Artist's Statement

"I Love to Paint with Rainbows..."

Rachel Houseman is not your average Plein Air painter.  Using the landscape to inspire she connects to the magic of the feeling in the land and expresses this freely with vivid colors.

" We have the ability to sense things in a heightened and spiritual way, naturally. I feel that I was born with this ability and I believe that everyone can learn how to use this ability. In this way I believe that human beings are inherently psychedelic. ."

  Rachel likes to work on-site in the tradition of  a Plein Air painter, but  she prefers to use radical, non-traditional colors. 

"I allow the environment to speak to me and I use the impressions of the location, weather,  energy of the land as well as my own inner experience as inspiration.  My paintings are impressions of moments in time; they are messages from the land and its mood as well as my own experience within it.  I consider the Earth a Sacred place, but no place is more sacred to me than the desert. "

  Her unique style came out of a very spontaneous technique that she was using in her more traditional Plein Air watercolor series "Colors of the West" (2004-2005).  With encouragement of her mentor, Andrea de Kerpley-Zac she began using acrylic "as if it was watercolor."  In her process, Rachel starts a sketch in graphite on the canvas, just as if  she would if she were working on paper. With a layering of purely watercolor tone planes of color, that are light and transparent.  The artist then starts the under-painting working freely and quickly. 

"I feel that there are no 'mistakes' in using this technique only more exciting and often uncharted territory to explore. I think  working this way requires courage.  It feels exciting when I paint, like I am constantly on the verge of a breakthrough." 

To make a "ColorScape"come to life Rachel builds up the surface of the canvas in transparent "water color layers." She then begins to layer in bold, bright colors that either obscure the “watercolor” effect underneath by highlighting, or by contrasting, blending, or building the surface with the bold colors.

"By using bold color over the watercolor-like layers, I can achieve some interesting color effects. I find that working spontaneously.  It helps me to work without thoughts more with pure feeling.  I find that an intentional state of spontaneity keeps me ahead of the thoughts which makes painting highly enjoyable." 

Working this way the painting becomes a meditation for Rachel.  As she paints she matches her feelings about the desert landscape that she has traveled to. 

"These paintings are  very joyful for me.  They come from my love of the desert and all of its magic. For me the vibrancy and colors really appear this fantastic, its about how I feel."

Rachel is influenced by boldness of the French “Fauvist” painters from the turn of the 21st century.  Les Fauves or “wild beasts” as they were called, were known for using bold colors, sometimes applied directly from the tubes of paint that they used.  This was scandalous during their time and they gained renown for their unruly uses of color. The artist is also influenced by the serenity and beauty of the art of Russian Master Nicholas Roerich and  by the playful and imaginative "Psychedelic Poster Art" of San Francisco in the late 1960's.

In addition to these artists and eras, Rachel loves investigating the artwork of David Hockney, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet,  and Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky was one of the founding fathers of modern abstract painting.  Kandinsky puts this process of blending the inner and outer best when he says, "the relationships in art are not necessarily ones of outward form, but are founded on inner sympathy of meaning."



"Enchanted Shiprock"     New Mexico   36x48"   Acrylic      2016     Rachel Houseman  

"Red Cactus Flowers"    Cave Creek, AZ    36x24"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2018   

"Along the Road to Madrid"    Mardid, NM    36x36"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2015    SOLD

"Purple Prickly Pear"    Cave Creek, AZ    36x48"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2017   SOLD

"Rocky Oak Vineyeard"   Malibu, California  24x48"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman     2016 

"Grand Canyon Tryptich"   Arizona    108x48"    Acrylic on Canvas   2015    Rachel Houseman  

                    "Cactus in the Clouds II"           Cave Creek, AZ         24x48"        Acrylic        2012   Rachel Houseman    SOLD

"Red Tower"  Moab, UT  12x24"   Acrylic on Canvas    Rachel Houseman  

 

 

"Purple Cholla"    New Mexico   28x32"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2018   

 

  "Rio Grande River Gorge I" Taos, NM 36x36" Acrylic  SOLD

 

 

                                       "Lost Dutchman Viewpoint"  Apache Jct., AZ  12x24" Acrylic  Rachel Houseman SOLD

 

"White Cactus Flowers"    Cave Creek, AZ    28x30"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2018    

 

 

 "Hillside CloudScape"  Hillside, AZ  Acrylic  2011  Rachel Houseman SOLD

 

 

"Lookout Mountain Sunset"   36x36"  Acrylic  2013   Rachel Houseman  SOLD

 

 

 "Three Peaks CloudScape"    Taos Gorge, NM    48x24"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2016 

