Domine Ragosta
B.1948, Artist Domine Vescera Ragosta, a native of Providence, RI, faced a major career choice; She could continue to work as a Registered Nurse, or she could try being a professional artist, a dream she had since childhood. She chose art.
Working in various media, Domine Ragosta’s first love is oils. She considers herself an interpreter of nature. A contemporary painter who has captured the romance of the Impressionist style of the late 19th century, Ragosta is known for her depiction of snowy woods, green meadows, flowers, and pond scenes. She paints with a soft, yet aggressive, style that conveys the texture and life of her subject matter. Her paintings use unique colors and heavy layers of paint, and illustrate the forms of leaves, branches, and petals. Ragosta works exclusively with palette knives to create areas of thick paint, preferring to create the painting as a whole, instead of focusing on specific areas.
Ten years ago Domine was stricken with Optic Neuritis, which severely affected her sight to the point where she was considered legally blind. “ I couldn’t see colors very well, so I made them brighter than usual. I also tried to capture more of the feeling of what I was painting." Over the past 10 years her sight has been improving, but she is still today visually impaired. Her loss of vision has changed her and her art. “It showed me how much art depends on what’s inside, rather than what’s outside.” She says, “I feel I’m a better artist for it.”
