PDX Profile: Rachel Austin

Rachel Austin's art has a charming wistful quality, and I love how she layers images and mixes media. You can enjoy more of Rachel's art at her website. Be sure to also visit her Etsy shop for some wonderful pendants based on her paintings. And her blog is a nice compendium of her creative work and creative friends.

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So you started your artistic career with woodworking. How did you come to transition from that to painting? And do the two relate to each other at all?
I started my creative career building and designing unique tables without any training or real woodworking experience. After a couple of years, I realized I really needed to further my skills if I was going to make it and enrolled in the woodworking program at OCAC. At the same time I was taking a drawing class, working at Art Media and had sold my first couple of paintings in an employee show window.

I had an ‘aha’ moment near the end of the term when I suddenly realized that every thing I was building, including sculptural pieces, were turning out exactly the way I originally designed them. It’s hard to be spontaneous with a quick moving saw. This was the moment I realized what made me happy, what I’d wanted to see myself doing in 40 years, was painting. I love how painting, for me, can turn out much differently than originally planned. There is learning and excitement in letting the materials take over.

The trouble was I didn’t have any experience in painting, either. I just really liked it and started out slowly. I’ve been very, very blessed that I am now able to paint full time.

You work in lots of different media - do you have a favorite?
Hmmm... That’s a tough one. I like them all for different reasons. I was very lucky to have worked in an art supply store where I learned in depth about most of the major mediums. I got into a bunch of them as I explored painting. I tend to do a lot of oil painting – used in both my mixed media series and lantern/poppy oil series. The colors and richness of oil makes me pretty happy. At the same time, I really love working in watercolors and ink or graphite. I think it depends on my mood. I like switching back and forth between series to keep myself interested and changing directions.

What is your art about? What kinds of things inspire you?
My art, mainly the mixed media series, comes from simple images inspired by sweet moments or glimpses. I like to paint things that seem a bit lonely and peaceful – a single bird on a wire, a random paper airplane floating above an abstracted field of flowers. I am inspired by color and simple shapes and patterns – especially circles! Circles show up all the time in all of my series – I’m kind of obsessed with them.

What would you say is the biggest challenge of running a business with your art?
I think right now is finding the time to work on new ideas while at the same time still trying to keep up with my other series. Stress was another big hurdle that I’ve been tackling. I have my paintings stocked regularly in 10 shops/galleries across the country in addition to direct online sales and shows. Just keeping up in addition to looking for more opportunities was wearing me out. I couldn’t sleep, was depressed and had pretty high anxiety. Thankfully, a couple months ago my husband was able to quit his job and come work with me. Much of the stress has fallen now that he’s taken over much of the business side of things - shipping, invoicing, bookkeeping, and marketing leaving me more time to paint. We are really happy to be working together at something we both love. We feel very lucky.

We are also expecting a baby girl in August – so ask me again in six months and my challenge probably will be balancing motherhood, the business and painting!

What do you think is the difference between "Art" and "Craft?"
Yikes - I think I’m still trying to figure this out myself! I’d have to say that very generally art is more one-of-a-kind, more unique - usually referring to painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing. Craft is more of a skill – sewing, ceramics, paper crafts. Of course within that we have all seen ‘crafts’ that you cannot view as anything except art and paintings or sculptures that feel they belong in the craft world.

What are your favorite creative spots in Portland?
I spend a lot of time shopping at our local art supply stores – Art Media, Columbia, and Utrecht. You can also find me working at coffee shops Crema and the new Albina Press on Hawthorne. I also like showing and shopping at Crafty Wonderland.