The last few months have been quite an enlightening time for me in several ways.  I’ve developed a renewed appreciation of my surroundings for sure,  I’ve spent lots of time in and around national trust woodland and nature walks where we live.  It’s literally on our doorstep and I’ve discovered many new haunts, one being Hawkwood.  I’ve been painting en plein air at Scadbury Park and have been eyeing up the bluebell fields.

Predominantly a seascape painter, I like to spend time at the coast, either just absorbing the atmosphere or taking images, I haven’t been able to access these places, which has given me the opportunity to rediscover my own habitat and my love of flowers and trees in particular.

Moving forward I’ll be incorporating more floral/landscape works.  There’s always going to be coastal works, but it’s nice mixing things up a bit.  In between homeschooling my two children, I’ve also been donating various sketches for Covid 19 related charities and have donated a recent landscape work to Sketches for Survival, a global art initiative highlighting the plight of elephants and other iconic species.  The works will be up for auction and exhibited at OXO Gallery Southbank later on in the year.

I’m excited to be taking part in M1 Fine Art Landscape Collection Exhibition soon and Thompson’s Gallery Marylebone Landscape Exhibition starting beginning June.

You can currently see Rachel’s work at M1 Fine Art, Thompson’s Gallery and Snape Maltings Aldeburgh.

www.rachelarif.com