Brancott Valley Marlborough

Rachel was born and raised in the UK and studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, graduating in 1992 with a Bachelor of Design (Honours) degree in Illustration and Printmaking. During her four years of study she was awarded a scholarship to attend the Swire School of Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic for 2 months. Rachel first travelled to New Zealand in 1993 and settled here permanently in 1994. After working for some years as a freelance illustrator and a company artist for Montana Wines since 2002 her focus has been on creating her own art. Over the past four years she has juggled this with her job of gallery manager at Arts in Oxford in Oxford, North Canterbury. The wildly varied and dramatic New Zealand scenery sparked Rachel’s fascination with the landscape, in particular the effect of light and weather, its ephemeral nature and its ability to transform a scene in an instant. She works mainly with the mediums of acrylic, watercolour and pastel (often combining these in mixed media works) and strives to create artworks that convey the atmosphere and essence of the landscape portrayed.