Dorothy Fernando (; 18 September 1907 – 1981) was a Sri Lankan painter.

Early life

Dorothy Dias was born in

Panadura Panadura (; ) is a main city in Kalutara District, Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province in Sri Lanka. It is located approximately south of Colombo. Panadura was an electoral district in Sri Lanka until 1989 and is surrounded all sides b ...

. She grew up in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

with her

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

parents. She studied at Bishop's College in Colombo and Malvern Girls College in the United Kingdom. In her late teens, she pursued her interest in painting and nature in defiance of her father's wishes.

Career

Fernando became a member of the Ceylon Social Service League, running a sewing school for underprivileged girls for several years. She developed her

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

painting technique while illustrating the country's indigenous orchids for her brother-in-law Ernest Zoysa. Fernando travelled during the 1940s, collecting and painting wildflowers. She eventually published a book titled ''Wildflowers of Ceylon'' in England in 1954.

Personal life

Dias married Cyril Fernando, who became one of Sri Lanka's most prominent physicians. They had four children. Cyril died in 1955. Fernando died in 1981 while preparing for her third exhibition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernando, Dorothy 1907 births 1981 deaths 20th-century Sri Lankan women People educated at Malvern St James Alumni of Bishop's College, Colombo Sri Lankan women painters 20th-century Sri Lankan painters People from Panadura