Visions of delicate-coloured flora communicate the effulgent perspective of Sunshine Coast painter Roberta Helena Mauel in a current exhibition at the Gibsons Public Market.
Mauel’s impressionist paintings compose Whimsical meets Botanical—The Watercolour Art of Roberta Mauel, which highlights her floral studies.
The Canadian-born artist, who grew up in Toronto and Montreal, became a globetrotter in her 20s after enrolling in university studies in Germany. She practiced her vocation as a professional German translator while stationed with her husband in far-flung locales like Brazil, Mauritania, Zambia, Guinea Bissau, Syria, and Cairo.
“I do find that I’m very much a northern hemisphere person,” said Mauel. “My mother was British and my father was Maltese. But I enjoyed my time in the Middle East because that culture really infuses your view of the world very much. And I’m drawn now more and more to architecture and historical roots in any of these places that I go to.”
Mauel’s fascination with other cultures is expressed through her paintings of what she calls “cultural landscapes.” Using dreamlike pastels, iconic locations like Venetian canals and Strasbourg streetscapes are telescoped into their elemental essence.
She has lived on the Sunshine Coast for the past 25 years. Over the last decade, art has gradually become her full-time occupation, and she dedicates a portion of her time to sharing her self-taught skills. Mauel is currently leading a series of workshops at The Arts Building in Lower Gibsons, focused on capturing images of travel experiences in watercolour.
The emphasis of the Public Market exhibition, however, is primarily on the natural world’s abundance and beauty. “I’m very much an outdoors enthusiast,” she said, “and I spend a lot of time hiking in more rural areas and backcountry. That’s a big part of my life as well. This particular exhibition is really a celebration of the spring and summer colours of botanical images and garden vistas.”
Mauel is devoted to the watercolour medium and uses the translucent nature of the paint to create ethereal effects. The blossoms she interprets are sun-dappled, with shafts of light transfiguring pools of vernal shades.
The majority of the arrangements are gathered from her own Bonniebrook-area garden. It contains a preponderance of roses, one of her favourite blooms.
“I bring the flowers in and I have a bouquet in front of me or an arrangement of some kind,” Mauel said. “And then what I do is extract the ideas from that. I reproduce what I’m looking at, but I take a lot of liberties with rearranging things on my page to bring out the best in these subjects.”
Mauel is currently exploring opportunities for exhibitions and workshops in Whistler and Scotland, while cultivating her mature, signature style. Whimsy and imagination have become essential fixtures of her paintings.
“I’m trying to communicate the sheer joy of this subject,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to preach to anybody. But I feel that I see so much beauty around me and I wish that everyone could see that all the time.”
Roberta Helena Mauel’s Whimsical meets Botanical exhibition remains at the Gibsons Public Market until April 25.
