studio window.

Then I had to start pulling out the candles.

I felt like a pilgrim.

It was quite pleasant with no distractions but the problem

is that you can't see any thing very well either.

I figured out early on that watercolor is very easy to over work.

Not easy for an oil painter who likes to pile on the paint to

cover whatever is underneath that I don't like. 

I think I peaked in my watercolor stage at about eleven, but

I can see how it would be easy to get hooked again.

This one of the park turned out OK.

In case you don't know who Robi is:

photo of me and Robi

we go to the same hair stylist!

For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom The Bell Tolls

6x9 oil on board

 

My mom gave me an old copy of this Hemingway

classic decades ago. The bell towers of

churches are continually ringing in  Malta.

 

With 359 churches plus 46 on nearby Gozo brings

the total to 405.  It would take over a year to

see them all, even if you visited a

different one every day of the year.

 

For a small island 16 miles long by 9 miles wide-

well, that's alot of bell ringing!

 

to purchase for $100 click here