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Rebecca tell us why “Painting is music for my soul” and how social media propelled her career to new heights.
WORDS REBECCA HUTCHINSON PHOTOGRAPHY DEANNE CROWDER
When I was a child we moved around a little, but most of my childhood was spent in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. I think that country childhood awakened my love for painting landscapes; I have so many memories of hours spent outside with my sisters and brother (I’m the eldest of four). We always had lots of animals: a dog or two, chickens and a lamb called Lambet.
Today, I live in a beautiful spot just outside Wagga Wagga. Our home and my studio overlook the paddocks and distant hills surrounding us. My husband Leigh — who was my high-school sweetheart — and I bought our first home when we were only 20. As our family grew — we have four boisterous but beautiful boys: Thomas, who is 13, Joshua, 11, and our twins Samuel and Matthew, almost nine — and our first home became too small, we decided to build a new house about 10 years ago, which is where we still live.
I’ve always loved to draw. My pop, dad and aunty are all creative people. Pop was actually a professional photographer (mainly weddings) and screen printer in the era of darkrooms.
I used to love looking in his darkroom and shed when I was young. It was filled with amazing old photography objects, screen-printing tools and lots of paints.
When I was four I won my first colouring competition: best day ever! In primary school my love of drawing continued. I was given a beautiful small book of blank pages, in which I loved to copy cartoons from the Sunday newspaper’s comics, using the pencils from my treasured Derwent collection. Now I find myself drawing cartoons for my boys.
Over the years I have tried many different things. When my boys were very young I started sewing, mainly just making outfits for them at first, then branching out into tutu dresses — my nieces received quite a few of these. As my boys grew, my love for photography grew; initially just taking pictures of them. Often I look at photos of them laughing and think of the story behind the photo. I think that’s what makes them extra special. One particular photo is of my middle son Joshua riding his bike in the middle of a dirt road, holding his chicken, with an old woolshed in the distance. He loved that chicken and was always carrying it somewhere. We actually all got in the car, including the chicken, and drove over to the woolshed — one of my favourite photography locations — to capture the photograph you can see on this page. My boys are becoming great little photographers: some of the photos you might see on social media of me holding an artwork may have been taken by one of my boys, with just a little bit of help and direction.
Since my ‘light-bulb moment’, I began painting a range of different subjects: landscapes, birds, flowers and portraits. I still love to branch out into different subject matter, but I’m always drawn back to my love of landscape painting. The first painting I ever sold was a portrait of a lady with flowers scattered through her hair. I think my photography background further inspires my painting, particularly the portraits.
Painting is music for my soul, it is my outlet and a way for me to share my ideas before they are lost in a jumble of creativity. Art is something that evokes happiness, a memory or simply makes me smile. The inspiration behind my paintings is drawn from things like the view out my windows when I’m in the kitchen; something spectacular on my way driving to town or home (I quickly pull over and hang out the car window to capture it); or simply a photo that inspires me.
My favourite place to paint is my beautiful studio. A place where I can paint my heart out and it really doesn’t matter if I get paint absolutely everywhere. My boys come down to my studio and create their own masterpieces. But I have to be honest, mostly I paint in our living room, grabbing even five or 10 minutes to paint amid our hectic, chaotic life of raising four energetic, sporty boys — though I wouldn’t have it any other way.
There is something particularly special about the ever-changing Australian landscape. Especially at dusk, the sky paints the most breathtaking colour palette of blues, soft yellows and pink (the colour that undoubtedly underpins my work). My paintings don’t always represent things perfectly; just like the Australian landscape, nothing is perfect and yet everything is perfect. Much like life itself.
I have been very fortunate to have met a few amazing people who have supported and encouraged my art journey. One in particular is Maggie Deall, who owns a local gallery called The Little Yellow House. She has been a great supporter. The best piece of advice I’ve received as an artist? Never stop creating.
For more information, visit Rebecca’s website.
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