Janine Daddo is a lucky person. She always wanted to be a painter. And in fulfilling her dreams, she has become a highly successful Australian Artist – by sharing her happiness with others. Yet, luck is no matter of chance. You have to strive for serendipity. Her enthusiasm for life expressed in her joyous, colourful paintings emerges from one touched with tragedy. As always, the way we handle adversity defines our character, for those nightmares in life’s journey are times of unbelievable blackness. Yet, they seem to be necessary experiences that precede the pathway to perceptions of light and joy in the perception and expression of unbounded beauty. Daddo communicates this exuberance through her art, and is one of the reasons why it is so popular. Another of her gifts is this means of communication, schooled at RMIT in graphic art and design, developed through fashion illustration, and finely honed in the world of advertising in Sydney and Melbourne. Her paintings are conversational and attractively painted in seductive colours. Numerous sell-out exhibitions provide their own testimony. The richness of her colours comes from her technique of layered surfaces, usually working in opposites, from darks to lights, from turquoise and jade to reds. The layering gives added texture, glimpses of underlying colours added variety, topped by a final glaze to express the wonderment of life. Birds and bare-bosoms are metaphors of freedom, as likewise paintings of childhood memories, of innocence recollected and Janine has enjoyed ‘sell-outs’ in Sydney, Melbourne and Chicago, and her work is now enjoyed in private collections throughout Australia and as far afield as London, New York and Singapore.
