Stjepko Mamić – Captain living in the world of art

Being a captain for 30 years, Stjepko Mamić decided to return to his first love – painting. “Art is a different world,” he says. “There is no rush, no pressure. I am painting and creating only when I feel comfortable and you can see that in my works.” Changing ship for atelier was a terrific change for him and the freedom to do whatever he feels like is still his favourite part of being an artist.

From marks on the wall to serious art

Stjepko Mamić has always been very creative and skillful, even as a very little child. “As a kid I was using anything to do different shapes and marks on the walls. Later on all my school books and notebooks were full of sketches. I did it al the time without even thinking about it”. When he had to decide for a profession he was divided between following his mother’s artistic traditions or his father’s captain tradition. He chose the sea, mostly because he wanted to live a life full of adventures.

"I did arts al the time without even thinking about it."

Eight years ago he decided to quit his job as a captain: “Sailing has changed a lot in those 30 years,” he says: “The captain is just an administrator, doing paperwork all the time. I remember my beginnings when we were located in one port for days or even weeks and we could see the country, meet the people.  Nowadays everything is simply too fast.” This was also one of the reasons why he decided to go back to painting. Nevertheless, 30 years of life on the sea still means a lot of memories and therefore a lot of inspiration.

Art is freedom

Stjepko’s favourite part of being a painter is freedom. He likes being his own boss, not working under pressure and doing whatever he wants without fear. But there are several things that are necessary for that kind of freedom: inspiration, a feeling for colours and creativity with tools, techniques and styles.

"All the fish on my paintings have human expressions." 

“I have loved swimming and diving since I was 4. When I am in the water I feel very connected to our ancestors – that’s how I call fish.” As you can imagine fish and sea are Stjepko’s greatest inspirations. “When I dive I am entering my second home so all my paintings are connected to the sea,” he says.

He tried different motives as well but I had some problems, especially with ladies portraits. He realized that to be a good female portraitist you have to know Photoshop and how to paint things that you can’t see. “That is also the reason why all the fish on my paintings have human expressions - they don’t complain!”

Afraid of colours? No way! 

Moreover his natural talent for colours and light enables him to experiment with different colours without any fear: “One can teach an average arts student about perspective but when it comes to colours, there are no rules. No one can say that two colours don’t go together. A lot of artists are afraid of colours because of critiques they got and I think that is terrible. I am not afraid of colours at all.”

"I implemented some new techniques like using glass paint."

Having tried various techniques he is most comfortable with his own invention: glass paint applied to canvas with a pallet knife. “I implemented some new techniques like using glass paint – I am unique in that way. You can easily change shade of the colours and it is the most quality colour you can get – it has to survive dishwashing after all!” But why painting and not some other form of art? “Painting is just more then enough for me. You can try a lot of things but you will never be excellent if you don’t focus.”

Home sweet home

Stjepko was born in Dubrovnik and even though he had very many opportunities to go abroad he still feels the most at home here. Since he likes swimming and scuba diving, Adriatic is perfect for him: no strong currents, good visibility and very vivid sea life. But he is a bit worried about Dubrovnik as a city: “It is a very old city which is overcrowded and therefore not easy to leave in. But the city without people is not city anymore, it is an empty place...” he says.

Having seen the whole world he stopped counting the countries he had visited – now instead of drawing a map of his own travels he draws one for the paintings he sells. Some of them went to very exotic places such as Bermudes and Mauritius but the majority ended up in USA and UK. All in all: Stjepko Memić still has a lot of inspiration to be transferred to canvas and definitely a lot of motivation to promote his hometown trough his arts.