At the end of every year, I conduct a brief year in review in photos and a short blurb about each. Here’s the 2023 Year in Review highlights, in loosely chronological order!

1 LAUNCHED NEW WEBSITE

The very beginning of January & February were dedicated to organizing content and the technical logistics of switching my website over to a new website that better showcased the artwork, events, classes, shop, portfolio,and features in a more user-friendly and mobile-intuitive way.

2 EXHIBITED ‘SKIES CRIED AS MY FATHERS DIED’ TO PUBLIC

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This was probably the biggest highlight to me on so many levels. To finally expose my paintings to public viewing, and thereby sharing the vulnerability of how I felt through making them was very new for me. This exhibit I also worked really hard with several other programs, and including writing, editing, and designing an exhibit catalog/book that could tell the narrative of these paintings long after the show came down.

3 ‘RAINY RIP REVEAL’ PAINTINGS EXHIBITED AT HEARTSPOT ABSTRACT SHOW

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Inspired by many asking how the paintings looked if I left part of the dots exposed, I chose to do just that in this experimental limited collection of oil paintings. The ‘Rainy Rip Reveal” paintings debuted at the Heartspot Art Center Gallery, and revealed a more abstract direction of my rain that I’ve been leaning towards trying.

4 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RESIDENCY - TORONTO ISLAND

I joined several other artists from around the world on Toronto Island for two weeks to create, collaborate, and produce artwork inspired by water, at the "Once Upon Water” art residency. I experimented with a few new directions inspired by converstations with the facilitator and other artists, and am excited to get to share some of these directions later as I develop them.

5 PLUVIA NOCTURNAE COLLECTION CREATED

Entranced by the changing last-light after sunset but before the dark of nightall, I developed a collection of night rain paintings called “Pluvia Nocturnae.”

6 ARTICLE FEATURES IN GOLOCALPROV AND MSN

I was delighted to have writeups of my artwork in GoLocalProv and on MSN. Some of my favorite quotes were:

7 EXHIBITED IN FIRST ART FAIR IN NYC

Probably my biggest logistical event of my year was preparing and exhibiting at my first art fair in NYC. Months of planning and preparing all came together to expose my artwork to a small bit of the large NYC art scene. And I think I finally came to understand what they mean by a “New York Minute.”

8 MINI PAINTINGS 2023 NEARLY SELL OUT

This was the first year I planned more in advance for the Battleship or Bingo game that was the Mini-Paintings Collection Sale of 2023. I created more for this years based on last year’s demand, and used a similar method of “claiming” paintings until most of them were sold.

9 ART PRODUCTS AVAILABLE IN NEW WAYS FOR RAINY DAYS

In time for the holidays, I announced a large product release of multiple new products that became available with Rachel’s Rainy Days artwork on them to add to the experience of cozy, calming rainy days: tote bags, yoga mats, mugs, throw rugs, and towels.

Thank you for being a part of 2023. Best wishes for a creative 2024!

2023 Year in Review