 Miriam
Ghubril Myriam
Ghubril came upon her talent for painting by accident. A chance
painting class untapped a hitherto unknown flair for art that led
to a wonderful collection of inspired works
How
and when did you start painting?
It was really by chance. In school, I didn’t take any art classes
and I wasn’t interested in drawing. At university, I took courses
in science related subjects, nothing to do with art! By chance,
my first visit to Dubai, back in 1980, coincided with the opening
of an art centre there. I had nothing to do in Dubai, so I decided
to join and started taking classes in oil painting because I didn’t
want to do flower arranging! The teacher was an American woman who
asked us to copy a postcard of a painting with just three colours
– red, blue and yellow. I could not even hold a paintbrush, but
she wouldn’t tell us how to do it, she insisted we just paint. So
I did and when I did and when I finished she asked me how long I
had been painting. When I told her I had never even been near a
canvas, she told me I had a definite talent, but warned me not to
let anyone change my style, because it would be a shame to lose
such bold strokes. I continued the course and carried on painting
and drawing.
Two years later
we moved to London, in fact we still live there. There, I really
had the opportunity to study art – I went to just about every school,
hired every tutor and continued studying art intensely. I don’t
do that any longer, it’s been about 2 years now, but I like to exhibit
there. I’ve exhibited at Layton House, the Chelsea Town Hall and
the Koufa Gallery, which shows exhibits exclusively from some Arab
painters. Unfortunately, it’s been five years since I’ve shown in
London because I have been spending more time in Dubai, we organize
an annual exhibition to mark Lebanese Independence Day. We arrange
a Lebanese themed week and each is dedicated to certain aspects
of Lebanese life. That painting of the Kibbé maker was shown
there. I’ve yet to exhibit at a solo show. To do that I would have
to work on the same theme; you need at least 20 canvases that have
some characteristic in common in order to exhibit by yourself. Right
now my work is very varied, I paint differently all the time, according
to what I feel like doing. I would like to have my own exhibition
one day, but right now, I’m happy just to paint. Also, I never sell
my work, sometimes I give a few paintings to charities, but I know
in advance these are going. I like to keep all my pieces together
in a complete collection.
How
has your painting style evolved?
Right now, I would say I am leaning towards the abstract which you
can clearly see in the different works. I’ve discarded any overt
attention to detail and moved on from purely representational art.
Sometimes I draw from models and other times the work comes purely
from my imagination. I take a lot of photographs to inspire me later.
When it comes to the actual painting, I start with a rough sketch
– I never draw in detail – and then I paint over that.
How
long does it take you to finish a painting, until you’re satisfied
with it?
It really all depends. Some are done in just four hours. Others
I keep coming back to, I work on them for hours at a time, again
and again. I would never start on a canvas for half an hour and
then stop, no. I guess, on average, I would say about ten hours
of work goes into each piece. However, watercolours do not allow
time to be spent on them – you either do it well the first time,
or you throw it away, you can’t spend a lot of time on it, fixing
and adding.
How
many works of art would you say you have, until now?
I have never really counted them because they are all in different
homes: London, Dubai and Beirut. I would guess around 60. I tend
to leave the paintings where I have painted them, it has nothing
to do with the style of the different houses, and I just don’t transfer
them. But I have been influenced by the countries themselves and
that is often reflected within the different works. In London, because
of the dismal weather, I mostly work indoors, from my imagination,
or I paint interior scenes.
Do you
have a favourite painting?
No, I love them all. I will say I’m happier painting in oils than
any other medium because you can spend your time on each piece.
Nathalie
Barakat
One of Miriam
Ghubril' masterpieces
Apples Still Life - Oil on Canvas - 61 x 50 cm
►► Some
of the artist's artwork
►►
Meet
the artist in Art Direct Sale!
Contact: fghubril@inco.com.lb
Phone: 961 3 254420
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