A Tropical Colour Storm

Marie-Dominique Lennan was born in Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa. It is, therefore, no surprise that this hot and sunny environment, with beautiful colours, flowers and fauna, had a special influence on Marie-Dominique's personality and outlook on life. From an early age, she was inspired by the local fabrics which often reflected the energy of the colourful markets, the beaches, palms, coconut trees, hibiscus and all tropical vibrant species.

After relocating to New Zealand via Paris, a massive adventure in itself, she then frequently travelled to the Pacific Islands and Bali - again drawn to the colours of a tropical landscape, the relaxed lifestyle and its people. After bringing up two boys in Leigh, the closest she could come to a stunning setting in New Zealand, she started painting as a way to bring the memories of the tropics into her home. A workshop that taught her to use colour in multiple layers and with a few years of practice, Marie-Dominique found her style and brought her tropical abstract artwork to life. The primary medium is acrylic paint on canvas. Each layer tells part of the story coming to life on an abstract background. The artist allows the paint to determine the direction with the base layers of the artwork, almost bringing the canvas to completion. Then the final process is to extract the final imagery from the canvas.

With her frequent trips to Tahiti, Fiji and Bali over the last 30 years, the artist has built up a photographic imagery to draw from the exotic nature of the islands, in her abstract illustration of heliconia, palms, hibiscus, monsteras ...

As a real estate agent dedicated to the Leigh & Matakana coastal region, she has also often found inspiration in her vendors beautiful sub-tropical gardens.

By immersing yourself into her paintings, you can find the landscape that the artist herself escapes to when creating it - a beautiful, tropical destination with colour, joy and play never far away.

 Marie-Dominique’s paintings are for sale online, in galleries and commissions are also welcome.