Lady 3, Painting
Debra Johnston’s palette in ‘My Fair Ladies’ is totally un-restricted and un-restrained. Debra is an Expressionist: her moods and feelings are conveyed with a spontaneous directness and honesty. She writes: ‘Like Edvard Munch, I create to capture emotions and raw feelings.’
Her ‘Fair Ladies’ are women who have influenced and inspired her throughout her life. Some are sensual, loving, light-hearted, sensitive and charming; others are lost, aggressive, strong-willed and unforgiving. They float over the canvases as simplified child-like forms, their colours either harmonious or clashing depending on her feelings towards them.
She invites the viewer to respond to her intuitive expressionism. These women are personal to her. She states: ’And I love them all’. At the same time, they evoke a response from others because of her universal painting language. They remind us all of women we have known.