St. Paul's Island - Malta

This is a watercolor I painted in late 2009 of St. Paul's Island and of course the sail boat, which is the main attraction. The picture I took inspiration from had vivid colors of blue and the composition was perfect. I have tried to find an accurate description of St. Paul's Island, and the best one is in the Good Book itself. Acts 27 & 28 gives the best description of how Paul of Tarsus was in transition to Rome when the ship he was on was struck by a violent storm. Paul did teach the Good News to inhabitants of the Island of Melita (Malta), but this did not transform the island to Christianity. This did not take place until 300 years later during the era of Constantine. Anyway, this gives you a brief background of this island full of history.

I liked this painting once I finished it, but then once I had the painting Matted/Mounted it was something I loved. The dimensions are roughly 9 x 12 inches and 16 x20 with the Matting. The sky was painted wet and drops of water were dropped in to give the effect of clouds. The rocks were painted and then I used a razor to give them texture. In the coming year I will be taking part in an exhibition and I this will be one of the paintings which will be part of my exhibit. I hope that you enjoy this painting as much as I do.

Silhouette Series

Recently I did a series of 3 paintings that were silhouettes of various skylines in Malta. Some may look at these and say "I could do that" or "those look easy", and I must admit at first I thought the same thing. What I soon discovered was that it wasn't as easy as I thought. Okay, they are fairly quick paintings in comparison to something that is detailed, but it still takes patience and planning. I thoroughly enjoyed each of the 3 paintings and I am really pleased with the outcome. The first watercolor is a view of the Church of Xewkija in Gozo. This is an 8x10. The second is a silhouette of the silent city of Mdina as viewed from Mtarfa. This is a fortified city originally built by the Arabs around 800 AD. This is a 5x7. The third watercolor is of the Cittadella in Gozo. This is also a 5x7. All the watercolors were done on Arches 300 g/m or 140 lb paper and painted with Windsor and Newton paints.

For those of you who do not know much about the Maltese islands, they are packed full of history, war, religion and relaxation, not to mention some breath taking scenery. I have included some links, stories and perspective on Malta. In the small island Republic of Malta, the church or chapel is a very common feature of the landscape. Many churches in Malta dominate the skyline and the domes and steeples can usually be seen from across the island. You can usually find the centre of a town or village by driving towards the parish church although many towns and village cores usually feature two or more churches and chapels. The worst thing that can happen if you get lost in Malta is that you drive your car into the sea, then you know you are lost. Seriously though, the roads in the older villages were often made small and narrow for defense purposes. It was easier for the villages to block or divert and making it sometimes difficult to navigate through a small village.

On the islands of Malta and Gozo, there are a total of 359 churches (313 in Malta and 46 in Gozo). This means that there is 1 church per square kilometer. In Malta every locality has its parish church, apart from two or three small localities. This is only considering the Roman Catholic Church, since this is the official religion of the island, but there are many other churches and religions on the island. Malta is mentioned in the book of Acts in the Bible(Acts 27 & 28) when Paul was shipwrecked on his way to Rome.

Everything that I have mentioned above and all the history of the Maltese islands provides a large and endless pallet for subjects to draw, paint and photograph. I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't inspired by what I see daily. A lot of people here though take it for granted what is in front of their eyes and how they can maintain and preserve the architecture until recently. I hope you have enjoyed the paintings above and the brief notes on Malta. Thank you for your visit and I hope you will return to see my work.