Award-winning artist Rachel Houseman captures the brilliance and spirit of the American Southwest. View her website to see more of her work.
“Bisti Wilderness Wildflower” ( Bisti Wilderness, NM) acrylic on canvas, 48” x 60”
My process comes from my experience with nature. I have found that it is what you take into your soul from the environment that you keep in your mind’s eye.
“Along the Road to Madrid” (Madrid, NM) acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”
I am always seeking to capture that which you cannot take home with you. The fact that the ethereal experiences expressed in nature are fleeting and impermanent inspires my own personal journey in art making.
“Three Peaks Cloudscape” (The Mesa in Taos, NM) acrylic on canvas, 48” x 24”
Making art with nature is about allowing the elements to creep into your process by proxy. It can be that you are surrounded by the wild wind, scorching, drenching sun or covered with the sights, scents and sounds of the natural surroundings you are in. You can’t take home the winds. You cannot put the wilderness in your pocket. Taking what you see and feel from the natural realm into your soul and translating it into art—that is what the process of plein air painting is all about!
“Cactus in the Clouds II” (Cave Creek, AZ) acrylic on canvas, 48” x 24”
I have long been fascinated with the wilderness. I grew up wandering through the leaves, dunes, sparkling brooks and fields of wildflowers of the forests in Michigan. Being in nature is a way of “resetting” your mind and being at peace with yourself and the universe.
“Thompson Peak Sunset” (Scottsdale, AZ) acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”
I think how incredible it is that we are now living lives within digital microscopic lives; yet we remain within a larger context of the infinite. Sometimes we are not even aware of this macrocosm of space, time and dimension, but it is still waiting there within us.
“Joshua Tree in the Clouds” (Joshua Tree National Park, CA) acrylic on canvas, 28” x 36”
This is what I feel when I see the setting sun against the infinite sea; what I feel in the winds of a large open area of Joshua trees or feel in the radiance from the warmth of red rocks after the sun has long past set.
“Red Cactus Blooms” (AZ) acrylic on canvas, 30” x 28”
You can feel the divine in Nevada rolling across the impossible expanse of nothing, or in a windswept terrain of the high desert juniper of Northern New Mexico. For me, this is what we cannot explain as a physical landscape alone—it becomes more of a spiritual landscape.
“Teddy Bear Cactus Glow” (Vulture Mine Road, AZ) acrylic on canvas, 60” x 48”
With this passion I founded my own art gallery in 2004 in Prescott, Arizona. The Eye on the Mountain Art Gallery was created with the sacred and visionary in mind. I show in several galleries, fine art venues and juried shows throughout the Southwest and California every year. My work can be found in the Abiquiu Inn near Ghost Ranch, Range Cafe/Gallery in Bernalillo, New Mexico as well as in the Mayor’s Office in Albuquerque.
“Moab Window Arch” (Moab, UT) acrylic on canvas, 20” x 20”
I have been the featured artist on several art magazine covers such as NOW Magazine, EPIC Magazine and the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association. My gallery and I have been featured in We’Moon, Southwest Art Magazine, The Santa Fe Reporter and the Essential Guide to name just a few. Recently I won three Fine Art Permanent Installation awards for the state of New Mexico and their Art in Public Spaces program. I have been the featured artist of the New Mexico Counseling Association for three years in a row.
“Peralta Trail Viewpoint” (Apache Junction, AZ) acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”
In addition to this, I am a fully licensed art therapist and continue to heal children and families of all cultural backgrounds though the process of art-making.
Artist Rachel Houseman invites you to follow her on her Fine Art Facebook page, her Gallery Facebook page, Instagram and her Gallery Website.
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