Rachel Collins considers herself a realistic artist of natures abstract form.
“God is the most subtle of designers”. The artist brings something of the excitement of this design and form in the natural world to the attention of all viewers, so that our vision of even the mundane may be changed. “I paint in transparent watercolor because of the active interplay among the colors, the water, the painting surface and my visual ideas”.
Rachel did not start to pursue art until she reached her late thirties. Prior to that she worked as a librarian, archivist and museum curator and her an interest in natural science illustration led her to an internship in the Department of Entomology at the Museum of Natural History. It was then watercolor which was originally a hobby became her primary medium. Her interest in natural science subjects has continued but with a fine art focus.
Rachel has won awards in a variety of nationally competitive watercolor exhibits, she has had solo shows in galleries at art centers colleges and universities and other institutions in the Washington area. Awarded signature membership in the National Watercolor Society, the Watercolor USA Honor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, the Rocky Mountain National Water Media Society, the Southern Watercolor Society and the Philadelphia and Baltimore Watercolor Societies, amongst others. An extensive article about her series of paintings of animal vertebrae appeared in the June 2009 issue of Watercolor Artist Magazine.
Rachel is a juried member of the Torpedo Factory Artists Association, and as such paints regularly in her studio in the Torpedo Factory Art Centre in Alexandria, VA. She teaches classes in watercolor at the Art League School in Alexandria, weekend workshops at the Yellow Barn Studio in Glen Echo, MD and longer workshops elsewhere in the US an abroad, most notably at the Baha’i Academy for Arts in England.
"Finding and Making Your Best Design"
All watercolorists are in love with the process of laying down their transluscent paint and watching the small miracles it produces on the paper. Because of this, sometimes we often don't involve ourselves enough in the planning process that can help us better to foster these miracles. But the work done before lifting a brush can be just as much fun and rewarding as the actual painting! Rachel Collins will present a variety of approaches to the planning that can help us produce exciting paintings over a wide range of subjects.
I've attached an image of "Historical Horn", one of the music-themed paintings, which is my latest series.
