The Hedgerow, Garden
and Fall Series
The Long Walk
Home Series
The Narrative
Series
Older Works
Some of the older work from Rachael’s portfolio can also be viewed here on the website.
About Rachael Cawley
For nearly forty years, the daily trek to the city consumed Rachael’s life. Beyond ferrying her son to a whirlwind of sports and social engagements, her days were a blur of lecture preparation and sleep. Local community? A distant concept.
Early retirement, the demands of caring for a relative with dementia, the joyful addition of a dog, and the isolating grip of COVID-19 reshaped Rachael’s world. Walking became her new commute, a journey into the heart of her surroundings. No longer a fleeting glimpse through a windscreen, but an immersive experience: the soaring buzzards, the darting rabbits, the elusive otters and foxes. She witnessed the shifting hues of the seasons, the meandering paths, the languid rivers, the dramatic skies, the endless tapestry of fields. And, crucially, she had time to truly see and think.
After studying for an M.A whilst still teaching, the academic focus had instilled in Rachael the prevailing notion that women’s art was inherently domestic, decorative, illustrative, and narrative – a world of pattern and colour, relegated to the lower echelons of academic esteem.
Now, in her sixties, Rachael has shed the weight of those old expectations.
“To me, every picture tells a story. The landscape has a multiplicity of layers, from the people who worked it through history to the scored lines of transportation, the characters involved, and the flora and fauna supported by the richness of our soil and our history. I am interested in the ways in which colour and form can be used to tell a story and evoke emotions. I combine observation, memory and imagination with a view to transform them into visual
narratives.I achieve this by recording the world around me and taking note of the contextual colours, textures, and patterns that make up my surroundings. By painting layers of pattern, sanding back and repainting, I seek to weave these observations into a tapestry of narratives. Sometimes, the stories are obvious; other times, they are more subtle. Each painting tells a unique story, but they all share a sense of curiosity and playfulness. Hopefully, these are stories that unite us all.”
Rachael’s Studio
