Rachel Austin’s artwork is filled with what I call the irresistible three: rich textures, abstract shapes and delightful colors. A native of Oregon, she loves to work with various painting mediums including watercolor, oil and mixed media–and she creates in all three equally well. There is an innocence and simplicity in her art that I adore; you’ll also find recurring themes such as flight, loneliness and growth.

Rachel first caught my eye with her map series, a mixed media collection that uses layers of transparent paint on wood panels.These maps have a wonderfully waxy quality to them, which brings the streets, coastlines and other cartographic details to life. A similar collection is her Aerial Farm series, inspired by crop patterns on a flight over farmland; this series is painted with watercolors which gives it a light, ethereal feel.

A successful artist with showings in locales such as Washington, Arizona and Tennessee, I was fortunate enough to have a chance to interview Rachel. She’s a genuinely delightful person and delivers several important insights into succeeding as an artist, so I hope you’ll join me and take a moment to learn more about her below.

Cuteable: First, can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into painting?

Rachel: It’s kind of a round-about way I started painting. I’ve always been surrounded by creative people, but when I went to college, that was the furthest thing from my mind. I ended up with a degree in finance and management and a hope to ‘save the world’. After working for a non-profit for a bit, I grew frustrated and decided to strike out on my own. I switched into the creative world for the first time and began building and designing mosaic tables with inserts–like dishes and bowls build into the tables to hold sand gardens or plants. I did this for a couple years, but it never fully took off (you can see a couple of examples of tables on the ‘garden art‘ section of my website). The next three years I worked at an art supply store and received an invaluable education on materials. Working there really made me excited about painting. I sold my first painting through an employee group show and haven’t looked back since.

Cuteable: You are well known for your paintings on maps; what gave you the idea to do this?

Rachel: I seem to collect things that I think someday I’ll put into a great project and I had been collecting old maps for a long time before ever using them. I had been thinking about doing a series with paper airplanes and the two seemed to go well together. I like aerial views of things/land and imagined the planes flying over the maps. The first one I did turned out so badly, I almost gave up right there. I did a couple more and got such a good response that I’ve kept with it.

Cuteable: I’m glad you kept going, Rachel! Based on your portfolio, you seem to enjoy working in quite a few mediums, including watercolors, oils and mixed media. Can you tell us what your favorite medium is, and why?

Rachel: Hmmmm …. this is a tough one. I like working in all of them for different reasons. I’m the most comfortable in the mixed media, just because I work in them the most and have already worked through their problems . But, the bigger oils I have the most fun and the greatest frustration with. I get really happy doing those, and the most nervous before starting a piece because I don’t always know how it will turn out. Sometimes I love them and sometimes I don’t. Watercolors are calming for me and, like the oils, I can be really excited by the colors and shapes.

Cuteable: As an artist, how do you keep yourself inspired? Are there any particular sources of inspiration that you regularly draw upon?

Rachel: I’m always trying to pick out lonely or peaceful images and shapes that occur in nature to use in the the map paintings. Organic shapes and lots of colors show up in my work, so I try to keep an eye out for those in everyday life.

Cuteable: As a home-based business, how do you get the word out about your art? Do you advertise/market your business, or is it purely word of mouth?

Rachel: I show a lot in coffee shops, galleries, and shops. This last year I started selling on Etsy, which has been a great way to reach more viewers. And I’ve noticed a lot more customers this year buying from me are coming from word of mouth. I’m trying to keep well rounded in my marketing–internet, art shows, and word of mouth. We’ll see how it goes. =)

Cuteable: Lastly, are there any projects you’re working on that you’d like our readers to know about?

Rachel: I’m hoping to hear back from a publisher on a children’s story I wrote and illustrated. It’s about paper airplanes and little ‘plug’ creatures. I have another painting series idea that I’m hoping to work out in the next couple months and some fun designing projects including some children’s clothes for a company called ‘Lark and Loon’ and wallpaper for a company called ‘Design your Wall’. I’ll post details about these project when they are complete on my website.

Cuteable: We’re looking forward to it! Thanks again for this chance to speak with you, Rachel!

Links: Rachel’s Etsy shop and homepage