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'Golden Grove' by Rachel Personett
🕑 Added 2021-08-27 16:01:02 +0000 UTCThis weeks’s Spotlight on Art features Golden Grove by FAA Graduate Rachel Personett.
Rachel is an exceptionally gifted painter of landscapes, and travels the globe in search of locations to paint. We are delighted to share with you Rachel’s own words of her experience painting Golden Grove, a work that is also part of FAA online exhibition ‘Letting us In’.
"Golden Grove was created September 19th 2020 in Breckenridge, Colorado.
My inspiration came first from the striking fall colors. I was also inspired by some of my favorite Russian paintings. Isaac Levitan, for example, has some gorgeous autumnal works. In 2019 I had the opportunity to paint in Russia while the birches were turning. Last year, with the pandemic, I couldn’t travel outside the United States, so I looked for beauty closer to home.
Rachel painting Golden Grove on location
On painting trips, I try to spend about a month in one area. I go on long walks each day to scout out locations. At first, compositions come to me slowly, but then I start seeing them everywhere. After finding a location, I drag all my gear to that spot.
I was drawn to this particular location by the aspen silhouetted against the dark pine. I don’t normally do any sketches or studies before I start. I just try to think of all works as studies, even the larger ones. That makes painting a little less scary.
In general I like to work at least two days on a painting. On this particular one, I went back four days, because the leaves kept changing.
I always start out the painting with a few washy lines to mark out a general composition. Then I go for a general sky color. Next I try and smash in a loose impression of the colors. It doesn’t have to be perfect. My main goal for the first day is to just cover the whole canvas.
After that I usually pick one area to be my “anchor” and work out from that. At some point things start to lock in and it becomes easier to judge proportions. Sometimes it can be annoying to change an incorrect line. I really try not to lie to myself, and just change it. It’s all about being honest with ones self.
Golden Grove in progress
This was painted entirely outside during the evening, when the sun was low. Most of this valley was in shade at this time, which gave me a consistent light each day.
I learned that leaves change color faster than I thought, and sometimes it is rewarding to chase nature. Normally I try to make decisions and stick with them, but on this painting I was constantly repainting the leaves with more gold each day.
Every painting outside seems to turn into an experiment. Nature is so humbling in that way.
Detail of Golden Grove
The painting conveys a celebration of nature’s changing cycles, but also a struggle to accept death. Autumn is a beautiful but melancholic time. Nature’s reminder is that nothing in this world is forever. With the pandemic, I often had death on my mind. Just before painting Golden Grove, one of my friends had just passed away. We were heading into winter, and it was a scary time for the world. All these things were in my thoughts while I was working. Everything felt so fleeting. Maybe that is why autumn is so beautiful, to distract the mind a little, so winter can sneak in.
This work is special to me not necessarily because of the final painting, but for the experiences I had while creating it. It was so meditative being out in the woods for a month. Especially after coming from lockdown. Just being present and watching these trees go through their whole cycle truly nourished my soul. The beauty was overwhelming at times.
Honestly, I would be happier creating hundreds of unsuccessful paintings from life, than one successful one from a photo. Working from life always adds a sincerity and richness to the work that truly cannot be faked. Whether the painting turns out or not is only a small part of the equation. The memories and adventures one has in the process of painting are much more important. I believe painters must live a full life to make interesting paintings".
More about Rachel:
Rachel Personett was born in Hawaii in 1991, but raised in Monument, Colorado. Being the daughter of an airline pilot and a graphic designer, Rachel developed a taste for travel and art at an early age. Both parents impressed upon her that there was more than one way to look at the world. While her father may have opened her eyes to a variety of different cultures by virtue of air-travel, it was her mother who shared with her an appreciation of the arts, adventure and fine craftsmanship - the fruits of culture.
Rachel began her academic studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Seeking a more traditional approach to painting and drawing she enrolled at The Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy and subsequently completed her formal training at the Florence Academy of Art where she fell in love with the works of Velázquez, John Singer Sargent, Joaquín Sorolla, Willard Metcalf, and Henri Fantin-Latour. After completing the full time program at the Florence Academy in 2015 she moved to Norway and began an apprenticeship with figure painter, Odd Nerdrum.
This experience gave her a newfound respect for the works of Rembrandt and Scandinavian painters such as Edward Munch, Anders Zorn, and Fritz Thaulow. Equally adept at still life and figure painting, Rachel has recently turned her attention to the genre of plein air painting of which she excels. Inspired by the works of 19th c. Impressionists Claude Monet, Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas, Rachel concerns herself most with capturing the ephemeral and must work quickly to capture what she is experiencing in nature. With very free brush strokes, and an underlying knowledge of structure, she creates an intense sense of dynamism within each work.
Rachel Personett is represented by galleries in New York, California and Massachusetts. She has participated in several group shows in the United States and abroad. She currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado.
To view more of Rachel's work please visit:
Instagram: @rachelpersonett
Sugarlift: www.sugarlift.com/artist/rachel-personett
