Respect for diversity

The artist C. S. Lawrence is clear proof that some are born to art and others have art thrust upon them. While some painters' achievements are the fruit of labour and struggle, Caroline Lawrence seems to be blessed with the talent of painting effortlessly in a number of styles with equal success; in fact a very eminent VIP attending her last solo exhibition can't be blamed for enquiring how many artists were exhibiting at the solo exhibition.

Interestingly, when approached to take part in the Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar Heritage Art Exhibition, Ms Lawrence was hesitant as she never painted landscapes. She then went on to produce some of the most successful landscapes of the whole exhibition. These powerful impressionistic landscapes can be bold at times and mellow at others, but always full of uniquely Gozitan atmosphere. Ms Lawrence's ability to capture the Gozitan light and hues is probably aided by the fact that her return to Malta comes after a childhood spent in the hot climes of Kenya and later years in the Middle East.

Whether it be the contrasts of hot landscapes or the dynamic expressiveness of her portraits, she applies vivid colours to amplify the intensity of emotion she is attempting to convey. "I think it is appropriate," she notes, "that my new landscape collection has Gozo as its subject. Its rugged, unspoilt beauty is hard to beat. Something about its sweeping vistas resonates within me. Majestic is a word which often springs to mind when I visualise my childhood landscapes and much of Gozo is nothing short of majestic."

When Ms Lawrence used to paint desert landscapes in the unforgiving medium of watercolour, she would labour for hours using the subtlest of brushstrokes to bring out the nuances of sand and rock. This time, in her paintings of Gozo's cliff faces and bays, she has incorporated mixed media such as sack-cloth and gypsum in an attempt to capture a truer representation of the actual nature of the image she is painting. Rocks and cliffs, rough and smooth, hanging over an azure sea.

"These paintings have been an adventure in themselves!" she says enthusiastically.

Living in the Arabian Gulf from 1969 to 2000 was quite an experience for Ms Lawrence. "Completely different, yet not unlike my childhood experience of East Africa. You could drive for miles across Kenya's flat savannas or Dubai's undulating sand dunes and not see a soul. The breathtaking vistas of Kenya are proverbial, but those of Dubai are no less. You could take a bend in the road and gasp at the range of colours saturating the vast landscape before you. The contrast between my drab, regimented life in a convent boarding school in Surrey, England and the liberal lifestyle of the Arabian Gulf's expatriate community was extreme, and imprinted a love of the area and its people in me."

Ironically, it wasn't until Ms Lawrence returned to her family roots in Malta in 2002 that she began to paint the African faces that had "launched" her artistic career at the age of 15. "Each time I paint an African face I relive my experience of that fascinating continent." This is vividly reflected in Ms Lawrence's African portraits which brim with life and warmth.

Another side to Ms Lawrence's art is her thought-provoking collages; these include some striking poster-style works, however, the most fascinating are certainly her collage portraits. She actually uses multi-layered textures under the paintwork to build up the contours of her portraits whose profound facial expressions are enhanced by this fascinating texture. The end result is contemporary without the hard edge that often accompanies such work; beautiful and enigmatic faces which captivate the viewer and linger on in the mind.

Ms Lawrence has generously lent her support to some worthy causes with this fund-raising exhibition, namely the OASI Foundation Gozo, The Friends of The Sick and The Elderly and Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, choosing to call the collection Synergy as, "In its subtlest definition, it conveys my appreciation of harmony and respect for diversity; in its most immediate definition, it applies to the joining of forces with groups which are striving to create a better quality of life for us all."

• Ms Lawrence's works may be viewed at Casorenzo Art Studio in Birżebbuġa by phoning 2165 1202/3 or 9924 4684.