There’s only one you, only one me. You can’t really copy me, and I can’t copy you either, but together we can move forward by inspiring and supporting each other. We can’t really be in competition with each other if we are both following our hearts. That goes against most business models of course, but creativity can’t be contained or restricted, otherwise it withers and dies. 



Copied ideas don’t have the original inspiration or fire behind them, and although art forgers can make big bucks, most people make art because it gives them pleasure and a sense of personal achievement. Essentially we are all unique even if we ‘borrow’ every now and then. When you translate someone else’s idea through your own talents and processes, it becomes your own. That’s different to copying. 

For this reason I am happy to share everything I have ever learnt or discovered. All the years that I have spent teaching and encouraging others to discover the joys of drawing have probably helped me as much as my students. Trying to describe the process of drawing in words has clarified and distilled it for me. It has also shown me the simplest ways to teach drawing to anyone who wants to learn. 

Perhaps it’s too easy. There are endless books, YouTube films, DVD’s and online courses about art; some are really helpful, others not at all. The temptation is to read or watch the demonstrations and step-by-steps and not actually DO them. There’s no-one there to guide us by saying ‘just look again at that shape, that curve, that form’. 

We try to be our own tutor and our own student too, and it can be hard inspiring ourselves and keeping ourselves going. It's difficult to even notice your own mistakes and shortcomings, let alone what to DO about them! Bit like life, really......

 I will be forever grateful for my own college tutors and for every artist I have had the pleasure of working with. I think it’s always a good idea to join a group and/or take classes or workshops to keep you inspired and moving forward. There's nothing wrong at all with being 'self taught', but we all learn and grow by looking at other artist's work that we admire, and learning from their experience and knowledge. 

Creativity and inspiration are like lighting candles – once you have lit your own you can spread the light far and wide by lighting others. If you keep it to yourself you’ll have no-one to relight your flame if you lose your way!

Here's to a CREATIVE 2015!

For the last 20 years I have worked as an artist in Malta. I have exhibited my work regularly, and taught drawing and watercolour in Malta for around 20 years. I tutored painting holidays with Malta Art for about 8 years. I have represented Malta in many countries abroad. But I have only really worked within the Maltese art scene.

I have often gravitated towards other ‘foreign’ artists, perhaps because of their differing methods, artistic education and approaches to their work. I have learnt a lot from working alongside them. I’ve been inspired to try new things, and I hope that I inspired them too. Creativity is reciprocal and inclusive – it cannot grow in a vacuum.

It’s only recently that I have realised how very differently the art worlds operate in Malta and abroad.

I have often gravitated towards other ‘foreign’ artists, perhaps because of their differing methods, artistic education and approaches to their work. I have learnt a lot from working alongside them. I’ve been inspired to try new things, and I hope that I inspired them too. Creativity is reciprocal and inclusive – it cannot grow in a vacuum.

It’s only recently that I have realised how very differently the art worlds operate in Malta and abroad.

A common Maltese attitude was epitomised to me once when someone said ‘why do you teach? You are showing people how to take your work away from you!’ That was many years ago and attitudes have changed somewhat with the advent of the internet. Malta is a very small country though, with limited resources and opportunities. The jealous defence of ‘secrets’ continues in some areas.

This does not make much sense in creative spheres. Unless you are a very talented forger, you cannot paint another person’s paintings. And why would you want to? Forging Picassos or Van Goghs may be financially rewarding until you get caught, but copying anything less famous is hardly worthwhile if you want to exhibit and sell it. It also illegal. As a learning exercise this is a time-honoured way of experiencing different techniques and working methods. As long as the results are titled ‘After*******’ it is quite acceptable. But otherwise?

Creativity cannot be tied down or controlled. The best way to keep it alive is to share it. Like lighting candles from one another, the brilliance of inspiration comes from passing on the flames. Each one is slightly different and unique, but each one contributes to the whole. Once we have learnt the basic techniques and know how to control our medium, then our creative adventures can begin. We can borrow and share ideas, giving them our own individual stamp and pass them on. 

"PAINTINGS BY JENI CARUANA" 
I have saved quite a few trees by not sending out invitations or making printed flyers or posters. I am relying on this, my Blog, emails and Facebook posts to advertise my current exhibition. I do hope this works as I really think that these are some of the best paintings I have ever produced. I am exhibiting again at the 'La Vittoria' Band Club in Mellieha. It is a great venue, run by some great people dedicated to the local community. It is easy to find, as it is in front of the main parish church in Mellieha.
No parking problems either.... 
Do drop in and see me - it is open every evening from 5 - 9.30 pm and on Sundays from 10am - 9.30pm and I will be there. 
It is only open until Sunday 18th May.
I have put a lot of work into this collection over the last year, and I really think I have taken my work a big step closer to where I would like it to go. I would love to share it with you. 
    Besides simplifying the exhibition title (I am so fed up with exhibitions with grandiose, meaningless titles) I have also named the paintings simply too.....  perhaps it's my age, or perhaps just the stage I have reached. I don't want to mess around any more. The paintings are the important things - they should speak for themselves. 

