My name is Jadwiga but I'm known as Yaj! I'm sixty-three years old, and have lived in Herefordshire since the age of seventeen when I took a leap of faith and moved here from Lancashire with my older sister to escape 'the grim North' which looking back, was not that grim at all. We loved Herefordshire but hadn't a clue about country life and I remember almost having a nervous break down two days in when I realised there were only three buses a week and no Cinema. We were so naive presuming that our artistic talents would earn us a living in a farming community. We ended up in a trouser factory. But...after many years of 'this and that' jobs including librarian, waitress, cartoonist and shop assistant, here I am today, October 2025 living in Mama's house with a fat old Cairn called Oscar whom I inherited from my friend who died suddenly two years ago. I earn a crust with online tarot readings, a gift I got from Mama whom I cared for in the last years of her life. She died in February 2020 and left a huge gap in my life. A few months later, people began to bring me injured birds mainly pigeons (two of which I lived with for over two years) and they have been a massive part of my life one way or another ever since, whether rewilding them or helping them pass over.
I won't lie, growing up was difficult; two foreign kids living in Lancashire with their widowed Mama, a Polish refugee who was just too beautiful and independent to be accepted. So we spent many an hour around the table watching Mama pull tarot cards; she was creative and we inherited our passion for the arts from her.
I have been vegan since the age of seventeen, and my passion for animal welfare is one of the driving forces in my life. That and trying to unravel this very weird world we're living in right now. And I'll be honest with you...I won't hold my breath in ever coming to a conclusion about what's going on. The only thing that makes any sense to me, are the animals around me and their ability to see right through this Pantomime and just carry on giving love regardless...without judgment.
My chief inspirations are Edward Hopper, Tamara de Lempicka and more recently an artist named Amanda Allmark a potter and painter whose gentle and inspiring works have actually made me think of them constantly whilst walking Oscar; that doesn't happen very often with me! Check her out...you're in for a treat! You can find her on amandaallmark.com. She is one of the very few artist these days, who works from the heart for the heart and is a genuine, humble human being who like myself, believes that love will conquer in the end. Most of my ideas originate from the people and places around me, but it's ordinary life that fascinates me the most because there is no such thing. What I see in everyday situations, transforms into story once it hits my canvas. I try and achieve a sense of expectation and wonder about each project I work on
I work mainly in water-based oils on canvas blocks or panels but also use acrylics when time is against me.
Well, that's me done - now here's the interesting bit...
Contact on 07354610270 (I am a bit of a techno-phobe so it may be better to email!)
