Rachel’s artwork is varied and instinctive. Working with oils she draws on photographs, sketches and memories based on her time in nature and the impact of seasons and world events on her daily life and mental health. Time spent in silent contemplation outside contrasts with reflective moments at her painting altar or frenetic bouts of activity in the studio, pushing and pulling oil paint, mark making with hands, brushes, pouring, scraping, revealing, losing. As in life seeking moments of chance to allow beauty to be revealed in the near and far, vast yet intimate.
Rachel balances her creative life with a passion for coaching and the healing benefits of creativity having trained as a Relational Dynamic coach; completed a Foundation in Art Psychotherapy and taken on a trustee role for the charity Mind. This intersection between art and therapy has led to her being taken on as the Artist In Residence for a year at Cabilla in Cornwall. Full immersion in nature at key seasonal moments in this ancient temperate rainforest will allow her to document how nature can affect body and mind using painting, sculpting, photography and journalling as a way of expressing the impact.
Rachel has exhibited at The Other Art Fair, Manchester Contemporary Art Fair and in galleries across the South-East. She often works to commission for individuals and interior designers and has artwork in private collections both at home and abroad. She is a graduate of Newlyn Art School Mentoring Programme, has an MA in Fine Art from Chichester University, a Foundation Diploma from West Dean College.