In his inaugural speech, Marquis Nicholas de Piro must have telepathically picked up on my thoughts, and said 
"I do not think that artisitic inspiration should be explained too much – all I am interested in is how Jeni’s work might influence me, and its power to assume any impact on my emotional stability. I do not really want to hear her version of what might have moved her. Ringing in my ears are the words of an Oxford Don and poetry critic I once knew. He said “Some of the worst poetry ever written was created with the sincerest intentions”. This is important and reflects all of art from painting to sculpture to architecture to music. Creativity to become great, does need a little bit of sophistication, and even enough hypocrisy to challenge the intellect. Jeni is not dreaming; she knows what she is doing. I think so, anyway.    Yes indeed there is some naive art which I like and esteem, but now, today, this evening we are considering Jeni Caruana and she is anxious to pass on the stimulus she continually receives, the inventive, spur and motivation she chases and admires – and then passes on to us.

   What she sees in a rough staircase attached to a rustic wall leading on to nowhere, and how she handles her paints depicting this scene made me gasp with pleasure. In another picture, her carmine nude contrasting the softness of reality with the mockery of falsehood – oh how it worked for me; but I would not want to hear why she did it."

In collaboration with 'La Vittoria' Band Club.                  Wines provided by Monte Kristo Wine Estates

My exhibition opens on the 7th May and everything is ALMOST ready.... Last minute hiccups apart, it will be All Right On The Night. If you are able to, please come to the official launch on Wednesday evening (see details in my previous Blog below). Or pop in and see me one evening, as I will be there with the paintings almost every evening from 5 - 9.30pm. Contact me HERE if you want to make sure I'll be there.....  

But now, back to Drawing!!

Many people are so hooked on the outcome of their drawings that they seem to stop themselves enjoying the actual practice of it. In normal ‘left-brained’ life this is usual; we don’t want to do things that seem to be wasting our time. But it is rather like expecting to run a marathon after the first week in the gym..... drawing well takes practice and discipline.

Tearing up and throwing away the ‘not good enough’ attempts in sheer frustration is understandable of course, but a shift in attitude is much more beneficial all round. By taking a more philosophical approach and keeping in mind that the journey is more important than the destination, much of the pressure can be released.

Ask yourself why you want to draw – it’s understandable that we want other people to look at our pictures and admire our efforts, but maybe we should ask why that is so important? I wonder if, because children’s drawings are so often treated with amusement and even criticism, we harbour a deep need for our work to be accepted and approved?  Maybe, because our childish efforts at self-expression were so dismissed, we attach huge importance to our adult attempts and can be crushed by criticism all over again. 

By loosening up your approach you will find that what are called ‘happy accidents’ – a surprise result that seems to happen all on its own – will be far more likely and really exciting when they do. We humans seem to learn much more from making mistakes than by repeating our small successes hoping to improve, so make BIG mistakes!! Make glorious, over-the-hill disasters and really learn what your materials and tools can or cannot do..... and what have you lost? A piece of paper! What have you gained? Experience, knowledge, an hour or two of absorbing fun, and a lot of ideas to use next time! 

Your NEXT drawing is ALWAYS going to be better...... and the next one, and the next one......

A question that I am often asked is “how do you get ideas for your paintings? You must have a really good imagination!”. The answer is that yes, I DO have a pretty wild and boundless imagination, but I don’t work ‘from imagination’, I work from observation, from things I see around me.

I find it interesting that when I ‘make up’ figures for my rare forays into illustration, I do what everyone else does and I draw symbolic figures. Mine might be a little more sophisticated than those by people who haven’t spent the last few decades studying the human form, but they still come out ‘cartooney’. These pictures are from a book I illustrated some time ago “Discover Undersea Malta” * It was a great project, and it took a lot of research to get the details correct. My biggest problem was trying to draw people with snorkel masks on though. My poor daughter was roped in to pose for me wearing a mask while she watched TV so that I could sketch her from various angles! Thank you Bianca!

In my drawing courses the first exercise I give people is to draw three things before I tell them anything at all. This is so that they can compare their drawings at the beginning and end of the first class and see how different their lines, approach and feelings are. Their initial drawing of a figure is a symbolic one; all we can do is pull up our stored left-brain image of a person. It is often exactly the same as it was drawn as a teenager. We all remember writing our names over and over again in our teens, practising our signatures until we came up with an ‘image’ that felt right. In the same way, we build up a set of symbolic images to represent things we see around us. Unless we are artistically ‘gifted’, or shown how to see three dimensional space in an abstract sense, these symbols will pop up every time we are asked to draw anything. So people will automatically revert to lollipop trees and suns with stick-rays, and funny little figures....... and they usually say, wistfully, ‘I can’t draw’

 I draw in waiting rooms, airports, buses, trains, lectures...... drawing the world around you connects you to Life in a completely different and dynamic way – and there is no need to ever be bored again!

I am starting classes on Wednesday and Sunday mornings mainly for those that have done my basic drawing course, but anyone is welcome to join in - click here to contact me!!

*“Discover Undersea Malta” published by Publishers Enterprise Group (PEG) Ltd. in 2000