What a week: Olaug Vethal

It is a painter’s responsibility to bring out the beauty in ordinary surroundings, artist Olaug Vethal tells Ramona Depares

Sunday: A relatively quiet day, spent with my husband at home and in the studio. My son is currently studying at University in Germany: he’s following a course in anthropology and related studies. So Sunday I make it a point to call him, email him and generally catch up with what is happening in his life.

Late afternoon made a couple of contacts for the upcoming exhibition, but generally took it easy.

Monday: Woke up at the crack of dawn, 5.30AM as usual. Or rather, even before dawn as when I went out for my daily run on the Sliema the stars were still shining in the sky! It’s such a beautiful sight, it’s so quiet at that hour that it really is the best time to go running. It does take a bit of effort, of course, but really it’s the only thing to do if I want to keep in decent shape!

Back home I spend an hour meditating and this sets me off thinking about how I first came to Malta. It was in 1989 that I decided to make Malta my permanent home, on my second visit to the island. I just came over with my car, got a flat in Sliema and have been living in the same area since then. I love Sliema and could not imagine being anywhere else!

Painting, painting and more painting in the afternoon. After all, the exhibition in October will soon come up and I have such a lot to get ready before then!

Tuesday: Had a particularly good meditation and yoga session. Sometimes it’s difficult to empty your mind of all things completely! I think I’ve rather got the hang of it now, the breathing exercises are particularly nice. I ended up feeling tingly all over, much like a Christmas Tree!

I enjoy the summer because it means I can take a break from my lectures – which, of course, also means that I can paint a lot more. Teaching at Junior College is a big commitment: naturally, m subject is art both in its practical and historical form and there is usually quite a good deal of research to be done!

Spent the whole morning in my studio, refining some of the existing works. A rather tiring morning, actually, which means I was happy to have a long break towards mid-day.

To the beach this afternoon. I make it a point to swim everyday, at least for 30 minutes or even an hour. This is one of the times when living in Sliema is considered convenient. I only have a very short walk to the beach! Of course I never go to other beaches, I certainly would not want to go through the hassle of driving and parking when the water over here is so nice. At one point I used to swim right across from Exiles to the other side – I only stopped when a friend mentioned that there could be sharks and large fish! I don’t know if its true but it sure scared me enough to make me limit my freestyle to areas close to the beach.

Wednesday: Much as I dislike it, a certain amount of housework has got to be done occasionally. So this morning, after my customary run, I decided to get down to it. The morning passed quickly enough doing sundry chores, although I can’t really say it was a very pleasant way to occupy myself.

Had a quick lunch towards mid-day, nothing too heavy for I don’t like to get bogged down. In the afternoon settled down to some serious planning regarding the exhibition. The event will be held in conjunction with the Pinneberger Kuenstlergilde society at the St. James Cavalier. The society has already had two exhibitions on the island: one in 1988 and the other in 1993. I’m very excited at having the chance to organise a third one here! The present president of the society is Reinhardt Lau, who was formerly the chief stage designer for the prestigious State Opera in Hamburg, which means that the exhibition should attract a good number of art lovers. There will be eleven artists, including myself, who will be taking part in the event and ironing out all the details involves quite a lot of forward planning!

Thursday: This morning decided to do a bit of outdoor painting. I actually do this a lot, as I love watching people and getting situations down on my canvas. I believe that an artist’s job is to take something mundane and make it more beautiful, so that people are spurred into noticing and appreciating its beauty. More often than not, an ordinary observer will not automatically notice the beauty of a particular scene, such as a group of people having a coffee outside for instance. The artist has to make it come out.

Lower Barrakka is one of my favourite places for this type of painting session. The place is always very much alive, there is a kiosk and there’s always a group of people sitting at the tables, eating a ftira or just having a drink. A scene that’s ripe for a painter. I have quite a number of paintings depicting these kind of scenarios and I never get tired of them.

Friday: A bit of an effort to wake up early this morning. Being such an early riser, it’s no wonder that by ten at night I’m usually finished. I never stay up late! Forced myself out of bed, did my usual run and went off to the beach. To paint this time, not to swim.

Afternoon: more exhibition-related work. I myself will be holding another exhibition, at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. I will go solo this time round. Although it’s happening in December I have to think about that as well. Framing is the most expensive part when you’re holding an exhibition, I’ve found. You easily spend Lm1000 in frames. To circumvent the problem I’ll probably be using many of the works which I’ll be showing at St.James Cavalier.

Saturday: Over the weekends I like to spend a bit of time with my husband. We’re so busy throughout the rest of the week that we only get to meet as we’re going in and out of rooms. Both Ivan and myself like to keep Saturdays and Sundays relatively free.

Like I said, weekend or no weekend I don’t go out late much.