Melita Denaro (b.1950)

Melita Denaro (b.1950)

Up the hill, behind my home house, I felt both sorrow and inspiration

Unsigned

Oil on board

27cm x 29cm

For the last 25 years Melita Denaro has made a monthly pilgrimage from her Hackney studio to the Isle of Doagh, a peninsula of Inishowen in Co. Donegal. It is here that Melita spends her days painting the wild landscape that surrounds h­­er, weathering whatever conditions the Atlantic Ocean chooses to throw at her. Immersed in the landscape of Inishowen and its wild, changeable weather, Denaro's paintings do not simply record a moment, of time but have become a trigger for other memories of a childhood growing up on the Isle of Doagh, Those memories make their way into the titles of each painting: the islanders, their conversations, stories and occupations have become an inseparable part of Denaro's work.

Denaro was trained at Central School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. She has shown regularly with the John Martin Gallery since 2002.