The artist behind the next exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts is ROSSELLA DALMAS. Part of the proceeds of her sales will be donated to FAA (Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar). Marie Benoît finds out a little about this very busy artist

Rossella Dalmas considers herself blessed as she was brought up in a home immersed in art. “Our house at Hamrun was then a lively studio-casa-bottega with photographs, colours and pencils strewn all over – a wonderful stimulus to any child! The mess was beyond description, she recalls. Brushes were picked up instead of knives and forks and we might have even savoured water-colour treated gravy and never knew it!”

Thus Rossella started doodling and drawing from a very early age.

In those days sepia photos were hand glazed by her three aunts using transparent oil colours, “so Art somehow always featured in my life.” What Rossella loves to this very day is the smell of turpentine “because this meant that my aunts were at work. This also meant gossip and exciting discussions and a child was more often than not forgotten in their midst. I just loved it!”

All the Cassar family members, Cassar being her maiden surname, were artistically inclined.” Foremost among them my late father Giuseppe Cassar, who is not only well known as a photographer – he was included in Photographers of Malta 1840-1990 by

“Margaret Harker – but also as a water colour artist.” As a matter of fact next November a retrospective exhibition of his works will be held at the Wignacourt College Museum, Rabat.

Although Rossella’s love of art grew with her, various committments prevented her from dedicating herself to painting. “At last thanks to the insistence of Mons Fortunato Mizzi and Ioanna Louros I took the plunge and exhibited solo at the Fine Arts Museum in 1993. My last exhibition, Carpe Diem was held at the Vee Gee Bee Art Gallery in 2005.“

Rossella paints in acrylics “as they are versatile and extremely fast drying. I would love to diversify but am so pressed for time that for now I am sticking to what I know best. Perhaps in the future I might find the time to experiment.”

She paints best when she is relaxed after all the house chores are done, so of necessity this is at night. “Sometimes I feel I am a creature of the night like the Phantom of the Opera. Because of this I am conditioned to painting by white neon light which allows me to see colours in their brightest tonalities.”

Rossella has developed her technique through trying to discover new ways of expressing herself using what she already has at my disposal.” I created a velvety pastel-like soft focus effect, thus enhancing atmosphere. This effect is achieved by adding, painstakingly, layer upon layer of dry brush scrumbling, that is side-ways scrubbing, either vigorously or gently, being careful never to obliterate completely the underlying colour. I hardly use any water except to thoroughly clean the brushes when it comes to changing colour etc. and of course to apply transparent glazes where necessary. The brushes, mostly flat hard hog bristles of all sizes, are then well dried using kitchen roll

tissues.”

Rossella does not buy expensive brushes because, “following the rough treatment they undergo, they never last long. I noticed that I paint best with old brushes unless they are almost hairless!”

I want to know about family. Does she also have a family to cope with? “Yes,in addition to having two sons and a grandchild, little Gabriel, I also work as a community pharmacist at Zebbug, a town I have a great affinity for. I believe this explains why time is so precious. In between my work and family, I try to squeeze in my photography, reading, classical music and countryside rambling.” She says that her walks inspire her to paint landscapes and streetscapes of quaint nooks and corners, challenging herself to avoid the obvious and the picturesque and “disciplining myself to mentally compose a good picture.”

And the meaning behind the title of her exhibition? “In Illo Tempore means “at that time”. The exhibition deals with fleeting time and the changes that of necessity are involved. These changes are often man-made and detrimental to both the urban and rural environment. I feel I need to capture a moment in time and in this way make it live eternally. Thus people will see what they will miss if they selfishly destroy what with time has become

culture.”