I don't really like small paintings. Big splashes of colour on huge canvas always tickle my fancy better. So when I went to view Denise Borg Millo's En Plein Air, I was initially not quite very enthusiastic when I realised everything was so small. But! Surprises always seem to come in small packages and this time round I did find a couple of bijoux worth poking my nose into.
As the artist rightly encapsulates this exhibition, she was "in search of space" and after a take at still-life paintings and nudes, the next obvious step was to try out her hand at landscapes for this, her third solo. Of her 23 paintings on display, some stand out significantly, for their rugged handling and not only. Rocks At Fawwara is a case in point. With a wealth of colours that are multi-faceted, much as the garigue can tend to be if you only look hard enough at the right time of year, she juxtaposes pinks, and blues, and purples and browns with very little green in between. But the scene is recognisable for its wilderness. She openly credits her tutor Tony Sciberras with influencing her highly in the use of "bright agitate colours".
Yet, every so often, she takes a totally different angle. View From Dwejra is a completely alternative take and this time, the mood is softer. In fact, compared to the previous painting, this is a soft-spoken yet unspoken rendering of a delicately enhanced paysage.
Throughout her acrylics, just two watercolours and a lone drawing, she has determined a colour scheme mainly conditioned by weather conditions that imbued on her inner tranquility and calm. "The experience of painting in the open was one I wanted to experiment with and it is truly completely different. I was constantly so absorbed by the weather conditions that the mere feat of painting was enormous even though most of the paintings were completed in three hours or so. But only in this way of open air painting could I have managed to capture all the middle tones that I would have lost out on had I just been painting the landscapes from a photograph."
Chapel Of Our Lady Of Carmel, Fawwara, Siggiewi is one of the most poignant watercolours in the collection, painted just before sunset. I wonder what tonalities she would have used had she actually painted the sunset itself. Of all the paintings, the most dynamic by far is her Republic Street, a hub for Notte Bianca, Valletta. Far away from the country cum rural scheme, she goes vividly impressionistic, vibrantly alive, producing a painting that is more than a mere memento of a moment in time, as star-spangled lights go up on the city's main street and frolic on the canvas unrepentantly. "During the Notte Bianca the street was quite bubbly and colourful. I purposely arrived there early before the real hustle and bustle started and painted it there and then." And she captured its essence brilliantly.
• En Plein Air is at the Hotel Phoencia until December 28.
As the artist rightly encapsulates this exhibition, she was "in search of space" and after a take at still-life paintings and nudes, the next obvious step was to try out her hand at landscapes for this, her third solo. Of her 23 paintings on display, some stand out significantly, for their rugged handling and not only. Rocks At Fawwara is a case in point. With a wealth of colours that are multi-faceted, much as the garigue can tend to be if you only look hard enough at the right time of year, she juxtaposes pinks, and blues, and purples and browns with very little green in between. But the scene is recognisable for its wilderness. She openly credits her tutor Tony Sciberras with influencing her highly in the use of "bright agitate colours".
Yet, every so often, she takes a totally different angle. View From Dwejra is a completely alternative take and this time, the mood is softer. In fact, compared to the previous painting, this is a soft-spoken yet unspoken rendering of a delicately enhanced paysage.
Throughout her acrylics, just two watercolours and a lone drawing, she has determined a colour scheme mainly conditioned by weather conditions that imbued on her inner tranquility and calm. "The experience of painting in the open was one I wanted to experiment with and it is truly completely different. I was constantly so absorbed by the weather conditions that the mere feat of painting was enormous even though most of the paintings were completed in three hours or so. But only in this way of open air painting could I have managed to capture all the middle tones that I would have lost out on had I just been painting the landscapes from a photograph."
Chapel Of Our Lady Of Carmel, Fawwara, Siggiewi is one of the most poignant watercolours in the collection, painted just before sunset. I wonder what tonalities she would have used had she actually painted the sunset itself. Of all the paintings, the most dynamic by far is her Republic Street, a hub for Notte Bianca, Valletta. Far away from the country cum rural scheme, she goes vividly impressionistic, vibrantly alive, producing a painting that is more than a mere memento of a moment in time, as star-spangled lights go up on the city's main street and frolic on the canvas unrepentantly. "During the Notte Bianca the street was quite bubbly and colourful. I purposely arrived there early before the real hustle and bustle started and painted it there and then." And she captured its essence brilliantly.
• En Plein Air is at the Hotel Phoencia until December 28.