‘REVIVAL’
DOMINICA YANNAGHAS
2 - 4 MAY 9 - 10 MAY & 6 - 7 JUNE
Dominica Yannaghas
Before I became a painter in earnest, I experience a watershed - the death of my Mum - which was transformational. The world had never felt so lonely as that day I drove home from the Hospice on the 4th March, leaving my lifelong friend and mentor behind. That was ten years ago. i can remember the daffodils waving their heads and blowing their yellow trumpets by the roadside, the only splashes of sunshine in the pervading gloom.
As that door closed, a new one opened and, all at once, I was aware of the brevity of life. Realising I must ‘carpe diem’ and follow wherever that spark of enthusiasm should lead, I turned my attention to painting. I took a leap of faith, dispensed with the day-job as and English tutor and set about fulfilling my dreams of going to art school.
I draw my inspiration and comfort from flowers for I find them endlessly intriguing and forgiving. How freely they feed the notes whilst allowing you to make your own music. I adore their gentleness and their gaiety, their rhythm and undulation, their endless configuration of colour and pattern, their richness of idiosyncrasy and the way they deliver a fresh cornucopia of subject matter each season. The cottage garden during the spring and summer months is my main source of inspiration. In the summer i like to paint outdoors and pitch my easel in other people’s gardens, making oil sketches on large panels which I work up at home. These paintings tend to be more vigorous and explosive.
I like to invoke a spiritual symbolism into my work. With my Christian faith as my anchor, I steal titles from the bible whenever possible, exploring the themes of revival and senescence. I exhibit across Suffolk and run one-to-one and small group workshops at my Hadleigh studio.