The health inspector turned mandala artist – that’s the story of Yvette Hughes. For the past month the colour and vibrancy of her solo exhibition, “Hues of Her: A Genetic Palette” struck visitors to the Cloete Community Gallery at the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington.
She used the metaphor of a genetic palette to represent diverse women, brought to life through mandalas. The exhibition was inspired by a photograph of her great-grandmother, Maxie Hartogh.
“Each artwork aims to celebrate diversity, honour individuality and paint a vivid canvas of identity with the brilliant hues of women shaping our world,” explained Hughes, who grew up in Wellington and matriculated from New Orleans Secondary School in Paarl.
“I think of myself as an accidental artist. I was almost 40 years old before I first started drawing. Before that I never thought of myself as artistic.”
Hughes is a qualified environmental health inspector.
In 2018 she was inspired by her neighbour Lucille McDermott to extend her horizons into art. At the time Hughes and husband Ronwyn were living on a farm outside Wellington, after having worked in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Dubai for many years.
“She showed me her drawing pads filled with her doodles!” she remembered. “Pages and pages and pages filled with random lines and shapes that made up beautifully intricate patterns, with hidden shapes of flowers or animals. I was amazed that something so simple can fill an entire page.”
Inspired, Hughes went home to try it too. A pen set that her husband had bought years ago, and which was generally used by artists doing anime, portraits and mandala drawings, came in handy.
“I probably did 10 doodle drawings before I had an idea. I took out a random high-school mathematics set I somehow had in the house and started drawing pencil circles, lines and shapes all the away around these layers of circles, building pattern upon pattern. I had a faint idea what of a mandala was, but I wasn’t even aware that was what I was drawing.”
For the first few years she worked in black pen and later also started adding colour. Since 2022 she has branched out to digital art, with her trusty iPad and an Apple pencil now her mediums.
“One is able to play and experiment more with colour. And it’s easier to correct mistakes where needed.
“With digital there is a lot less waste, it is far more cost-effective and, best of all, I can sit and draw anywhere. I am still learning every day, and every now and again I go to YouTube to see how to solve a problem.”
Hughes’ business was launched in September 2019, through which she sells digital art prints and does commissioned work.
She also documents her artistic process through pictures and videos.
“My initial plan was to use my drawings on t-shirts, mugs or canvas prints. Then a friend commented that my art is simply too intricate to end up on a mug, but needs to be on someone’s wall.
“That was quite a mindshift. And that’s how things started, and a new career opened up to me.”.Her exhibition can still be seen at the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington until the beginning of March. Her prints are available from her website www.yvettehughesart.co.za
