"Iworked as a graphic designer for about 25 years until I felt I couldn't stand the pressure of deadlines any more, and I needed to go back to using traditional methods of creating artworks without the constraints of customers' requirements. As much as I am in awe of technology and admire digital art, I feel so much more relaxed when I have a pencil or a paintbrush in my hands as opposed to a mouse and a screen. I love the feeling as I drag brush across paper, canvas or wood, the unpredictability of watercolour as it runs down a sheet of paper, creating delicate layers of pigment. And the feelings both of excitement and detachment when I look at a finished piece. It has now become almost a daily need to paint, even if it's just a squiggle.

I feel relief when I say that I am now at a position in my life when I am able to pick and choose the things I do. The journey to this point was long and often arduous, but it taught me more than I could ever imagine. Most of all, it made me aware of my own strengths and that if I put my mind to something, it will eventually materialise. It has required a lot of discipline, perseverance and patience. The pandemic allowed the manic pace of life to slow down so it was an opportunity for me to explore new subjects and media. That's when I started to enjoy painting landscapes in watercolour. I had so much more time to walk in the countryside and sit and paint so I started to take my watercolours wherever I went.

The outdoors is where I feel the most liberated. Give me a pair of hiking boots and scruffy clothes and off I go come rain or shine. I particularly love the Maltese landscape because it is so rugged and unpredictable and the changes that the four seasons bring are spectacular. The carpets of green dotted with vibrant little flowers in winter and spring, the tawny expanses when the sun is at its hottest in summer, surprising you with the occasional hardy bloom. Those gigantic boulders that loom over the landscape, having rolled down the hills many millennia ago now provide shade for the weary hiker as well as a home for a myriad of insects and miniature plant life. The diversity of Malta's landscape is breathtaking and I never cease to wonder at the hardiness of vegetation that flourishes despite the harsh elements. The unkempt aspect of our rural spaces gives me a sense of wild freedom. 

Although most people know me as a gregarious extrovert, I am actually a solitary animal who spends most of my time alone in my own head. I am a dreamer. It's the reason why I chose the sometimes lonely and uphill road of being self-employed. It allows me the liberty to pick and choose my projects. This, invariably, leads me down some wonderful avenues and makes for an eclectic life which gives me opportunity to explore different techniques and subjects. It takes me out of my comfort zone. I suppose every artist's style is a reflection of their character. I liken myself to a kid in a candy store because my repertoire is quite diverse. I paint depending on my mood, so I could be painting a landscape one day and the next I'm in my dream world drawing different settings for my childlike, clownish creature that I call Libertyzee. What is certain is that I am forever changing. I am a free spirit who doesn't like constraints of any kind. I am erratic and my attention is often fleeting, my energy ebbs and flows depending on my experience and what stimulates me at the time.

So in this, my third solo exhibition, Freedom, expect to see a collection of rural landscapes of my homeland, the places where I feel the most free, and paintings of Libertyzee, featured in diverse fantastical settings that some of you may relate to."

'Freedom' opens on 3 June at Art by the Seaside Gallery, Triq il-Mina tax-Xatt, Senglea. It will run until 17 June.