Breathing Space was a group exhibition by True Blue & a Little Bit of Yellow, held at The Art House, Wyong, NSW, from 1–25 May 2024. It felt good to return to the Central Coast and exhibit together once again.
The works on display moved between bold painterly gestures and refined detail, with many pieces inspired by the coastal landscapes of the Central Coast and Sydney’s Northern Beaches. The exhibition offered space for colour, reflection, and connection — a moment to pause, breathe, and engage with art grounded in place and experience.
Breathing Space was both a return and a continuation — of shared practice, shared values, and ongoing support through art.
Trained in the classical European school of realistic drawing and painting, I’ve worked across many mediums, but today I am best known for textural acrylic and oil works that focus on the individuality of Australian flora. My process begins with shallow sculptural relief backgrounds that capture the forms and textures of the bush. Onto these surfaces, I layer subtle hues and naturalistic details. From afar, the paintings often read as abstract compositions; up close, they reveal intricate studies of colour and form. As a newcomer to Australia, painting became my way of connecting with this land — learning its trees, flowers, and light through observation. I believe that when we truly know something, we begin to care for it. My work invites viewers to see the bush not as a uniform green mass, but as a collection of distinct, vibrant individuals.
For me, as for many of my collectors, moving to Australia has been a blessed and life-changing experience. At the same time, it doesn’t erase the feeling of missing home. Memory travels with us — through seasons, colours, familiar landscapes, and small visual details that stay deeply rooted inside. Quite often, Ukrainian collectors commission artworks that reconnect them with home. These might be flowers remembered from a childhood garden, the softness of snow, the glow of golden autumn, or the unmistakable outlines of traditional Ukrainian architecture. These subjects carry emotional weight — they speak of belonging, memory, and personal history. I find great meaning in creating these works, because I share the same feelings. Painting nostalgic themes allows me to revisit places and atmospheres that shaped me, while offering others a visual connection to what they hold dear. The artwork becomes more than an image; it becomes a bridge between past and present, between where we come from and where we are now. Through these commissions, nostalgia turns into something tangible — a way to honour memory, identity, and the enduring connection to home, even when life unfolds far from it.
