Raeche, Passion Painted

Expressions in movement. The artist paints as to where her colors lead her. Rich and bright tones – blues, purples – with a fluid style that captures the essence of her subject through the motions it possesses. Diverse poses, raw and spontaneous, that depict the fleeting nature of an expression, be it elemental or emotional.

“While painting, I listen to music… dance... and let the movement of colors unfold as it conveys to the canvas my mood at that moment."

Working on acrylic has allowed her, and perhaps more than that, fostered and deepened her love for the medium of art. It brought to life, after all, her own individual perspective to the depiction of her favorite themes – from still life objects as flowers, fascinating creatures like butterflies, to everyday people such as children and mothers.

It was this earnest excitement that made Raeche Dacanay muster the courage to set up her first solo exhibit in 2008 entitled “Expressions of My Soul.”

Her version of butterflies, for instance, articulated in image how she felt about her journey as an artist, that what once was a dream now blossoming into something fulfilling. Through her work, she also wanted to leave an impression on her viewers into a reminiscence into their own childhood, handing to them a flicker of happiness all their own that still lingers on within them.

Ever since Raeche learned how to paint in 2004 – during a summer class session from the garage of a painter – she realized how being in that state had given her a world of her own. From then on, painting had become her passion.

By education, she graduated in 2003 from DLSU - College of Saint Benilde, and the Philippine School of Interior Design to major in BS Interior Design. It naturally led her into the field where she experienced working as a designer both in-house and as a freelancer, and even into garments production and merchandising. She even ended up working as an art facilitator for grade school children.

All seemingly in congruent fields at the outset, but it was these forays that served as a preparatory training ground towards her main passion.

Her lack of a formal art education was substituted by being under the tutelage of mentors in the art industry, as they openly taught her their processes and techniques. From that, she studied the styles and chose what suited her taste and acumen. What one of her mentors once told her, though, struck her the most: “In order to find one’s style, you have to paint at least a hundred (100) paintings and, definitely, your style will come out." When she found her in a momentous occasion where she painted over 200 works for Pradera Verde Villas, indeed, she had proved it to be right – as her own unique style manifested most visibly in her 2016 works.

So much so that in 2017, she finally decided to become a full time painter.

Since then, she has joined various group exhibitions with much vivacity and vigor that she ended up as a featured artist in a coffee table book collection by Walls Gallery called "The Future Legends" (Sorell Publishing Company, New York) which was launched at Ayala Museum.

“It is scary and intimidating, yet exciting and fulfilling, knowing my purpose motivates me to be a better version of myself."