Rachel Ann Austin
Portland artist Rachel Austin is inspired by the quiet beauty of gardens and her love of plants. Her watercolors are of the soft, abstracted shadows of plants found in gardens. Gardens and nature have the ability to ground us when feeling anxious or overwhelmed and these paintings attempt to capture the tranquility felt when among plants. A garden is a thoughtful work of living art, a slow moving sculpture that changes in different light and seasons. Rachel’s paintings show an abstracted view of the plants that make up some of her favorite botanical places.
Rachel is self taught and has been a full time artist since 2006 when, after getting a degree in finance, she realized art was probably a better path for her. She got her start on her popular map painting series and loves to collect old maps and create custom paintings for customers. Maps have a lovely way of showing us where we’ve been, where we are and where we are going. Rachel’s studio is in the basement of her little 1925’s Portland bungalow where she prints cards and art prints and paints for customers all over the world.