What pictures flash through your mind when somebody mentions the sea?

I am spellbound by waves stirred by north-easterly winds pounding the bone-white hard stone massive blocks of the breakwater in Grand Harbour.

And the white horses crashing against the ferry terminus at Ċirkewwa in the midst of winter. But the sea reminds me also of cool summer evenings at Xlendi.

It seems, however, that for watercolourist George Apap, the sea is a cradle where he would, if he could, spend more time than he does on land.

His exhibition entitled Watersedge, at the Auberge D’Italie in Merchants Street, Valletta, points that way.

Hailing from Gozo, it was quite natural for Mr Apap, with his eye for detail, to come up with isolated bays where you would feel at one with nature. Bays where the destructive footprints of humans have not treaded too heavily, so far.

He also visits little coves in Malta where one feels miles away from the maddening crowd. Away from wi-fi and other distractions we believe keep us connected, but to what?

You’d get to see the sea playing wistfully with rugged rock formations as if in a love dance and, yet, there are moments when the waves rise in a frenzy from the same music score to a brutal grand finale.

The battling waves painted by the artist reminded me of an ex-voto I saw recently at the Żabbar Sanctuary Museum dated February 2, 1704 where the magisterial gallery, San Giovanni of the Order of the Knights of St John is tossed about like a piece of cork by beastly waves.

As that great crusader of the sea, Jacques Yves Cousteau, once said: “Once it casts its spell, the sea holds one in its net of wonder forever.”

Parallel with this exhibition, which runs until Friday, is a collection of underwater photographs by Victor Fabri. Opening hours are Monday to Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to noon.