Yoanna Mareva

My paintings explore the meeting points between nature, emotion and imagination.

Through figures, animals and landscapes, I create images where contrasting qualities coexist: light and shadow, movement and stillness, softness and raw texture. I am drawn to the tension between these opposites, and to the moments when something unexpected emerges from their encounter.

Working primarily in oils, I build layered surfaces where colour, texture and gesture shape the atmosphere of each painting. I also work with acrylics, inks and textural materials, allowing more fluid, transparent passages to meet denser, tactile forms. The process is intuitive, often guided by an image, a feeling or an idea that gradually takes shape on the canvas.

I hold a degree in Fine Arts from St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. My work is rooted in an ongoing fascination with the natural world and its shifting moods, but also with the inner landscapes we carry within us.

Through painting, I seek to create images that invite a pause, awaken a feeling and leave room for each viewer to find their own meaning.