 

 

                                            "Moon Valley View"  Phoenix, AZ  36x36"  Acrylic  2012   Rachel Houseman

 

 

                                    "Mount Lemmon Cactus Garden"    Tucson, AZ   Acrylic    2011  Rachel Houseman  SOLD

 

 

 

                                     "Four Corners Peak"   Mexican Hat, AZ   24x30"  Acrylic  2011 Collection of the Artist

                    "Mount Lemmon"  Tucson AZ

30x24" Acrylic on Canvas

 

 

                                           "Queen's Creek"  Queen Creek,  AZ   30x40"    Acrylic   2011  Rachel Houseman

"Mount Lemmon" Tucson, AZ Acrylic 2011 "Queen Valle"Mount Lemmon" Tucson, AZ Acrylic 2011 y View"  Mesa AZ

30x24" Acrylic on Canvas

 

"Tucson Peak"    22x24"      Tucson, AZ   Acrylic   2011    Rachel Houseman 

 

 

"Bisti Wilderness Wild Flower"    Bisti Wilderness, NM    40x60"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2017

   

"Mount Lemmon" Tucson, AZ Acrylic 2011 22x24"   Acrylic on Canvas

                     "Bright Cactus"  "Cactus at Oracle"    Oracle, AZ   18x20"   Acrylic 2011    Rachel Houseman  SOLD

 

 

 

                                             "Squaw Peak Succulent" Phoenix, AZ  24x24" Acrylic  2013   Rachel Houseman

22x24"  Acrylic on Canvas

"A "Prescott Starry Night"   Prescott, AZ    Acrylic 2011   Rachel Houseman

 

"Desert Poppies"    Arizona    32x32"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2018    

 

 

"Red Peak"  Red Mountain Fountain Hills, AZ 36x36"   Acrylic on Canvas   2011  Rachel Houseman 

 

"Bell Rock at N""Bell Rock at Night"  Sedona, AZ Acrylic 2009

 

 

                                   "Peralta Trail Viewpoint"   Apache Jct., AZ   30x48"  Acrylic  2013   Rachel Houseman

 

 

"Mount Lemmon" Tucson, AZ Acrylic 2011 22x24"   Acrylic on

"Cathedral Rock Sunset"  Sedona, AZ     Acrylic    Rachel Houseman   2011

 

 

 "Lake Alamo Peak"  Lake Alamo, AZ   22x24"    Acrylic    2011  Rachel Houseman

 

 

 

"Elegant Blooms"    Cave Creek, AZ    28x30"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2018   

 "Lake "Red Cactus Flowers"    Cave Creek, AZ    36x24"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2018   Alamo Point"  Lake Alamo, AZ

22x24"  Acrylic on Can

 

"Bartlett Lake" Cave Creek, AZ    18x20"    Acrylic    2005   Rachel Houseman

 

 

"Aquarius Mountain Garden"  24x24"  Acrylic  2009    Rachel Houseman

 

 

"Moab River Gorge Nghtscape"    Moab, UT   24x24"    Acrylic    Rachel Houseman    2013   

"Lake Bartlett"  Cave Creek, AZ

22x24" Acrylic on Canva

 

     

"Sedona Sunset"  Boyton Canyon   Sedona, AZ Acrylic 2009   Rachel Houseman

"Canyon deChelly"  Many Farms, AZ

9x24"   Acrylic on Ca

 

 

"Aloe Pair"  8x8"  Acrylic on Canvas Board  2011  Rachel Houseman

24x24"  Acrylic on Canvas

 "Gr

 

"C"Chuskas II"    Many Farms, AZ    12x12"    Acrylic   2009   Rachel Houseman

12x12" Acrylic on Canvas

 



  "Go

"Goddess of the Peppers"    Cochiti Lake, New Mexico    Acrylic    2008   Rachel Houseman

 

 

 

"Apache Junction Church"  18x20" Acrylic on Canvas  2009   Rachel Houseman

              Superstition Mnt. Churc"Mount Lemmon" Tucson, AZ Acrylic 2011 h" Apache Jct., AZ    (Elvis& Priscilla's Chapel) 22x24"  Acrylic

 

 

"Reaching Peak"   Sedona, AZ   12x12"  Acrylic  2013   Rachel Houseman

 

 

"Road Warriors"    Las Cruces, NM     60x48"    Acrylic   2016     Rachel Houseman

s Adobe II"  Taos, NM   

12x12"   Acrylic on Canvas

"Blue Tree" Sedona, AZ  12x12" Acrylic  2013   Rachel Houseman

 

 



View More ART Here:  www.rachelhouseman.com